This is another of those games that I have no idea how I came to be in possession of.
The best guess is that it was part of a bundle that included something I was looking for, although there’s also a chance I was doing some midnight eBaying and picked it up for a pittance out of curiosity. Either way, it’s here, Selectron™ has spoken, and so, let's find out if it’s any good.
Obviously my expectations are neutral from the outset, but when the name of Hal Laboratories appears in the opening credits I admit to being intrigued. A quick trawl of wikipedia doesn’t turn up much info but, with Kirby’s handlers on board and my (at this point well documented) affection for Game Boy movie tie-ins, my interest is piqued.
The game starts with a background story text-crawl, interspersed with the cheesy stills from the movie just in case you don’t know what Wesley snipes and Kriss Kristopherson looked like - then it’s straight to the action.
There’s an interesting twist right off the bat as the game gives you the option of three starting missions, with the one you choose setting the difficulty for the rest of the game.
The majority of Blade is a simplistic ‘Double Dragon’ style affair and these sections are pretty great looking; Pixel-Snipes is really nicely drawn and pretty well animated considering the hardware, enemies are decently varied if a little more basic looking, the backgrounds have a nice style about them - and usually the stages are over quick enough that the designs don’t get too repetitive, but there’s no moving in or out of screen, and don’t expect more than 2 enemies on screen at any given point.
There is however, a surprising amount of depth to the moveset, with a variety of kicks and punches on offer alongside a limited number of screen clearing glaive attacks.
Moreover, where most games would have used the ‘B’ button for jump on the GBC’s limited controls, Blade, instead, has it assigned for block which, when timed correctly, becomes a parry, allowing for a swift and powerful follow-up attack.
Every few stages you’ll find little pixel-Snipes rooted to the middle of the screen as the game unleashes its shooting gallery stages. In these you shoot up, into the screen, at waves of enemies in the distance. These are more simplistic affairs but they serve as a nice change of pace and punctuation to the side-scrolling levels and the animation remains top notch.
The final variety of levels are the boss battles, in which pixel-Snipes whips his sword out for a one-on-one battle with a beast vampire who will dodge and fly around the screen.
It may be because I don’t have the manual to refer to (and couldn’t find a PDF online) but, unlike the shooting and kung-fu levels, I never felt like I had the tools to deal with these battles effectively - and that’s the sign of a very poorly conceived boss fight.
You might like them if you're a fan of that tiresome, Soulslike, block-for-eternity-waiting-for-an-opening style of combat, but for me the nicest thing I can say about the boss battles is that they make the game last a bit longer - and considering I beat the game in well under three hours that’s not saying much at all.
That, sadly, makes the game hard to recommend. Three hours is no time for a game that offers entirely no replay value and delivers nothing of depth or emotional value. It’s not even that cheap on the second-hand market, so I can’t even back it as a cheap-and-cheerful throwaway buy.
And there’s the issue that GBC games never look their best on emulators, so I wouldn’t recommend that either - but at least taken that option it won’t cost you anything if you wanted to enjoy this fun, if simplistic, brawler.
The best guess is that it was part of a bundle that included something I was looking for, although there’s also a chance I was doing some midnight eBaying and picked it up for a pittance out of curiosity. Either way, it’s here, Selectron™ has spoken, and so, let's find out if it’s any good.
Obviously my expectations are neutral from the outset, but when the name of Hal Laboratories appears in the opening credits I admit to being intrigued. A quick trawl of wikipedia doesn’t turn up much info but, with Kirby’s handlers on board and my (at this point well documented) affection for Game Boy movie tie-ins, my interest is piqued.
The game starts with a background story text-crawl, interspersed with the cheesy stills from the movie just in case you don’t know what Wesley snipes and Kriss Kristopherson looked like - then it’s straight to the action.
There’s an interesting twist right off the bat as the game gives you the option of three starting missions, with the one you choose setting the difficulty for the rest of the game.
The majority of Blade is a simplistic ‘Double Dragon’ style affair and these sections are pretty great looking; Pixel-Snipes is really nicely drawn and pretty well animated considering the hardware, enemies are decently varied if a little more basic looking, the backgrounds have a nice style about them - and usually the stages are over quick enough that the designs don’t get too repetitive, but there’s no moving in or out of screen, and don’t expect more than 2 enemies on screen at any given point.
There is however, a surprising amount of depth to the moveset, with a variety of kicks and punches on offer alongside a limited number of screen clearing glaive attacks.
Moreover, where most games would have used the ‘B’ button for jump on the GBC’s limited controls, Blade, instead, has it assigned for block which, when timed correctly, becomes a parry, allowing for a swift and powerful follow-up attack.
Every few stages you’ll find little pixel-Snipes rooted to the middle of the screen as the game unleashes its shooting gallery stages. In these you shoot up, into the screen, at waves of enemies in the distance. These are more simplistic affairs but they serve as a nice change of pace and punctuation to the side-scrolling levels and the animation remains top notch.
The final variety of levels are the boss battles, in which pixel-Snipes whips his sword out for a one-on-one battle with a beast vampire who will dodge and fly around the screen.
It may be because I don’t have the manual to refer to (and couldn’t find a PDF online) but, unlike the shooting and kung-fu levels, I never felt like I had the tools to deal with these battles effectively - and that’s the sign of a very poorly conceived boss fight.
You might like them if you're a fan of that tiresome, Soulslike, block-for-eternity-waiting-for-an-opening style of combat, but for me the nicest thing I can say about the boss battles is that they make the game last a bit longer - and considering I beat the game in well under three hours that’s not saying much at all.
That, sadly, makes the game hard to recommend. Three hours is no time for a game that offers entirely no replay value and delivers nothing of depth or emotional value. It’s not even that cheap on the second-hand market, so I can’t even back it as a cheap-and-cheerful throwaway buy.
And there’s the issue that GBC games never look their best on emulators, so I wouldn’t recommend that either - but at least taken that option it won’t cost you anything if you wanted to enjoy this fun, if simplistic, brawler.
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