Sometimes, you just want a well-made replica. Diddy Kong Racing takes 99.9% of the setting, design, game mechanics, and all the moves and stuff from Mario Kart and makes it so good that many Nintendo 64 players are more than happy to describe it as the powerful on the console Big kart game. The same goes for Forza Motorsport 4, which like its three predecessors looks like a shameless Gran Turismo rip-off, except for perhaps better graphics than Polyphony Digital, it does its all the better to surpass its nearest competitors.
The list goes on and on from there to absolute eternity. Dark Forces is a Doom II clone, but a good one that steals concepts and settings but at least makes something of itself. Sleeping Dogs imitates GTA and does it very well, just like Final Fantasy once did with Dragon Quest but did it better than the creators of the “original”. The same goes for Uncharted / Tomb Raider, Red Faction / Half-Life, Area 51 / Halo, Stardew Valley / Harvest Moon, Streets of Rage / Final Fight, etc. As they say, plagiarism is the best way to flatter. As for Nikoderiko: The Magical World, the team behind Naughty Dog and Crash Bandicoot should feel flattered.
The game is an homage to Crash Bandicoot, basically VEA Games, a small indie studio based in Cyprus, took a look back at Crash Bandicoot 4 and then spiced it up with the retro nostalgia of Donkey Kong Country, creating a very comfortable platformer A gem full of charm and character.
Here’s a hint:
You play as Niko or Luna, a fox-lion species with a mohawk and folded jeans who stumbles upon a world of riches while exploring the clouds. Unfortunately, the supervillain Grimbald and his 2,000 hired egg-headed mini-monsters enter and ruin the fun, looting the treasure and escaping, who are now means that Niko and Luna have to go around a bunch of colorful environments. to bring order back to the island. Like all old platformers, the story has been painstakingly rebuilt to be able to write a few lazy lines on the back of the game box that not only doesn’t matter, but I think it belongs. The story is as simple and boring as Mario’s Adventures, Sonics or Crash Bandicoots, which suits me well.
The setting is as simple and easy to follow as the story itself. Nikoderiko: The Magic World is essentially a 2.5 side-scrolling adventure game in the same style as Crash Bandicoot 4, where you run from left to right, jump over (or jump forward ) enemy monsters, collect items and land on a small unstable Platform, meet a boss of some sort at the end of each four levels. Like Crash Bandicoot, the developers have created a variety by introducing “bonus levels” with old-school 3D depth, and like Crash you either run into the frame or away from enemies with roll fireballs or giant toads. We have met before. It always works well and it’s the same here. The mix is good and the setting is very familiar.
The game mechanics are solid and it’s clear that the developers really understand what makes jumping around in games like Crash Bandicoot and Donkey Kong Country fun, and I like how they are has taken the best of both game series and mixed it here with real fun. delicious cocktails. There is a built-in co-op mode where you can skip the whole adventure with a friend, and if you’re playing alone you can switch between Niko and Luna at any time. The difficulty level is also very reasonable and feels more balanced than Crash Bandicoot 4 (which really pissed me off by the end), meaning that both a 9-year-old and a 47-year-old can enjoy the platforming gem play this and enjoy.
Here’s a hint:
Beauty is good too, and so is the music. VEA Games took the basic design from Crash and added fun vignettes and moments from Donkey Kong Country and Rayman, and it works well throughout the game. Of course, I can argue that Niko and his world look a little too similar to Crash Bandicoot at times, but as I said at the beginning of the text, there is nothing wrong with borrowing from the giants of the genre , if you do it. in the right way, VEA Games does just that. The music is also composed by Rareware veteran David Wise, who composed the songs for the first three Donkey Kong Country games, which means we will recognize ourselves here as well. Fun, comfortable, nostalgic and diverse – throughout.
If it were me, I would like the game controls to feel a little tighter, like they did when I played Crash Bandicoot 4 . Both Niko and Luna move too slowly for my taste, and their jumping animations are so detailed that it sometimes feels like they’re floating in the air rather than tethered to real gravity. However, this is only a small quibble in context, and not much in a game that I feel pays tribute to the classics of that particular genre in the best way.
