Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
Website: https://yachtclubgames.com/cyber-shadow/
Price: 19.99 USD (GOG / Steam), 10 USD (Developer website)
Blurb: “In Cyber-Shadow, the world has been taken over by synthetic lifeforms. A desperate plea for help sets Shadow on a journey to uncover what started the path to perpetual ruin. Slash through the techno hordes, leap past traps, and nimbly navigate the ruins of Mekacity. Only you can unlock the secrets to your clan’s ancient powers in Cyber Shadow, the quintessential Ninja Action game.”
Ok, the first thing that comes to mind here is Shinobi, the arcade game, but on a Nintendo or Sega console back in 1990. How, with all our technology available to us today, could we make it better than the original like 20 years ago? Suppose, now we have our answer. What looks to me to be a blown-up version of a Gameboy advance game, may be just what you were looking for.
Don’t get me wrong, the pixel art is great, I just feel that it is capable of more. The characters and the background and cut-ins don’t gel. You have a mixture of 8-bit and 16-bit, and four-color main sprite and 16-color others. It’s the fake retro-visual styling that gets on my nerves, as everyone is doing it and doing it badly. (By this, I mean, pick 8-bit, or 16-bit, and stick to it.) Not even the pseudo-scanlines option makes me feel like it belongs. Shovel Knight was, as far as I was concerned, mediocre. I played it and deleted it. This is more of the same with more over-the-top “enemies” and “action”. *Le Sigh…. Some people say this is “one of the best ‘old-school platformers out there”, and I have to disagree. Whilst the game is a definite throw-back to the old 8-bit Nintendo consoles, it feels too much like someone decided to remake Metroid with Shinobi as the main character. I mean the main character does not even have a name, he is simply Shadow, for what it’s worth, my parakeet is named Shadow. The plot line consists of you (Shadow) waking up to a robot apocalypse. You don’t get to care about the characters or story line. There is nothing to pull you in. If you are just out for the mayhem or button mashing, sure, this is the game for you.
I have been told the game is like Ninja Gaiden, but I played that in the arcade and it does not feel like that to me. See for yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0OdA3HzW94
Ok, back to this game. ‘Shadow’ has a katana that will slice through most robots and can run and jump like any other arcade platformer. However, he also has his Ninja abilities that you will need to complete each level. These are not available from the outset though, which is good, as it gives you that feeling of progression. On the surface, the game-play looks simple, but once you have more abilities, it becomes more tricky. You run from one side of the screen to the other, killing anything that moves in your path. Where the game shines, is level design. Some of the levels are so tricky and well thought out, with varying obstacle types, that it does not get boring after the tenth minute or try. The levels themselves change it up too, sometimes you have to outrun something from the bottom or top, like levels filling with water or lava. There are temporary weapons for you to use - they also keep the game interesting.
In the top left, you will see your character HP and SP. You know what HP is , but SP is what you use for specials, so you can’t just willy-nilly, say, deploy your shield forever. So once you get your Shinobi stars power-up, you will only have as many stars as you have SP, until you pick up another monster drop.
The old-school throw-back means that you will probably fail your first go at every level. It’s time to memorize level layouts and enemy patterns. Unlike old school games, where you start from the beginning of the level, you have checkpoints in this game. The checkpoints also serve as mini-marts, where you can buy some of your special weapons or power-ups. There are also side areas - that you don’t have to play - but have a high risk / reward to tempt you with. That said, don’t expect a lot of exploring, there isn’t much. The game is pretty linear (which is not a BAD thing). The parallax scrolling feels five levels deep and makes for some pretty stunning backgrounds.
The soundtrack is good, (listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ilgDhgFErA) feeling all orchestral and chiptune at the same time. Ambient, and moody, and right on dystopia. The level music is another kettle of fish, being upbeat and Yamaha chip-sounding (listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDuAj6kobCg) - just right for an action platformer like this.
The game is short, they say 8 hours, but you can extend your game-play with “feats”, a carry-over from shovel knight.
After all that, I must say that this game is definitely a step up from shovel knight. The developers are without a doubt getting better as time goes by, and I will be keeping my peepers peeled for their next release.
Is it worth full price? No, but I would definitely urge you to get it on sale.