Much of the appeal of Indie titles is having a fresh perspective on a familiar formula. Indie Game Development gives creators a chance to break away from industry tropes and put their own unique spin on something familiar. Unfortunately, for every diamond that comes out of the indie process, there are 100 lumps of coal left to sift through. The Legend of Icaro by Abyzzmo Entertainment is one of those games that needs a lot more time to pressurize before it can transform into a Diamond.
Story
The Legend of Icaro tries to tell a story in the form of a 3D Unity-Rendered intro sequence. What it instead does is give 15 seconds of something that looks like it wants to be interesting, but just doesn’t make any sense. The scene flashes by very quickly, no context is given about the characters, and even when one speaks, there is no voiceover or text for their speech. Finally, the scene seems to end prematurely, and then you’re immediately dropped into the tutorial level. If you want to find out the background story of the game, you’ll have to look for it in the description as the game world itself does not make any mention of the overarching story.
Gameplay & Mechanics
Speaking of the gameworld, you’ll almost want to forgive the rushed intro sequence just to jump into some smooth side-scrolling platform. But after another 15 seconds, you start to see just how unpolished this title is. The basic movement system in The Legend of Icaro is bare minimum at best. You can move left, right, and jump, but then things quickly go downhill. You can perform basic punches and kicks, which are all 3-4 frame combos. The animation on these attacks look rough, but forgivable. That is, until you actually attempt to attack something. You’ll either miss completely, which will have the attack animation not play and you take damage, or you will teleport half a frame towards the target and hit them, which is more of a bug than a feature.
Abyzzmo Entertainment also gives a Megaman-Style Blaster that you’ll use after you’ve given up on melee combat. This blaster can be equipped with different items and powerups to give different effects, which works very well in this type of gameplay. After that, however, everything else about the mechanics just feels painful to use. Climbing to the top of a ladder transitions into a standing jump animation and, even if you’re even with a ledge, you can’t just move onto that ledge. You have to jump onto it. There is also a physics-based rope swing mechanic that is difficult to explain further than saying it just doesn’t work. There are a lot of things in this game that just don’t work and, the more you play, the more you notice.
Aesthetics & Sound
The Legend of Icaro looks passable as a side-scrolling action game. From a first-glance, you’ll immediately know what you have to do and where to go. There are several stages to play through with their own unique background and setting, but you’ll find great difficulty in getting to them all: not because the game is difficult, but because it’s almost unplayable at times. The levels that you do see are basic 2D backdrops of whatever theme the level is going for. Enemies have one or 2 animations, traps have simplistic designs, and character models are pretty standard. Some of the models and images feel like premade assets that Abyzzmo Entertainment put into the game. The music is, again, right for the style of game. Its face-paced 64bit electronica that repeats over and over until you finish the level or turn the game off.
Summary
The Legend of Icaro feels like an unfinished project. Almost like it was meant as a proof-of-concept or a homework assignment for Abyzzmo Entertainment. Overall, the project just misses the mark in several areas. The concept seems unfinished. Certain elements, like melee attacks (And those physics-based ropes) could be removed completely and improve the quality of the game. If this title was given more time to work on and polish, I could see it being worth a try. Right now, however, the game is unplayable and not at all worth the asking price of $15.99.
As the (self-proclaimed) King of Casuals, I'm always seeking out new titles to play and experience across all platforms. Eventually, I have ambitions to take the many different styles of this medium to create titles that will wow the masses in fresh, innovative ways.
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