A number of months in the past, the Change lastly acquired Pizza Tower, an indie motion platformer that’s gotten a number of reward for a way effectively it channels Nintendo’s long-dormant Wario Land sequence. But developer Tour de Pizza wasn’t the one group impressed by Wario. Summitsphere’s Antonblast is a wild and fantastic motion platformer that feels prefer it may really be the following Wario Land sport if it got here with a unique coat of paint; its mixture of pace, precision, and sensible degree design makes for a very thrilling expertise that’s solely let down by its points with secure efficiency.
Antonblast stars the titular Dynamite Anton, whose indignant, red-skinned look leaves Devil feeling envious and insecure about his standing as “the reddest being of all of them.” So, in a petty act of retaliation, he sends his minions to Anton’s residence to steal what he cherishes most: the Spirits that he stored round his dwelling area. Enraged, Anton grabs his hammer and units out on a quest to reclaim what was stolen and to provide Devil a bit of his thoughts.
Play by way of any given degree right here and the inspiration it takes from Wario Land 4 is straight away clear. Anton (or his roommate, Annie, in case you desire) tears by way of ranges like a nearly unstoppable pressure of nature, smashing containers and blowing up enemies as he bounces round together with his hammer and powers by way of obstacles together with his ‘Clutch’ cost potential. There are many facet paths to discover and collectibles to snap up alongside the best way, however the final purpose is to get to the bomb on the finish of the extent so you can begin “Comfortable Hour.” As soon as triggered, a countdown clock begins, and also you solely have a couple of minutes to run all the best way again by way of the extent with the Spirit you collected. These mad dashes to security are an actual thrill, as you usually are pressured to take an alternate path again to the start and often go away an unlimited path of destruction in your wake on the journey again.
Merely beating a degree isn’t sufficient to get the complete expertise, nonetheless, not even in case you took your time to wash it for all its collectibles. After beating every one, you unlock a time assault and combo chain mode for the extent, and that is the place the distinctive degree design actually comes into focus.
For Time Assault, every degree provides you a good par time to attain that calls for you grasp degree layouts and perceive the nuances of Anton’s moveset to optimise your makes an attempt. Combo Chain works a lot the identical, however right here you’re tasked with sustaining an unbroken combo by strategically smashing containers and blowing up enemies, all with none well being pickups that will help you out. We loved what these two modes dropped at the desk, as they pressure you to have interaction with every degree differently every time and add better problem and replayability to an already nice platformer.
Even in case you simply follow the minimal content material to clear the bottom story, Antonblast shows a outstanding quantity of selection throughout its comparatively transient run. It ought to solely take you about 10 hours to clear (perhaps double that in case you do every part), but it surely makes essentially the most of that point by continuously introducing new concepts and degree ideas alongside the best way.
One degree has a power-up that basically turns you into Taz the Tasmanian Satan, completely obliterating every part in your path as you flip right into a chaotic whirlwind. One other stage introduces a blazing-fast animal buddy shark that Anton can trip on land or sea, giving new traversal choices as he hangs on for pricey life. That is the sort of sport that retains issues transferring, and its dedication to introducing new concepts and constructing ranges round them retains it feeling continuously recent.
As for its visible presentation, Antonblast is clearly impressed by the likes of previous Newgrounds-style Flash animations and ‘90s Nickelodeon exhibits. There’s a twisted and considerably dreamlike high quality to the colorful worlds you terrorise in your journey, and all of the characters and animations have a really Looney Tunes-esque vibe with their exaggerated actions. At nearly any second on-screen, there’s one thing certain to be exploding, screaming, or collapsing, and with this underscored by the vibration characteristic of the Pleasure-Con it results in a really energetic visible expertise. But it surely’s the eye to little particulars that actually sells the artwork type, such because the lengthy path of ‘A’s that follows a terrified enemy you simply despatched careening right into a brick wall.
The audio retains up with the insanity of the motion with a pop and jazz-infused soundtrack that maintains a excessive vitality degree all through. And we particularly respect the frequent cartoonish sound results to punctuate Anton’s damaging actions—issues just like the crashing aircraft sound used when Anton does a physique slam from a excessive leap assist to maintain the goofy environment entrance and centre.
One draw back is that the efficiency practically can’t sustain with the fixed motion. There are many moments the place the display screen is positively soaked in explosions, poker chips, and screaming enemies, which ends up in a noticeable drop within the body fee. These drops don’t have a large direct impact in your potential to manage Anton, however they nonetheless actually cheapen the expertise sufficient to be disappointing. We’ve seen experiences of crashing points and a few softlock bugs encountered by different gamers over the launch interval, too. We’ve been assured by the builders {that a} efficiency enchancment patch concentrating on these points has already been submitted to Nintendo, however simply be warned that the present model out there at launch is quite tough across the edges—it’s possible you’ll need to anticipate the fixes.
Conclusion
Antonblast is a superb tribute to Nintendo’s Wario Land sequence with its madcap motion and concentrate on gameplay selection. The cartoonish visuals, excessive replayability, and total spectacle of the expertise make this one effectively value a advice, although we’d mood this by saying that it actually wants some work on its Change efficiency. Whether or not on Change or elsewhere, we’d counsel you choose this one up in case you’re in any respect a fan of Nintendo’s different Italian mascot and are in search of a well-made and fast-paced new 2D platformer—Antonblast has acquired it the place it counts and is well-deserving of a spot in your library.
