Energy for PCE
Review #8036
Energy
Metroid meets The Goonies II
Gameplay
I feel bad for some of these early PC Engine games because they don't stack up against late gen titles like Super Metroid or Yoshi's Island. There's a generational gap because the PCE coexisted with both the NES and SNES. But them's the breaks, I suppose.
I say all that because this is, easily, the worst programmed game I've come across for the PCE/TG16. It feels like one of those awful NES games, like Predator or Bible Adventures, which were seemingly created by amateurs.
This game features a hilariously floaty jump, animations which can stop mid-animation, terrible hit detection and a host of other basic gameplay problems. Despite all that, it's actually somewhat playable.
The gameplay resembles Kid Icarus in that you fire a projectile at enemies who mindlessly wander around the screen in rooms that lock you in until all enemies are killed.
Level Design
It's got light Metroidvania elements, with gated areas which can be revisited once you've acquired a new item. However, these items don't give you any new abilities, so they act more as a key than a powerup. It's quite linear and more ambitious than the developer was capable of realizing.
The world feels a lot like Metroid.
Theme
Aliens have destroyed Tokyo and a bunch of kids around a laptop are called int to save the day with a "secret weapon" that's just a weak fireball gun. Pretty derpy if you ask me.
Art Style
Embarrasing, even for an early gen game. It actually reminds me a lot of Bible Adventures for the NES, with blocky, simply drawn, and unintentionally hilarious sprites. So bad its good
Audio
Like the graphics, the music is so bad its good, but it takes itself serious enough that I actually enjoyed it. Decidedly 8-bit, but that speaks to me most of the time.
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