Super BOO Quest – Review
Games don’t need to be overly complicated to be enjoyable. Sometimes a fun afternoon at the arcade can be enough to let loose, losing yourself in the bright lights, catchy tunes and simple gameplay these machines offer. Making games that borrow heavily from old-school titles are popular nowadays, bringing them into your own home instead, and Super BOO Quest by SEEP does just that.
Story
The story of the game is easily explained in a quick cutscene at the start. 5 Ghosts who want to pass on will have to go through a series of tests to prove their worth by scaring humans in different eras of history. Invisible but unable to pass through solid objects or be immune to light, this will prove to be quite a challenge. It is of course up to you as the player to pick one of the ghosts to play as and bring this mission to a successful end. Every ghost also has a bit of backstory, again explained through brief text and images when you pick them. Beyond that, there isn’t much plot, but it’s a solid setup for a simple game.
Graphics
In this game, the graphics really take you down a trip on memory lane. The visuals in the game are fun and set up in such a way as to resemble an arcade game in every way possible. And we don’t mean just the 16-bit graphics. Even the menu and the “game over” screen remind us of arcade machines, pure nostalgia. The various areas you visit also each come with unique traps and enemies, which means that even if they function virtually the same as the other obstacles you encountered previously, there is some diversity to be had.
Sound
Retro tunes are fun but sadly Super BOO Quest, in particular, lacks variety. While every area you visit comes with its own little soundtrack, the songs are monotonous and repeat often. They’re also a bit… chaotic, for a lack of a better word. Like the person making them wasn’t as skilled at composing yet. However, there is a tiny amount of voice work in the game and this is actually very decent, so we can commend them for that.
Gameplay
Super BOO Quest is an arcade-style puzzle game, though there is also a large focus on stealth elements. You start out by picking a character to play as. There are three different ghosts available at the start, with two more to unlock later. Each ghost has different stats that determine their speed, range when scaring people and the number of lives you have at your disposal.
The game itself consists of four different historical eras to get through, from ancient Egypt to the “gothic” times which seem to be an approximation of Victorian England. Each era is itself divided into ten levels, getting progressively more difficult as you go. The gameplay is very straightforward: you are dropped into a room with a locked door and need to complete a certain task in order to open it and move on to the next level. In some cases this entails pressing buttons, solving small puzzles or scaring all the humans away. To scare the humans in particular you will first need to collect a number of red orbs that will boost your powers in order to frighten them with a jumpscare like a spooky apparition in a B-rated horror movie.
There are dangers to be had as well though. As a ghost, you are not immune to the light. Should you touch some anyway, you will lose a life. If all your lives run out, it’s game over for you and you will need to start from the beginning again. Clearing a world will grant you some extra lives though. Most of the humans carry light with them while they walk around the map, so avoiding them when your power meter isn’t full is a good idea. Besides that, you’ll also have to be on the lookout for lampposts, flaming arrows, and other light-producing traps.
And like any good arcade game, there is also your score to keep in mind. The levels are scattered with coins you can collect to ramp up your score higher than the average amount of points you’ll get just from completing the level, adding some replayability. With the two other characters to unlock and a second game mode, Master Quest, there actually is quite a bit of content to explore here. And should you have a friend over you can always brave the local co-op the game has to offer.
Conclusion
If you are the type of player hoping to relive your childhood and have some fun along the way, without caring about the hyperrealistic graphics and overdone epic storylines of some modern games, Super BOO Quest is pretty enjoyable. It isn’t complicated, it isn’t epic, but it is some simple entertainment you can boot up quickly for a little bit in-between bigger adventures, and sometimes that is just what you need.
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