EarthNight

As we enter this new year and decade, let's ponder the most important question: What would you do if a bunch of alien dragons came to Earth and started destroying all of our cities? If you're Stanley and Sydney, then you take matters into your own hands and skydive through the stratosphere trying to kill every last monster. That's the setup to the new game EarthNight from Cleaversoft, a runner that sees two incredible heroes race across the backs of serpents in a mad dash to slam a knife into their giant eyeballs. I'm not sure that's what I would have done, but as they say, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Stanley and Sydney don't know each other. They aren't family members or friends, but rather two regular people thrust into an extraordinary situation when they decide to fight back after seeing their planet torn apart. They do this by jumping out of a spaceship and skydiving onto the hundreds of dragons making their way to Earth. The goal is to run from tail to head, dodging enemies and picking up rare treasure. If you can make to the head, then you'll plunge your trusty knife into the monster's head and then jump off to do the whole thing all over again.

The tricky part about EarthNight is that you don't have a lot of control over the action. The game is always pushing us forward, whether we like it or not, so a lot of our job boils down to jumping on platforms and bouncing off the heads of the various enemies. Those platforms usually lead to rare items and eggs that will make defeating the creature a lot easier. You'll find that getting to the head is only part of the job and killing it is not always a guarantee. Our heroes only have a short amount of time to stab the beast to death, so it's important to find the hidden eggs in order to make each hit more powerful.

A lot of this game comes down to replaying it over and over in order to not only take down different colored dragons, but also collect enough money to buy items and upgrades back on the spaceship. These pickups will line the levels and give our heroes special abilities, like an extra jump, a protective bubble and a way to grow really big. You'll find items that pixelate the level, turn it black and white, and make everything go faster. Unlocking and using these items is crucial to your survival, especially in the later stages. This is a difficult game, even with the extra power-ups.

Although the gameplay remains the same, Sydney and Stanley tackle the job a bit differently. Sydney comes with a double jump by default, making it easier for her to locate the hard-to-reach eggs and items. Stanley, on the other hand, is a better fighter who has an easier time battling the bad guys. Although she comes with more of a learning curve, I found that I preferred the mobility of Sydney. This is the type of game where a double (and sometimes triple) jump will come in handy, especially when it comes to dodging enemies and picking up the items you need to survive.

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Unfortunately, that's also one of the problems I have with EarthNight. No matter what hero you choose, these levels are not easy to explore. Not only do you have the stage constantly pushing you forward, but there are enemies everywhere and limited ways to attack. I had a hard time finding a rhythm to the action and always felt like I was straying from the right path. And because the stages are so big and hectic, I would constantly race by the eggs and items needed to slay the dragon. I don't know if it's because the camera is zoomed in too close to the character or that neither Stanley nor Sydney have the right set of moves to get around, but I found traversing the stages to be a little frustrating.

I'm also not a big fan of the boss fights. You would think that all you need to do is mash the button really fast to kill the dragon, but it's more complicated than that. Sometimes you'll want to wait a few beats before stabbing them in the eye, while other times it's all about the button mashing. It's never clear what the right strategy is going to be and you don't have much time to figure it out, leading to a lot of really annoying boss battles.

On a brighter note, I am a big fan of the art style. I like the way the characters and dragons look like they were painted by hand. The backgrounds are filled with flying serpents and other details that highlight just how outnumbered we are in this war. From the skydiving to the boss fights, there's not a moment in this game that doesn't impress on an aesthetic level. I just wish the rest of the game was as good as the visuals.

EarthNight is a fun yet flawed runner with great graphics and a cool theme. It's easy to root for Stanley and Sydney as they go up against a whole army of alien dragons. Sadly, this platformer is marred by repetitive action and stiff gameplay, as well as inconsistent boss fights and levels that are often difficult to traverse. But even with these faults, I found that EarthNight had enough hooks to keep me coming back until every last dragon was vanquished. That's certainly not what I expected to be doing when we started 2020.