[BLOG] Indie Game Review: Nefarious

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PredictedCyborg
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[BLOG] Indie Game Review: Nefarious

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I like stories. I love to evaluate the way they're built, characters and especially those narratives that play with the typically accepted patterns and turn them on their head. It's been done quite a bit, but I never get tired of flipping a story on its head and experiencing it from the other side.



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So Nefarious, which is a modern take on the 2D platformer genre that has you play as the villain? Yeah, it got my interest immediately. The main character is villain Crow, who indulges in the time-honoured tradition of kidnapping the princess of his area, Princess Mayapple, as well as building doomsday devices and so on, so forth. Pitted against him is hero Mack, a Megaman-esque type who is in a relationship with Mayapple and is her 'hero'. Only throughout the first level, which takes place in the city location the three are based in, you get hints in the dialogue that honestly the kidnapping thing has happened so often that Mayapple and Crow understand each other a bit better than Mayapple and Mack do right now. It's wonderful to see the three play out their roles while still being believably the role they fit into.



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The gameplay itself takes place over several different locations as Crow sets out beyond his usual boundaries to kidnap many princesses for an ultimate weapon. Enemies will be encountered and can be dispatched with punches or with grenades which have a timer of a few seconds unless they hit an enemy. Grenades can also be used to hit buttons and can also sometimes be found fixed into place to act as a jump booster for higher up platforms. Defeated enemies usually drop grenade refills, also they can also drop heart canisters if you have taken on some damage. Crow starts with 3 hearts and enemies can take a half or full heart on hit, while most enemies early on take only one punch or grenade. Different princesses grabbed also give Crow certain abilities, such as the Insektia princess letting Crow jump higher or further than before; and abilities can be upgraded in between location levels by spending accumulated currency that you pick up while in the location levels. Death will also leave behind a chunk of the current amount of money you are currently carrying too, and you can grab it again as you go past by touching, punching or blowing up the container left behind.



I really enjoyed this game, as I adored the characters, the use of tropes and the chance to take part in 'reverse boss battles' (you get to be the boss against heroes!) as well as the regular boss encounter type battles. My gripes with this game extend to one thing though - who thought it was a good idea to tie the punch to the right-mouse button and grenades to the left? Most games will tie a punch to the left and grenades to the right, so my muscle memory really played havoc with me (fortunately you cannot blow yourself up with your own grenades). We have a suspicion that this might be a game that plays better with the aid of a controller.



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If you love 2D platformers, give this one a go. It's not that expensive and it's a lot of fun, with interesting characters and awesome music.



7.5/10



Yes that's Minecraft-me in my av. Done by Reiu who is damn talented!
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