Shovel Knight is a platform game with retro theme, released for PC, Nintendo Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. Channeling all that is best in 8-bit generation, Shovel Knight looks up an obscure classic, and they forgot to launch the NES. The adventure rider who uses a shovel instead of a sword is charismatic and has a refreshing gameplay. Check out our review below:
Story with charismatic characters
In unexplored and filled world of danger, Shovel and Shield Knight fought side by side, living many adventures and collecting treasures. But to explore the Tower of Fate, both fall into a spell and Shield Knight, who happens to be a girl, disappears, leaving the "Tower of Destiny" sealed. Heartbroken, Shovel Knight gives up his day's adventures.
However, when a witch break the seal of the Tower of Fate, Shovel Knight back in business and decides to rescue his beloved, Knight Shield. But now he'll have to beat Enchantress and the knights of "The Order of No Quarter", before it can reach the Tower of Fate.
Shovel Knight presents its narrative very similarly to Ninja Gaiden Nintendo 8 bit. Through slide with text, the story is presented with chiptune in the background. The plot is punctuated by moments of humor between the characters, several of them, making fun of Shovel Knight, for him to use a shovel instead of a "real gun".
Precise controls
Shovel Knight draws entirely on the old NES games. Starting with the configuration commands. Only two buttons and a directional are required to make all game actions. The calibration controls that have "needs" of games like Mega Man , Duck Tales and Ninja Gaiden.
As the title betrays, the main weapon of Knight Shovel is a shovel. It can be used both to attack enemies as to dig treasures. It is interesting how the studio Yacht Club Games extracted all it could of the controls. You can run, strike enemies, digging, jumping, etc.. But the most fun is to use the shovel like a Bouncy (just as in Duck Tales).
But for those who are not accustomed to controls with extreme precision, can surprise the fact that you hold the directional, with the character in the air, and he dropped like a stone, breaking the trajectory of a jump. But this level of precision that seems rough to the present day, marries perfectly with the proposed Shovel Knight.
Retro Soul
Not only the controls you Shovel Knight recalls the old 8-bit Nintendo games. Even the color palette is similar to the NES. The game is very slight and requires only 200MB of storage space. Obviously it would not be compatible with the NES, but the impression is to be running a console game through some sort of emulator.
There is plenty of inspiration in classic NES in Shovel Knight. This map closely resembles that of Super Mario Bros. 3 enquant villages are similar to The Legend of Zelda 2. phases and the main gameplay is a mix of Castlevania and Mega Man in Mega Man Inspiration is such that even Manami Matsumae , composer of songs of the first set of blue little robot, composed some tracks for Shovel Knight.
But all these references Shovel Knight transform into a copy of a lot of games? Not exactly. Shovel Knight can even be seen as unoriginal, because the number of elements from other games, but the studio that produced it knew add an interesting plot, marrying perfectly with the gameplay.
Most power-ups, upgrades in armor and energy need to be purchased in the villages. For this, the player must collect the treasures scattered throughout the stages. There are many passages that need to be excavated, obviously using a shovel.
A retro game with precise controls, as Shovel Knight, combines perfectly with an insane difficulty. However, Shovel Knight will facilitate things a lot. Each phase has a checkpoint system spread across multiple locations. Veterans may break them and collect the money they offer. However, once "broken" they stop working.
Another feature is the relics, utensils that may be used by pressing up and the attack button. Excluding the fishing rod, the other relics greatly facilitate the game, to the point of nearly spoil the fun. The relic is the most boring Phase Locket, able to leave your character invincible for a second. Used in certain moments, the relics allow beat all bosses in the game without dying once. Without using them, Shovel Knight has a lot more fun challenge.
The game also features a system of "Sub tanks" like the Mega Man Shovel In Knight, they are chalices that the character will use. To fill them, is not as obvious as in Mega Man, but once the player discovers, everything is very easy.
With so many facilities, Shovel Knight almost lost grace. Fortunately for lovers of a good challenge, to finish the game, you can resume the difficulty folded, where enemies will need twice as many hits to be defeated and there will be more of them.
In all, the game has 14 heads in 24 scenarios. You can meet other heads that will randomly appear on the main map. The adventure is short, but to achieve fast forward a few tricks you need to follow to make good use of the relics, chalices and power-ups. Otherwise, you will have to repeat the steps several times to get the "trick", just like old times.
Conclusion
Shovel Knight is a tribute to 8-bit games tremendously. The game is a must for fans of retro gaming. However, it can be receptive to newcomers, with various aids. Best of Shovel Knight is reuse, intelligently, some of the old mechanical platform games in 2D. Proving that this genre is far from its days.
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