Recent reviews by Gitaxian

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SOUNDTRACK

Underhero (No relation to Undertale, just an unforntunate coincidence that will forever make people assume the game is a ripoff of Undertale.) is, in many respects, objectively bad - but I'm going to recommend it anyway.

Let's get the negatives out of the way first.
- Despite how good the sprites look, the presentation is really lacking in other areas. The lack of feedback when getting hit is a particularly glaring example. It often feels like a flash game from a decade ago.
- This one's more subjective, but I found the writing hit or miss. When it was focused on the main plot it was serviceable for a game, but outside of that a lot of the jokes fell flat for me.
- Significant chunks of the gameplay are poorly thought out. Platforming segments are usually long and repetitive, many enemies have awful gimmicks that make them miserable to fight or waste the potential of the combat system. (looking at you camera robots) Progression also feels like a huge missed opprotunity, as you get practically all your abilities during the tutorial - especially since the game was inspired by the various Mario RPGs which introduce new abilities througout the game.
- The game is very buggy. I didn't run into anything that forced me to restart, but I did encounter enemies stuck in walls which I could only hit using Rush Mode twice.

So with all that in mind, why am I recommending this game? Because in the moments where it comes together, it's genuinely brilliant. The core of the combat system is a solid evolution of the system used in the Mario & Luigi games, and agains enemies that take full advantage of it is incredibly satisfying. What elevates it is the seamless transitions between platforming and combat. You aren't taken to a separate space when you encounter an enemy - you fight them right where they're actually standing.

The main way the game takes advatage of this is through the slingshot. It's not just used to hit enemies from far away, but also to target specific weak points. For example, rather than having to break an enemy's shield you can hit them past it with precise targeting. Unfortunately outside of enemies with shields there are only a few enemy types with specific weak points. There's also a single instance in the game where the terrain around you has a significant effect on the fight, which is another big piece of missed potential.

Where the game really shines is in its boss fights. Each of them uses the seamless transitions by having you evade the boss's attacks through platforming before transitioning to battle mode in order to damage them. Unfortunately only two bosses fully take advantage of it by attacking in both modes, with the rest just using battle mode for attacking unprotected weak points.

Despite all its flaws, Underhero is a unique experience, and those few moments when it all comes together are something special. It gets my recommendation because of that, and because I want these devs to have the opportunity to make more games in order to take full advantage of the potential that's already there.

An absolute masterpice. It has everything: drama, action, humor, twists, six unique endings. A definite GOTY contender.

Wuppo is a fantastic game. It's an adventure platformer (it plays a lot like metroidvania games, but I wouldn't call it one since you don't need later abilities to get collectibles in earlier areas) with writing on par with games like Paper Mario : The Thousand Year Door.

The Citizen Kane of games. A majestic masterpiece. Game of the year every year.