Publisher: Ultimate Games
Developer: Tilliasoft
Platform: Switch, PC
Tested on: Switch
Avenger Bird – Review
Indie games are hot these days with more developers taking the chance and risk to bring their own creations to the consoles. Ultimate Games brings back a classic from the nineties, which for lot of gamers is the starting era of their gaming experience. After a decent release on Steam, the Polish publisher released this tribute from the PC / Amiga games on the portable Nintendo Switch.
Story
In Avenger Bird you play as an Avenger Bird who is forced to embark himself to an unknow adventure in the pursuit of his precious eggs. An evil gray bird with an eye patch stole the eggs when your bird left the nest to seek food and branches. Your goal is quite simple, namely to retrieve the eggs from the snatcher and return them safely to their nest. However the eggs are fairly well hidden in a large open world map where you have to explore four different worlds to reach the evil bird to settle the score once and for all.
As your main goal is simple, the same applies to the story content. Except for the opening and ending cut scene, the story remains very brief. For these scenes they used the in-game engine with a few 2D animations. The opening cutscene actually tells you the whole story and that’s all there is to it.
Graphics
When starting the game, the older gamers among us will experience a nostalgic feeling as if you are back in the nineties. The pixel-art levels and characters have the same appearance like their predecessors of the DOS and Amiga days. Despite its age, your Avenger Bird is very cute and blends perfectly in the 2D environments from cold and snowy mountains to the warm beach filled with palm trees. At certain levels the design needs some polishing where it gets a bit blurry and you will notice the level design isn’t diverse at all. The backgrounds will change when reaching a new world but most of the level design keeps coming back. This little setback but it doesn’t affect the overall presentation.
Sound
The soundtrack of Avenger Bird is very entertaining with old school, catchy songs that fit perfectly with the graphics. Despite the repetitiveness of the tracks, the special retro feeling remains preserved while you are flying and gliding through the levels. The sound effects on the other hand are very limited. You can hear a Super Mario like coin sound when you pick them up and touching an enemy will trigger a small bird sound that indicates you have died. Regardless, the game doesn’t offer much variety in their sound repertoire.
Gameplay
Avenger Bird is a 2D side-scrolling platformer with a simple main goal. Basically you have to collect enough coins, which are spread in the levels, to unlock the door that will give you access to the next level. Although it feels pretty basic and simplistic, the gameplay mechanics will offer enough challenge in the more difficult levels later on in the game. The mechanics are simple, you can move your bird left and right, and you can fly and glide. Two bars in the top of the screen represent these abilities. When these bars are depleted you can’t fly or glide anymore. Luckily a small tutorial will explain these easy mechanics so you can start the adventure pretty fast. Despite these abilities are the core of the game, they cause lost of annoyance. The bars deplete very fast so most of the time you are waiting on the ground till the bars are refilled to take another chance at reaching your goal. This problem gets repetitive and exchanges fun for some disappointment.
The difficulty of the levels are indicated with skulls from one to five, the latter being the most challenging. Besides collecting the necessary coins, each map has a secret chest to claim a gem stone. Each level offers a new challenge with obstacles, enemies and projectiles that will cost you a life when you touch one of them.
After you complete a level you can navigate on the World Map to choose a new level that brings you closer to the evil bird and your eggs.
Conclusion
Simple, repetitive and frustrating at times are the words to describe Avenger Bird. A throwback to the nineties with 16-bit graphics and old school music packed with simple gameplay mechanics will deliver a decent experience for the retro gamers among us. Despite the game gives a touch of nostalgia, the game doesn’t offer enough to enjoy it for a long time.
Avenger Bird - Review,
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