Give me some 2D side-scrolling action with a hefty side of fun.
Super Alloy Crush from developer Alloy Mushroom was just released into Early Access this past week. We have had the pleasure of digging into this game before, and now that it’s out in the open and updated, we’re back again with a new preview. While I could never be as precise or as eloquent as Will Silberman with this game, or previews in general, I will do my best to represent.
Starting with the story, Super Alloy Crush’s narrative has not changed one bit. The player heads into battle as cybernetic beings, Kelly and Muu, and their purpose is to take down evil troops, robotic enemies, and the occasional bear with a gun. Each side of the tracks is on the hunt for cosmic treasure: Planet AE-38, and the first to obtain it will acquire untold power.
This is one of those stories that needs just a hint of purpose to exist, and occasionally motivates the player to care and continue. There’s not a lot of need for unnecessary, deep storytelling, which is representative of the blueprint Super Alloy Crush was born from – Mega Man. This game wants the player to mainly focus on the insane amount of action it delivers, the upgrades it provides, and a bit of role-playing game magic that it has sprinkled into the entire adventure. All of which is wrapped up in a fast and furious type of gameplay. The fact that we get a well-told story is amazing, and, again, not necessary to enjoy the gameplay.
Speaking of gameplay, it truly is a Mega Man clone in its design. Lots of enemies are thrown at the player in multi-tiered, pixelated levels, which are simple and repetitive in what they include (machines everywhere, enemy action points, and other such things that players have probably seen in MM games). Super Alloy Crush level design features a more refined MM look, but it’s a hoot to revisit those memories, as Kelly and Muu can jump up and up platforms to scroll to the next place. Again, it’s all very familiar.
On the action side of the gameplay tracks, it’s just batshit insane combat. From the moment the player brings Kelly and Muu onto the scene, enemies will pop up, react quickly, and it will be a shooting fest of epic proportions. Well, claw fest with shooting involved. Armed to the teeth with claws, Kelly and Muu will swipe their way through enemies, take down bosses, and just keep the action rolling quickly. And that action is the driving point of the game, as the devs want players to go as fast as they can and feel a sort of rush with the high sensation value explosions and numerous enemies coming at the player from all corners of the screen.
Of course, this game doesn’t just rely on the action alone. That would be a bit humdrum and too simple. In between levels, Kelly and Muu return to their home base, where they can purchase upgrades with coins collected, new moves, and use a circuit board to implant permanent buffs. The latter part of that sentence is fascinating in how it was executed, as the player is given a finite amount of space on the circuit board, which they can open up a bit more with the right amount of coin, and the implants are Tetris shapes that only fit in certain ways. What this does is two things – gives the player motivation to keep collecting coins and opening more of the board, and it sends them back into the game, repeating levels and playing more. It’s a gameplay element that keeps the player in the game. If you want people to play a game like this long term, that’s a brilliant way to do it.
Beyond quick multi-tiered levels and cool ways to upgrade the main character, the game also features some fun bosses that gradually get more difficult as you continue. You might be saying, after reading that sentence, don’t all games do that? Not necessarily and not so blatantly. For every creative boss that players come across, and who brings their own style of chaos, the ante is upped for the next boss, but not by too much.
The developers seemed to understand that they could crank the difficulty up to 11, but actively avoided doing so, just choosing to bring more creative boss personalities with different attack formations instead (just like in Mega Man). Adding just a bit more trickery to boss fights as the player continues through them breaks up any sort of monotony that might be created in these types of games. For example, there is a fight where a giant tank needs to be taken down. It damages the player by rolling over them, shooting them, or a few other ways. It’s not a bad boss, but it’s challenging. Later in the game, there is a boss that will actively fire their weapons across the floor of the battlefield, forcing the player to quickly avoid it, while the boss will also quickly set up a different strike in the air, which requires precise positioning to avoid. There is a lot to juggle with that second boss. This boss was so much harder than the tank, but at the same time wasn’t too difficult that they felt impossible. In other words, the game doesn’t go from 4 to 11; rather, it goes from 4 to 6 and then to 8. Gradual difficulty but enough to make a player feel like they’re getting better at the game. That is positive reinforcement, and it makes the game feel like it wasn’t a chore, so players will want to quickly get going in the face of defeat.
Anyway, this Early Access game is impressive right now. Whatever they are working on to improve it will only be a bonus with how it currently exists. We will revisit this title when it is ready to review, but in the meantime, I highly recommend it for anyone who loves Mega Man-type of 2D side-scrolling action games.
