Battle Princess Madelyn Review
Battle Princess Madelyn: The Tribute Called ArthurThe video game is often in the image of friendship: certain licenses have accompanied you with remarkable fidelity for several decades, so much so that you cannot imagine growing old without them, when others have moved away so long ago that only an old photo found in a book will remind you with emotion of the good times spent together, a year, a century ago, an eternity ago. Without a doubt, the Ghosts'n Goblins series unfortunately falls into the second category.
Anxious not to get stuck in the box of simple tributes to one of the most timeless classics from Capcom, Battle Princess Madelyn hopes to stand out by offering a Story mode at the antipodes of its elder, at least does we. This is also the promise on which the crowdfunding campaign was launched: transforming a well-known genre by pushing boundaries, as our Canadian friends could no doubt put it. After a number of reports in cascade which left until the last moment hovered the doubt on its effective exit on our premises, here came the hour of truth for the other Madelyn.
Did she understand the ugly curly?
A sign of the passing of time and the culmination of certain struggles for social emancipation, this tribute supported by the adventures of Arthur (and to a lesser extent Firebrand, who we miss at least as terribly), Battle Princess Madelyn reverses the codes, and offers as the name suggests the first role to the young Madelyn, who can not find sleep, the fault, no doubt, to this damn tablet that she does not want to let go. Fortunately, the grandfather arrives just in time, and hastens to tell him a sordid story in which an eponymous character sees his royal family decimated before his eyes. Worse: his faithful coward who lets his protective instinct speak can also be seen passing from life to death, and there is the drop too much. Alongside the ghostly specter of fire-doggie, the princess will put on her armor to avenge the Machiavellian sponsors of this exaction by the sword.In reality, the adventure takes on the air of a 2D action game, leaving much to be explored. Without the traditional leveling, it is up to you to find your way, hidden somewhere in the myriad of tips gleaned along the way. Because they have grievances, these natives! Without a suitable quest log or menu, you will have to show a certain mental rigor to remember who owns this jewel found in the mud, and too bad for efficiency. Ah, same for the controls eh, it will be necessary to do the best, for lack of tutorial. Either way, you're going to die, so you might as well experiment, right?
Are you a hanged family?
But whatever, the adventure awaits a priori only you, and it is the sword rose that one launches the assault on hordes interrupted by zombies, ghouls and other flying crap of all kinds. If the gameplay remains damn effective despite its simplicity borrowed bluntly from Super Ghouls'n Ghosts, it is difficult to sing the same praises at the level design. Largely horizontal, it nevertheless manages to quickly discourage the most experienced adventurers, the fault of many inconsistencies, but also and above all a total lack of clairvoyance which would undoubtedly have led poor Arthur to eat his famous boxer shorts. With a very limited jump at the start, most of the displayed platforms prove to be unreachable, and when they are, they are very often out of scope, giving rise to a very embarrassing schizophrenia.Without landmark or real indication on the direction to follow, the player is therefore forced to try, to fiff improbable jumps hoping to land on a saving platform that we could not guess. Sad. It's all the more unfortunate that the game is doing wonderfully on the graphic level, offering splendid Mega Drive environments, vast and brilliantly animated, but over which we will go far too fast, all busy looking that damn path that will lead to the next boss. Some levels become downright frustrating, like the swamp which will quickly force you to wring all the possibilities before hoping to find THE path that allows you to progress: an absolute misinterpretation that can legitimately drive you crazy, as if Sonic the Hedgehog only offered one one and only valid path despite its many branches. Fortunately, the developers have shown a little leniency by proposing a funny life management, less punitive than usual: Madelyn can indeed recharge a gauge of respawn by killing a few mobs, enough to avoid a game over too expeditious, provided you are not afraid of back and forth.
Semi-crisp
It is then death in the soul and the jaw still tight that we will soon end by drawing a line under this Story mode and its gallery of characters yet beautifully drawn, to quickly fall back on this good old Arcade mode, function of an oh so beneficial stretch goal. And there, the miracle suddenly seems to happen: Madelyn finds herself once again mourning the death of her faithful canine companion, but sends waltz all the superfluous. Retrogaming then resumes its rights, cutting the action into good old stages for families, but considerably tightening its level design. The result ? A game much more punchy, effective, readable, which makes us realize that not all marriages are the happiest. Coming from the arcade, the Ghouls'n Ghosts formula is self-sufficient in the end, and therefore did not need to be passed to any reel. In any case not this one, it is a certainty.Suddenly, we are faced with a two-headed game whose substantial marrow ultimately resides in its mode of play at the start optional, but which saves him in the end from the punishment that we reserve for off-topic copies. It is all the more unfortunate that with such a dressing, the adventure never pushes us to, to hang on to us, because breaking zombi within these superb environments announced to be a most attractive journey. But despite its splendid visual and auditory tribute, Battle Princess Madelyn will ultimately only appeal to fans of the formula made famous by the developer of Osaka in 1985, eager to rub shoulders with a new challenge less devious, but with intact sensations
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