For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of ANTONBLAST, developed by Summitsphere.
When i saw the trailer for this game, my first thought was that speed was going to be what made this difficult. i've played too many games over the years that have used speed as a difficulty, where levels aren't designed for flow from start to finish but rather they're obstacles you have to dodge whilst going fast. I was glad that ANTONBLAST had a demo as i would be able to try it and see just how tough of a game it might be.
I'm happy to say that ANTONBLAST isn't that kind of game. as i say in the video, the nostalgia is strong with this one but in a good way. it reminded me of the Sega Mega Drive era. But for me, more importantly, the two levels i played taught me to trust the game. it has speed, it has platforming, but neither of those two levels felt designed in such a way that there were things deliberately put in our way.
What was also good were the controls. when our character was moving quick, i felt in control and the character was immediately responsive. again, this took a little time to adjust to as there were moments where i was ready to readjust the controls as i'm not used to games like this feeling this good.
I liked how the demo, and i assume the game, wasn't afraid to lean into silliness. there were signs clearly saying what to do or showing where to go. narratively these don't make sense, but visually they worked as the game doesn't take itself too serious. What i was missing, and perhaps this is explained in the final game, was context for part 2 of playing through a level. in part 1, you're making your way from left to right. but in part 2, there's a countdown and a sense of urgency as you have to make your way back to the start as fast as you can. i enjoyed playing this mode, but i have no context what it's all about.
This time trialling a level reminded me of when i played Rayman Legends on Wii U, i really enjoyed the two online modes that game had. in one your goal is to beat a set level as fast as you can. in the other, your goal is to get as far as you can. i hope that the team behind ANTONBLAST is able to put in leaderboards for this second part of a level as it would be fun to race against friends. Kind of what happened with Astro's Playroom on PS5.
this demo for ANTONBLAST is good so i would recommend it to anyone looking for some nostalgia or platforming or both. but i had such a great time with the game i would say it's well worth buying. i even enjoyed the music. from what i played it felt like a complete package, it has taken great inspirations from the past but created it's own game. so it feels familiar but also fresh and maybe, like me, you have to learn to trust the game and it's design as it's not out to get you.