Developer: Major Games
Publisher: Major Games
Platform: PC, Mac
Tested on: PC
BiT Evolution – Review
It’s obvious game developers love taking a dive into the maroon sea of nostalgia just as much as we players do. With time going by, graphics and coding became more and more complex. The amount of games emulating styles of yesterday are numerous. Luckily the barrel of old-school ideas to pick from is bottomless, allowing for a great variety of titles. For Major Games the drum clearly offered a wider range of inspiration. The result is a full-blown ode to 30 year of platform gaming. Welcome to BiT Evolution.
Story
The ball of Pong suddenly finds itself on an unexpected adventure outside its own game. Now travelling under the name of ‘BiT’, the ball has to find its way out of various new worlds while ever evolving to meet said worlds’ standards. Meanwhile it is up to BiT to make good use of both the ‘Rendered World’ and the ‘Realm of Code’, which he enters when dying, to get to the goal of every level.
As this is a platform game that focusses mainly on the gimmick of allowing the player to relive the best of old-school gaming-eras, the narrative isn’t all that extensive. The title character BiT meets all sorts of funny characters along the way which are modelled after toons from actual games. These friends and foes are the ones actively carrying any narration the title has to offer, since our pixelated hero is of the typical silent type.
Graphics
With our little BiT hopping from game period to game period, it is only natural the graphics change with every jump. Luckily BiT Evolution does this masterfully. From the Atari-era to the SNES, the levels evolve in style and colouring to meet the specifics of every world. The game even makes sure to bring pixel-size into the equation, adding to the already abundant nostalgic feel.
While the ‘Rendered World’ thus does a great job, how does BiT Evolution’s ‘Realm of Code’ fare? To be honest, it keeps up with the changes just as well. More so, the realm gets very tongue in cheek. For example, walls are made up of ones and zeroes. Also, as the coding gets more complicated, it also houses more and more ‘glitches’ and ‘bugs’ the further you go. It’s a nice touch that will surely get certain players to mentally hop back to titles whose glitches could either be abused or would possibly end an otherwise enjoyable experience.
Sound
The score of BiT Evolution is very fun. Tracks never get boring and fit the locations perfectly. However, the sudden change between locations might feel a bit odd at first as differences can be as abrupt as a Skrillex base drop. Nevertheless, the sound does manage to convey the right type of atmosphere at appropriate times.
Gameplay
BiT Evolution is a nice indie sidescroller platform game that allows players to relive gaming through the 70s, 80s and 90s. The intro is an immediate throwback to one of the very first video games: Pong. While the scene doesn’t last long, it is satisfying to watch and even serves as the game’s tutorial. General controls are very standard and easy to pick up. Moving around is simply done with the left and right arrow keys while jumping, scrolling through dialogue and choosing options is done by tapping the SPACE bar. Special actions later on in the game require the Shift-button. While this setup is pretty straight-forward, the game also features 3 more schemes to pick from, depending on the player’s personal preference. The title however isn’t Steam game pad compatible as of yet, but with a bit of tech savviness, BiT Evolution can still easily be played with a controller.
From the tutorial onwards, the Story Mode unveils the two most important aspects -next to general gameplay of course- of the game: BiT’s evolution and the ‘Realm of Code’. The game features 4 different worlds, each corresponding to a different gaming era and packed with levels. In order to survive the higher resolution worlds, BiT automatically changes to a form more suitable for the task, whether that means sprouting a pair of feet or growing a few inches. With new forms come new powers, and so every evolution manages to bring something fresh yet familiar to the table.
On the other hand, ‘The ‘Realm of Code’ really flips the gameplay around in a great way. While the evolutions (which only happen about 5 times in game) give a sense of renewal whenever a new world is unlocked, this Realm becomes a clever way to proceed through the levels. See, when our little hero dies in the ‘Rendered World’ – aka the normal levels – he appears within a visual representation of the stage’s code. This hidden world is full of dangerous creatures, including bugs and glitches, that would gladly feast upon BiT’s luck to send it back to the very start of the level or -if unlocked – to the one save point in the stage. However, it also is packed with cleverly placed green portals that are able to transport BiT back to the world of the living pixels. Because of this, the Realm of Code can easily be used as a way to overcome hard obstacles in the real world by going to hunt for a portal that ends up skipping the parts you are having trouble with.
As the game is based on old-school platformers, BiT Evolution also has its own type of ‘coins’ to collect throughout the many levels: ‘pixels’ to be exact. These little dots of colour appear in the strangest places and it’s up to the player to find them. It’s not just the Rendered World that holds them either. If you want to complete your collection of pixels, you have to traverse the dangerous depths of the other Realm too and look in every single nook and cranny. This collection aspect greatly lengthens the game time of the title, as most levels can be completed in mere minutes when zooming over obstacles with the only goal in mind being the end of the level.
At the end of every world map a boss needs to be fought. These boss battles are a welcome change from the generic platforming and each require their own strategy to overcome the problem at hand. With the boss beaten, the next world unlocks or – if you’ve managed to lay waste to the final boss – the game’s Challenge Mode gets unlocked. However, this mode seems to still have its issues at the time of writing and might not unlock. This bug seems rather persistent and Major Games are still doing their utmost best to get rid of it.
Conclusion
BiT Evolution is a fun sidescroller platformer that will surely teleport you back in time and relive the good old days. The use of two separate worlds that lead to one same goal makes the gameplay clever and the humour of the side-characters adds to the fun. The various levels really look their part and the fitting soundtrack is the icing on this pixelated cake. Unfortunately, the game still suffers from a couple of unfortunate bugs that prevent a game mode to become accessible, which can be a downer for people looking forward to that promised Challenge Mode. However, it is clear Major Games are working hard to make the mode properly available. All in all, BiT Evolution is really enjoyable and will surely entertain gamers in love with nostalgia.
BiT Evolution – Review,
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