I remember when I was about 6 years old, booting up my brother’s dented Gameboy Advance and running through Metroid Prime up until the first fight, where I would die and then start over (I couldn’t fathom the concept of saving at the time). Ever since then, I’ve played a plethora of various 2D platformers in desperate pursuit of nostalgia. Even though I have played many that distinguished themselves away from typical Metroidvania 2D titles (Hollow Knight and Grime), some have failed to really wow me. Unfortunately, Monster Bash HD falls into the latter titles that don’t really do anything substantial for me.
Developed by Emberheart Games and published by Apogee Entertainment, it must be prefaced that Monster Bash HD is not necessarily a bad game, but it’s just simply mediocre. Whether it’s the gameplay or stiff graphics, it just fails to do anything that could have kept me playing past a handful of levels.
First and foremost, the gameplay of Monster Bash HD is linear and fairly bland. You play as Johnny Dash, a child armed with a slingshot and rocks tasked with saving pets that zombies kidnapped, but other than that there is no story development for a while. You run through the levels, kill zombies, and save pets. While the loop isn’t bad, what is annoying is that you cannot progress a level without saving every single pet in the level. Imagine playing through a 2D Mario game and you want that fairly casual experience, but you can’t progress without getting every star coin. It just proves to be more of an annoyance than a reason to elongate playtime. Another issue with the title is that the movement is insanely stiff and feels as if the player is marioneting a puppet that’s stuck in glue. The platforming feels way too tight in contrast to this, as this sort of coarseness just makes it feel almost every platforming section is nigh impossible if you do not play it perfectly.
While I have complained mostly about the title, I will now move on towards the redeeming aspects of Monster Bash HD. The soundtrack and the aesthetic of the game work very well together, and it feels as if I am playing an old 90’s game that was remastered. Also, the upgrades one can get while playing through the level (scatter shot, more shots, etc.,) feel rewarding and girthy enough, as when you kill a zombie, they erupt into gore and flesh chunks.
I really wanted to like this game, but outside of my obligation to play it, I never once grew excited to boot up Monster Bash HD. Playing through a bland story, coupled with gameplay issues always makes it feel like a chore, and if your zombie title bottlenecks the experience of an otherwise easy genre (zombie killing is almost always fun), then that’s a fairly bad sign. Overall, I want to give Monster Bash HD a solid 6/10, as I do not see why I would buy this title over, let’s say, Metal Slug or even Contra; These titles are just simply better and far more polished.
Check Out the Monster Bash HD Trailer:
Monster Bash HD is available for $9.99 for PC via Steam.
Whether it be diving deep into uncharted oceanic depths, wading through knee-deep pools of demon blood, or taking a leisurely walk through a fictional western frontier, I am always eager to explore previously unknown sectors of the creative space, impatiently overturning every stone begging to be flipped over. Dabbling in both speculative and realistic fiction, with a sprinkle of journalistic fanaticism, I enjoy any game that displays narrative magnificence, or if it's just plain fun!
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