We are currently living in a renaissance of side scrolling platformers akin to Mega-Man. From Shovel Knight (2014) to the much anticipated Mighty No. 9 (expected 2016), fans can expect a lot of content for the genre. Although still in beta, 20XX adds to this wonderful list of modern platformers. Let’s just right into my impressions.
Let me start off by clearing up one thing: 20XX recommends the use of an Xbox 360 controller to play the game. While this is pretty standard among modern PC games, I currently do not have an Xbox 360 controller on-hand. The game warns to use other controls “at your own risk”. I proceeded to use keyboard and mouse, so the overall “feel” of the game will not be represented in my impressions.
The game starts off easily enough teaching players how to play with a simple and effective tutorial mission. Make no mistake, this isn’t a very complex game. 20XX takes a lot of cues from classic Mega-Man games in which the sole gameplay mechanic is to jump and shoot. There are several power-ups throughout levels that players can pick up to break the monotony of jumping and shooting. But players won’t want to check out 20XX just for the tried-and-true gameplay mechanics, but for the rogue-like levels it generates. Since each level is procedurally generated, players will be greeted to an extra challenge to complete each level. I found that these levels varied greatly in difficulty, but some were far more challenging than others. But that should be expected with rogue-likes, as you never know what you’ll get!
Players are able to choose between two characters: “Nina”, the typical Mega-Man character that can only shoot, and “Ace”, a character that uses a light sword to cut down his foes. While those seeking to play the traditional jump-and-shoot game will find solace in “Nina”, I found that “Ace” was much more enjoyable to play. It was really fun running through the levels slicing up and destroying all of the enemies with ease. Boss battles felt even more intense as you will need to get close to the boss to defeat him.
All in all, 20XX is a solid action platformer. It plays it safe a little too much for my tastes in terms of gameplay, but it’s art-style and rogue-like levels are sure to give players hours of fun. As I played with a keyboard, the gameplay felt a bit stiff and disjointed. Plug in a controller, and I’m sure 20XX plays just fine!
