Fallen Leaf

Солидное платформенное приключение. Тут без малого СОТНЯ уровней. СОТНИ видов врагов и персонажей. Игровых персонажей десяток, со своими уникальными механиками. Правда, пользоваться всеми вы точно не станете. В этом нет необходимости - игра прощает много ошибок, предоставляет много видов доп. оружия, улучшений. Совершенно не душит! А еще тут уйма секретов, отсылок, небольших квестов. Все это способно затянуть часов на 15 смело. Пожалуй, можно назвать Fallen Leaf эдаким образцовым сборником классического платформенного наследия для тех, кто не хочет напрягаться или просто не слишком хорош в платформерах. Выглядит (в рамках стилистики) все отлично, музыка тоже хорошая, техническое исполнение без шероховатостей

Fallen Leaf is a retro-style game homaging several NES-era games, most notably the Mega Man games (stage structure and the MC's movement, abilities and general design) but much longer and more complex than those. However, it probably imitates old-school games a little too well in the beginning... judging by the percentage of achievements, most players didn't get past the first two worlds (of 6 total), which is a shame since after a while the game really opens up, with several recruitable characters that are fairly different from one another (and you can instantly switch between them), a nice storyline, lots of collectibles and secret areas to find, many side-quests and a fair amount of world-building. Maybe the first world should have been smaller, since it looks like a generic series of valleys, woods and caves, with a generic protagonist confronting a generic bad guy, but if you persevere the other areas are far less bland, while still being based on typical retro-game settings. Most notably the fourth world, a metropolis full of shops, leisure areas and hotels but also dilapidated neighborhoods and building sites, or the fifth one combining haunted forests and castles with polluting factories and lava-filled mountains full of undead fossils. As you can deduce, it does reference some real-world issues, but it's never preachy about it, mostly because it's still set in a fantasy world full of everything from dinosaurs, gnomes, angels, to anthro animals and clay people, all interacting with each other in humorous and sometimes unexpected ways. The platforming is good with tight controls, it does come close to some of the typically hard NES platformers at times, but it never becomes frustrating: there's no lives system, and if you explore and do the sub-quests there's plenty of opportunities to become stronger and more powerful, including a variety of secondary weapons that can be found, bought or won by completing mini-games. Or, if you want more of a challenge, there's the opportunity to disable power-ups and even entire characters to face the stages with the basic equipment. Boss fights are intense too, and should you find them too challenging, there's still plenty of healing items to buy and use from the sub-menu. Pros: + Very good and detailed pixel art, especially regarding the world maps, character portraits (including the "wacky" ones) and some of the bigger bosses. + Fast travel, which is a blessing when you have such huge overworld maps. + Various playable characters that are fairly mechanically different from one another, so you can try different approaches. + No difficulty sliders, but you can disable items and advantages, so you can tailor the gameplay for a more "retro" experience. + Many secondary events and extra stuff in an already decently-sized adventure. + Nice world-building that makes the quests and characters' plights more interesting. + Funny, lightly humorous tone throughout the adventure and the interactions between characters, that however never becomes a parody. Cons: - Takes a while to get interesting. - Main character Leaf is bland and fairly useless (but maybe that's the joke?). - Competent but unremarkable chiptunes, never really hummed them during gameplay. - The tiered gauntlet attack system doesn't really change much in terms of gameplay.

This was a real treat to play. All the retro game lovers need to get his game! I appreciate that there is difficulty without severely punishing the player for failing. Loved the characters and special weapons you unlock along the way. Very replayable as well. This was my second playthrough.