![]() Still, there are some genuinely fantastic little surprises and awe-inspiring moments sewn in throughout the adventure which I don’t want to spoil here in fear of blunting the experience even further. With that said, the same impact could have been just as effective if it wasn’t so keen on preaching its story like a Jehovah’s Witness wedging their foot inside your front door. Unlocking the memories of the Creator and learning of both his inspirations and the tragedies of his past are often heartfelt moments that touch upon very real-life experiences. What makes things all the more unfortunate is that I genuinely loved the idea of what Narita Boy was trying to achieve from a narrative standpoint. The absence of a map system to reference doesn’t help either, neither does the abundance of NPCs constantly spouting useless convoluted nonsense. The concept of becoming the errand boy becomes so overused from the get-go, it makes exploration so much more of a chore than it needs to be. Thankfully the clues for the hieroglyphic symbols are generally painted across walls or behind switches fairly close by to at least soften the blow of yet another long-winded easter egg hunt. ![]() ![]() The solution usually requires Narita Boy to seek the right NPC to talk to, and who are usually hidden away or awkwardly positioned to where sometimes it can be difficult to tell whether or not the NPC in question can be interacted with.Īnother heavily-recycled task consists of searching environments for three hieroglyphic codes to power up teleportation stations, which is about as deep and as interesting as the puzzle elements get. It’s as if all the ideas are set firmly in place at a lack of a greater purpose.Ī giant portion of the gameplay consists of tediously running back and forth across several beautifully lit environments aimlessly fetch-questing for floppy disks known as Techno-Keys. Everything has a general tendency to feel half measured and undercooked. ![]() Sometimes it fancies itself as a sort of Metroidvania, other times an undeveloped platformer and oftentimes an average arena hack ‘n’ slasher. It’s almost as if Narita Boy can’t decide what it wants to be. While riding a somewhat similar beat, Narita Boy never quite reaches the same heights as it only ever flirts with great ideas and spreads them thinly across the Digital Kingdom. In Guacamelee, combat stays consistently enjoyable, upgrades are always inventive, and most importantly, essential to both the combat system and stage design. The more I thought about it, the more Narita Boy reminded me of an unseasoned Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition in how it shares similar tropes with the Mexican Metroidvania. Instead, combat results in little more than learning the basic enemy pattern and mashing out the button longer than feeling comfortable until the threat eventually goes away. Unfortunately, the way enemies stubbornly stand their ground while absorbing a beating when they should be getting launched, bounced around and air-juggled cuts the mechanics short from feeling fantastic. ![]() Moves can be so easily chained together in a way that, in theory, should provide a satisfying flow to swordplay. The Techno-Sword can be charged for an almighty swing, doubled up as a shotgun and even inserted into Narita Boy’s chest seppuku-style to let off a devastating cannon blast. Dashing, shoulder-barging and the fluidity of sword strikes at various angles set up the flow of combat nicely, as does the huge variety of enemies constantly introduced. At its strongest, Narita Boy is essentially a hack ‘n’ slash game where throughout the adventure our hero adopts a solid move list of attacks. ![]()
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