![]() ![]() Purple: This has its uses for certain builds, but there are probably better options.īlack: Taking this will not hurt you, though there may be better options.īlue: This is a very solid choice, and should always be considered. Red: This is either completely worse than another choice, or is just plain ineffective. Moonrider’s adventure likely won’t linger with you, but I don’t regret playing the short, familiar, and satisfying experience.This Handbook uses the following system for ratings: By the time you start feeling like you’ve completed a full retro meal, credits are right around the corner and I appreciate it for that. In this way, it knows exactly what it is: a brief but enjoyable nostalgic experience that doesn’t overstay its welcome. Making your way to the last level and defeating the final boss only takes a few hours. One of the best things going for Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is its length. I found two early on that I never unequipped. I enjoyed these as rewards for exploring off the main path, but some are undeniably more useful than others. Hidden upgrades, like a double jump or the ability to become stronger the more enemies you defeat, can also be found in every level and can optionally be equipped. The mechanic is a familiar one but it works, and it’s exciting to try out your new tornado weapon, or my favorite, a tentacle that ejects from a portal. Taking inspiration from Mega Man, after clearing the first level, the other six can be pursued in any order, and defeating its boss rewards you with a new weapon. Levels are hard, but achievable thanks to reasonable lives and checkpoints, and bosses have patterns that can be tracked and exploited, but probably not on your first attempt. Thankfully, Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider finds a good balance. More importantly, however, I enjoyed them as much as the standard platforming.ĭifficulty is often a shortcoming for comparable games, with many emphasizing challenge over fun. These levels toe a difficult line of looking like they could have existed on a 16-bit console, but I am almost certain they couldn’t. ![]() To zoom out would make it feel too much like a modern game, but I don’t know if it was worth the Genesis-era accuracy to be occasionally annoyed.Īlong with the jumping and sword action, which accounts for most of the game, there are a handful of motorcycle levels. He feels great to move, but some annoying shortcomings appear where you can’t see your next platform due to the camera limitations. Moonrider moves well, bounces off walls like Samus Aran, and sprints to leap over large chasms. The story is secondary, however, to the platforming and sword action. I also appreciated the little bits of personality injected into every boss before beginning the fight. For most of the experience, I wondered if I was the bad guy and enjoyed Moonrider’s soliloquies about how unrestricted power isn’t appropriate for anyone, no matter how noble their intentions. You break out of your container and destroy the guards in a violent display that would have made you grateful your parents weren't watching had you been playing it on your Genesis in 1992. In Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider, you are the titular Moonrider. Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider won’t go down in history as one of the greats that both embraces the past and modernizes the action, but I would place it closer to the fantastic side of the scale, even if it doesn’t quite make it all the way. Some are fantastic, some are too hard to be enjoyable, but most land somewhere in the middle. ![]() I count myself among the group of video game players who welcome efforts from small development teams that play to our nostalgia for an era where playing video games meant tuning to channel 3. Retro platformers are not hard to come by. ![]()
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