Just wanted to say Shovel Knight is SO GOOD. You best all be playing it. I kind of ignored it at first because "more retro-looking indie games, lulz" (I know, shit attitude), but luckily I read the impressions here and watched GameXplain's preview and saw the light.
It's a SUPER-TIGHT and WELL-PACED platformer that organically teaches without resorting to tutorials. It's consistently inventive from one screen to the next. Feels as though Zelda 2, Mega Man, Ducktales and NES Castlevania all continued to evolve and at some point converged together, with a Mario 3-style world map... and they were then further refined with a liberal dose of new ideas, like checkpoints you can sacrifice for loot, and a risk/reward mechanic where you have unlimited lives but drop treasure that will be lost forever if you don't reclaim it next turn (think the soul stains in Demon's Souls). The game is challenging but feels fair since you always know what you did wrong and how to do better. There are also abundant options to stack the odds in your favor, if you so choose. Very satisfying at the most intrinsic level of action/reaction.
I'm playing the WiiU version and will probably double-dip on the 3DS version, which I hear has an amazing 3D effect. Looking forward to it!
It's a SUPER-TIGHT and WELL-PACED platformer that organically teaches without resorting to tutorials. It's consistently inventive from one screen to the next. Feels as though Zelda 2, Mega Man, Ducktales and NES Castlevania all continued to evolve and at some point converged together, with a Mario 3-style world map... and they were then further refined with a liberal dose of new ideas, like checkpoints you can sacrifice for loot, and a risk/reward mechanic where you have unlimited lives but drop treasure that will be lost forever if you don't reclaim it next turn (think the soul stains in Demon's Souls). The game is challenging but feels fair since you always know what you did wrong and how to do better. There are also abundant options to stack the odds in your favor, if you so choose. Very satisfying at the most intrinsic level of action/reaction.
I'm playing the WiiU version and will probably double-dip on the 3DS version, which I hear has an amazing 3D effect. Looking forward to it!