20XX

Developer: Batterystaple Games

Steam Release: Aug 2017

Hours Played: 8.9

Similar To:  Cave Story+ / Giana Sisters / Gunman Clive / Rogue Legacy

Rating: 5/5 Parsnips

GAMEPLAY

20XX (pronounced twenty ex-dee-ex) is a run and gun / side-scrolling platformer designed in the Mega Man style where you run, jump and gun your way to victory. Gameplay focuses on jumping and shooting in equal measure which is both dense and intense. You'll storm your way through levels for the privilege of a showdown with the level's final boss then rinse and repeat the process until your inevitable demise (unless you complete the game). In this event  you'll start again from the home-page shop after purchasing items with your collected soul chips such as permanent upgrades or unlock-able abilities that have a chance to drop in future runs. Another currency known as nuts can also be used to buy useful things during runs. Levels are procedurally generated so it's less a case of memorizing and more about getting good. 
 

BALANCE & PACE

The game consists of all your favourite mechanics: moving platforms will require well-timed jumps; platforms will fall and crumble away; icy ones make you slide under-foot; the wall jump mechanic is present, as well as magnetic ceilings that you can cling to upside-down with your metallic boots. Enemies such as fluttering bats, mechanical toucans, dive-bombing wasps, annoying turrets and exploding spiders also make an appearance. Throw in a dash, plus a dash+jump move to jump further and it all starts to sound pretty standard. However, with great variety plus fluid movements and controls, you will definitely feel yourself adapting to each challenge and getting better each time as the game grows on you with each run. You'll also grow in confidence and take more risks in going off the beaten track to find those extra goodies.  
 

PRESENTATION & DESIGN 

The game features a cartoon art-style with graphics being totally clean and crisp. Metallic foes of colourful robots and mechs in an outer-space world is the theme. Personally, like most games, I prefer playing with the music off so I can hear the sound-effects which, in this case, are pristine and well-chosen. Your footsteps clank nicely as you run along and make a particularly satisfying clonk as they strike the magnetic ceiling. A puff of the gas also hisses nicely as you dash. The UI displays most of the important information such as health, energy for your special attack and time left (for the gift at the end) but for some reason doesn't display the amount of soul chips collected. Thankfully, unlike Cuphead, there is a damage/health meter for the bosses at the boss fights.  

   

PROGRESS SYSTEM

At the home-page, you're never more than a few clicks away from checking progress and stats. For a start, there is a stats-page devoted to keeping records of all sorts of largely irrelevant figures such as total enemies killed, runs completed, nuts collected or damage dished out etc. At least you do get a separate page for each of the four characters (two of which need to be purchased as DLCs). As it's a game about defeating bosses, the most useful is probably level reached. Secondly there are half a dozen or so different daily or weekly seeded challenges that you can do from normal to hardcore difficulty. Careful though - you only get one shot at the daily one.  Needless to say, it records your best score and/or time with an accompanying world rank. Finally, you can attempt the campaign on Reverent, Normal or Defiant difficulty.

CONCLUSION

With the way the game plays out and with certain mechanics such as losing all nuts between runs, I did find myself thinking I was playing a modern day Rogue Legacy. However, with the variety and surprises thrown in, this wasn't a bad thing. With a splash screen on start up basically imploring you to play with an Xbox 360 controller, I found the gameplay using this device to be hugely satisfying especially after pulling off moves with a flourish requiring skillful jumping and a shoot to kill twist. Further additions such as portals that shift you around, Glory Zones that give you a challenge for an extra reward, shops to purchase boosts with nuts and one-run abilities available to purchase with soul chips at the home-page... all add up to 20XX being a piece of solid platforming nourishment.