Crossbow Crusade

A few days ago, I reviewed Heidelberg 1693, a fantastic new side-scrolling action game that evokes the spirit of Castlevania in the 16-bit era. I sure wish I played Crossbow Crusade before taking that trip to Heidelberg, because now I worry that I'm going to spend the whole review comparing it a far better horror-themed throwback released around the same time. That's not fair, because the newest game from HugePixel is disappointing on its own. It's a short and ultimately pointless platformer that basically gives up halfway through. My suggestion is to buy Heidelberg 1693 instead. End of review. What, you still need more? All right, let's get into this.

I want you to hold back your shock and surprise when I tell you that awful things are happening in the Dead Kingdom. Evil spirits, disease and rampant hunger are killing off the survivors, and hope and strength wears thin by the day. Heeding the call for help, a nameless monster hunter whose only personality trait is that he owns a crossbow comes to the rescue and fights through fifteen monster-filled stages in order to slay the evil (and also nameless) ruler of the Dead Kingdom.

This sets up a surprisingly short and simple side-scroller where our hero jumps on floating platforms and shoots zombies, bats and other enemies with his crossbow. About the most depth you'll find in this game is the ability to use the arrows as stairs, allowing the monster hunter to climb over obstacles and avoid bottomless pits. Not that you even have a choice, since it's the only way to make it through the linear stages. There's no puzzle platforming here, Crossbow Crusade is as straight-forward as you can get.

As a fairly basic action game, this one isn't especially bad. You spend a lot of time jumping on narrow platforms and memorizing the enemy patterns. Sometimes there are big blobs to jump on that will bounce our hero high up into the air, while other stages will have you pushing birdcages around using your arrows. It's not that the game doesn't add new elements and obstacles as you make it further into the 15 stages, but rather that they are all so familiar and cliché that they don't even register as being new additions. There's not a lot here that is new or interesting.

And that goes for the bosses, too. At first, I felt like the boss fights were fun and tense, forcing you to see the patterns and use it against the tough foes. However, the boss designs take a big hit in the second half of the game. In that sense, it feels like the game gives up halfway through. We went from challenging bosses to push-overs who will just stand in place until you shoot them enough times. The final three bosses in particular are especially bad. It got to the point where I wondered if I had broken the game in some way, because surely these monsters are supposed to do more than just stand there.

The one unique thing this game has going for it is that the bosses help our hero after they've been defeated. That turns out to be a big deal because it opens up a unique type of stage where we're slowly falling through a cave or riding a ghost like a boat. They may be quick and over way too soon, but they do a good job of mixing up the monotony of the standard platforming stages. I wish the game had more stuff like this.

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Between the pixel graphics and the simple control scheme, it's clear that Crossbow Crusade is going for that throwback retro vibe. The problem is that even by those standards, this game disappoints. Even the earliest 8-bit action games bothered to give the heroes names and offer a good reason to hate the villainous bad guys. I say that the game gives up halfway through, but it could be argued that the attempt was half-hearted from the start. This is a game that does the bare minimum and hopes that will be enough because it looks old. Spoiler alert: That's not enough.

It also doesn't help that the game is sluggish and occasionally hard to control. Crossbow Crusade has two big problems that thwarted my best efforts throughout the entire game. The biggest issue is the slight lag that happens between pressing the button and seeing the character jump. The gameplay is not as tight or precise as many of the classic side-scrollers it's trying to copy. The game also has an issue where the character will stick in one position. You'll be shooting at an enemy above the monster hunter, only to realize that he won't stop aiming up. I had a similar issue when crouching. This persisted across multiple controllers, which makes me think that there's something about the gameplay that gets stuck mid-battle.

Don't get me wrong, it's not that you can't have fun playing Crossbow Crusade. Even with some laggy control issues, the platforming is still fun and the first couple boss fights are intense in all the right ways. But things break down when you notice that the developer is cutting too many corners and leaving some of the best elements out. With very little new or unique here, I find it nearly impossible to recommend Crossbow Crusade. You should buy Heidelberg 1693 instead.