If there’s one factor you may’t accuse Digital Eclipse of, it’s resting on its morals.
Final month the Atari-owned studio launched Tetris Without end, the third entry in its distinctive Gold Grasp Sequence assortment of playable retro documentaries and arguably the very best of the bunch to date.
Not content material to shut the 12 months out with this 5-star assortment of retro gems, the studio is rounding off 2024 with an old-school sport of its personal, one which lends a pseudo-16-bit model to the Mighty Morphin’ Energy Rangers (particularly these first few seasons from 1993-95).
The sport’s plot makes an attempt to bridge the hole between that unique collection and final 12 months’s Netflix reunion film Energy Rangers: As soon as & All the time (although don’t fear if you happen to haven’t seen it). That film’s most important villain, Robo Rita, travels 30 years again in time to seek out the unique Rita Repulsa and the pair group as much as deliver down the Energy Rangers.
In a little bit of brain-bending time journey shenanigans, the Energy Rangers on this sport have actually simply met Zordon and been given their powers, so that they’re utterly inexperienced – effectively, they’re pink, blue, black, pink and yellow to be exact – and are due to this fact discovering the sport’s number of vibrant enemies similtaneously the participant.
It’s an fascinating twist on nostalgia as a result of the entire “keep in mind this man?” gimmick lands in another way when the protagonist clearly doesn’t, as a result of they’re solely simply assembly them for the primary time.
Regardless, all the above is especially fan service, with entertainingly written cutscene dialogue between every stage. The meat of the sport is clearly in its beat ‘em up sections, that are designed with the very best of the style in thoughts.
Fight is easy sufficient with a normal combo assault, a leap kick, a double-jump and a floor pound. The true game-changer, nevertheless, is an upwards thrust assault carried out with Up + Assault, which fires your Ranger diagonally into the air.
Your combo ends with a transfer that pops the enemy into the air, so it’s doable to combo them, launch them upwards, pop them greater with the upwards thrust assault, slam them again to the bottom with a leaping kick, then juggle them after they bounce. It’s not essential to get by means of the sport, however we’ll be damned if it isn’t deeply satisfying to tug off.
Additionally within the ‘you don’t have to have this nevertheless it helps’ class is a information of the beat ‘em up style. The sport has loads of in-jokes that improve the expertise for many who get them, from the TMNT: Turtles in Time nod close to the beginning of the sport, to the subway prepare with greater than a passing resemblance to Ultimate Struggle, to the fairground enemies on big balls á la The Simpsons arcade sport.
Apparently, Digital Eclipse has determined {that a} straight beat ‘em up isn’t sufficient for this sport, with 4 different gameplay sorts showing in sure phases. Maybe probably the most notable of those are the rail shooter sequences, the place you’re taking management of your Ranger’s particular Dinozord and tackle numerous enemies earlier than going through a boss on the finish.
These really feel like extra visually spectacular takes on one thing like Star Fox, and among the later phases can get a tad on the irritating aspect, particularly one part with a leaping part which results in prompt demise.
You can also make issues simpler in these phases, to an extent, by enjoying because the Pink Ranger, as a result of her pterodactyl Dinozord clearly can’t hit any objects on the bottom and doesn’t have to fret concerning the leaping part. The way in which its flying is delayed, nevertheless – it appears to comply with your cursor with some delay, maybe intentionally so as to add some problem – makes dodging enemy bullets fairly a problem.
Every so often you’ll come throughout street phases which have an identical over-the-shoulder viewpoint to the rail shooter sections however have you ever driving a motorcycle as an alternative. That is armed with a gun (giving us, if you happen to’ll forgive us for being area of interest, critical NES Mach Rider vibes) and, in our view, these sections deal with higher than the rail shooter ranges.
Add to this a collection of first-person boss battles the place you’re taking management of the Megazord and should dodge a large monster’s assault – which is form of like Punch-Out!! however to not an excessive diploma – and a light-weight gun shooter part on a rollercoaster, and the range within the sport definitely can’t be questioned, even when they maybe don’t match as much as the beat ‘em up sections when it comes to sheer bliss.
There are even just a few unlockable arcade video games, which will be performed on the Angel Grove Youth Middle (which acts as the sport’s hub space in between phases, the place you may chat with the hidden characters you’ve rescued, in addition to collection longstays Bulk and Cranium.
Given the sport’s 1993 setting, these arcade video games have one thing of an early ‘80s really feel to them – a youth centre’s not going to be shopping for cutting-edge cupboards, in spite of everything – and are all entertaining sufficient in their very own manner.
Our private favorite of those is Drive Bomber, which seems to be impressed by Halfway’s Spy Hunter however provides an fascinating bomb-dropping mechanic which feels just like the definition of a danger vs reward system.
The complete bundle, with the beat ‘em up phases, the assorted different gameplay kinds and the unlockable arcade video games, ought to maintain you entertained for some time, however solely so long as you’re the form of participant who doesn’t thoughts retreading outdated floor – as is the best way of this style, this definitely isn’t a protracted sport.
We began a sport on Regular problem and had been watching the credit roll after about two and a half hours, however the replay issue then is available in looking for the hidden collectibles in every stage, and attempting to get an S rank by beating it inside a sure time.
The one main draw back we had with the sport was the heroes’ voices. The music is completely very good, that includes an important variation on what’s objectively top-of-the-line TV present themes of all time, however every character is restricted to a small handful of soundbites that they’ll utter over and over. It begins to get annoying throughout the first couple of phases, and there’s a lot extra the place that got here from.
This apart, Rita’s Rewind is a superb try at a ‘new outdated’ sport that Energy Rangers followers ought to take into account vital, and everybody else ought to give critical consideration to testing too.