![wii u shovel knight review wii u shovel knight review](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/F-bm1_YH7R0/maxresdefault.jpg)
In most cases the game understands exactly when to stay old school and when to defer to more modern design theories. Shovel Knight himself is also quite heavy for a platform character, although after an hour or so play you simply adjust to his slightly slower rhythm. Instant death whenever hitting a spike pit seems excessive punishment though and even if the checkpoint-ing is relatively generous the platforming gets so difficult by the end that it still won’t be enough for many less experienced gamers. In Shovel Knight boss battles are things you actually look forward to as a culmination of the level’s ideas – not a semi-interactive cut scene before the next stage. They all have their movement patterns to learn, but rather than just shooting a red flashing body part three times each encounter always has a more complex puzzle element. The range and variety of enemies is impressive for any game, retro or otherwise, and there are some particularly good Mega Man-inspired boss battles. Although given how many of these extra items there are it is a shame that the game doesn’t require their specific use a bit more often.
Wii u shovel knight review upgrade#
With all the gems you dig up you can upgrade your shovel with new abilities, and there’s also a large variety of additional items and weapons – from the essential fireball spell to an actual sword and a cloak of invisibility. Standard horizontal attacks have a recoil that varies depending on your opponent, but it can also be used to punt skulls at enemies or kick crustaceans’ shells into the wall to uncover a secret area. The downwards attack, for example, can be used to pogo off of enemies’ heads like DuckTales or to jump on bubbles as they slow float up the screen. The game’s cleverness is in how it uses such a simple moveset in such interesting ways. You either hit things with it that are standing in front of you or you aim it downwards when jumping to skewer anything below you. The shovel is the game’s big idea but it’s not exactly a complicated tool to use. Shovel Knight though helps to reclaim that initial thrill, not just because it’s amusing to see a modern game that looks so old-fashioned but because there are some things that only really work with the enforced limitations of old technology. In fact it’s become such a cliche of the indie scene, to have them make their games look like an old 8-bit title, that all the novelty has long since worn away. There have been a lot of faux NES games over the years, some of them from established publishers (like Capcom’s Mega Man 9 and 10) but most of them from indie developers. But one quick look at the visuals shows there’s no practical difference, as well as why waiting to know about the Nintendo versions was so important.
Wii u shovel knight review Pc#
As a result we’ve only been able to play around with the Wii U version a bit (too much really, considering how much work we’ve got to do – which is always a good sign) and so this review is officially only for the PC version. Shovel Knight’s console release dates were announced in the most recent Nintendo Direct, with the game becoming available instantly via the eShop.