Lions and pigs and snakes, oh my!
Fun fact, I have never played a Monster Boy, Wonder Boy, or Monster World game before. In fact, I didn’t even know the series existed until fellow writer for ZTGD, Anthony, mentioned it about a year ago. Sorry, I was a Nintendo guy. Anyway, since I was taking on this new game with a completely fresh mindset, I saw this as an opportunity to finally give this long living franchise a shot. Man, am I glad I did.
Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom has players taking on the role of Jin. His uncle has gotten ahold of a magic wand and unlike himself, has begun terrorizing the land with it, turning people into humanoid animals. Jin himself is transformed as well, and must go on a quest to find the magical animal orbs to restore everyone back to their normal self.
Platforms: XB1, PS4, Switch
MSRP: $39.99
Price I’d pay: $39.99
Monster Boy is a 2D side scrolling platfomer with action RPG elements. It has aspects of a standard platformer with Metroidvania dashed in. Jin starts off very simple with only one transformation, but through the course of the game can transform into numerous animals, each with their own unique abilities that allow him to enter different parts of areas. On top of all these forms, Jin himself will also gain better equipment and magic that can be used not only for upgrades to combat, but also to solve puzzles. Of course, along the way, he’ll battle numerous enemies and bosses in the standard 2D action game affair.
What really sets Monster boy apart from other games like it is the polish that it shows. The controls are tight and well implemented, the game is challenging, but never unfair, and the look and feel of the presentation is superb. It has a lot of charm that just comes through in every possible way.
The only real issues I had with the game was the fact that the first couple of hours can be a slight slog due to the fact that the first animal form is the weakest and boring one of the entire bunch, and due to story and tutorials, players are stuck in that form for a bit too long. The other issue was that while the game is somewhat linear with some exceptions, I found myself missing a few things that may very well have been obvious to some players, but for me, I would sit at a screen trying to figure out where to go or what to do to progress. Of course, this could very well be me and my incompetence.
The visuals are vibrant and the animations give off this hand drawn feel with an art style that looks almost like Akira Toriyama did it himself. The soundtrack is on par with the classic games that everyone knows and loves. It really is a 2D spectacle to see.
I think the biggest thing was just how big this game really is. With all the upgrades to collect, the new areas to explore, and all the secrets in between, this game will last players a nice long time, especially if they want to gather everything. Luckily, the game has a tracker to show just how far they are from getting everything, and since this game oozes quality, players will enjoy every bit of it.
Playing The Cursed Kingdom really makes me want to check out the previous games in the series. It was so refreshing to see a game like this, especially one that plays and looks as great as it does. Any fan of 2D action games should pick this game up without question, and don’t worry if you’ve never played this series before, I was able to enjoy it fully with absolutely no knowledge of it. This is one newer game that harkens back to the old days that does it well and will be remembered for a nice long while.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
