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"The Jet Gamer" Game Review: Shovel Knight
10 years ago
(a new game from me on my WiiU? Neat to see I'm sure =P)
Shovel Knight
A popular digital game getting a physical release for the WiiU? Now that is something I can get behind. A platformer that is supposed to be based off of the NES days of platformers. The game got its beginnings from kickstarter and it goes to show you how well this game has done that it has been able to not only get released digitally, but to eventually get a physical release as well. This must be some kind of game. Why don't we try it out shall we?
Gameplay
The gameplay of Shovel Knight is exactly what you would expect when you are getting into this game. It is a classic NES style platformer. It basically plays in a Mega Man style for best comparison. You are on a grid like map where you can go up, down, left, or right, and you explore the map while passing by checkpoints on your way to the boss of each level. There are eight main bosses in total with a main boss at the end. Yes, this sounds familiar, but there are also other mini bosses thrown in as well. There are a couple of side levels that rely on you being able to use your new skill you buy and acquire along the way to get lots of treasure. Treasure is quite important in this game, as you need it to buy most of your power ups from the stores, along with health, magic, armor, and weapon upgrades. There are quite a number of these, but there is also no shortage of treasure to go around. The chances of you needing to farm treasure is very low as it is quite plentiful, as long as you don't die a lot of course. Whenever you die, you lose three small bags of treasure. The more you are carrying, the larger the bags will be when you lose them. However, if you can get back to where you died, you can recover your treasure bags and keep going. If you die again before recovering the bags, those first bags are gone for good. So, as long as you don't die a ton, you will be alright treasure wise. Really, the difficulty is my only major point here, as it does have some of those NES hard moments to it. This can frustrate the newer players to the platforming genre, or those that didn't grow up with older platformers that aren't as forgiving as newer games. However, luckily, there are checkpoints you can go by along the way for you to continue from whenever you die, and there are unlimited continues. However, unlike some games, you can get greedy and blow up the checkpoints for a treasure boost. Doing this however, does eliminate the checkpoint, so you have to be careful if you want to go this route. Shovel Knight uses a unique weapon, a shovel obviously, to attack his enemies. You can are usually just going to rely on basic swinging of the shovel, but there are several magical items you can use to assist you in attacking as well, such as an axe like weapon that swings upwards, and a magical ball that can bounce along the ground to attack your enemies. Still, the bulk of the game is what the game is all about, and that is the platforming. Most of it is incredibly fair, and the parts that are tricky, aren't usually too unfair. There is some difficulty there as you go through the game, but you sort of expect that. As I said before, this could turn off some players, but for anyone that has played games like this before, this will be nothing new and actually quite welcomed that there is some challenge to the game. On top of that, there is actually another character you can play in during the game after you beat it once. Instead of Shovel Knight, you can play as Plague Knight, who is an alchemist that attacks with bombs instead of the shovel. This changes the way the game plays a lot as you now have a distance weapon and can jump a lot higher with some manipulation. This makes some jumps in the game much easier and harder depending on how you look at it. The same with the bosses. Being able to jump in the air and hover there for a bit as you throw bombs while slowly descending actually is quite helpful. Plague Knight's bombs have various upgrades you can buy to make them explode in different ways and be thrown in different ways. On top of that, there are various special attacks he can perform, like throwing a special large bomb, and doing an uppercut like move with a staff. So as you see, there is not one character, but two different gameplay styles for you to get used to in this game. Each play style is different in the way they play, with their own strengths and weaknesses. Depending on your preferred play style, one character likely will feel more comfortable than the other. This can make some people like one mode over the other, but for me, they both have their own pleasing gameplay styles. I feel anyone that enjoys these old school platformers will enjoy this game.
Story
I'm sure you are wondering, if you have ever played any old school platformers, how in the world this game actually has a story. Many games of the era this game came from didn't really have that great of a story to go along with them, and if there was one, it was mainly in the manual only with only bits and pieces sitting around in the game. You needed the manual to make sense of most of the games back then story wise. Yet, this is a game that actually does both. Unlike many games these days, Shovel Knight comes with a nice thick manual that explains the game, and many of the characters to help get you started in the game. When you actually play the game, the game actually has dialogue and story to go along with you as you take Shovel Knight on his journey to try and find his partner, Shield Knight, who went missing a long time ago. Now that the world is in danger from the Enchantress and her new order of knights, it is up to Shovel Knight to come out of nowhere and try and stop them. While the story isn't exactly super in depth, there is enough there to keep you involve until the end. Also, it is a bit on the short side. That was always a downside for older style games like this, was their short stories, if any at all. However, once again, due to there being a second story with Plague Knight, there is an entire second story to go along with the game. So just when you think you are done, the game throws you an entirely new story where you play as one of the not so good guys instead. While still short overall, having two stories instead of just one is a nice treat for an old school platformer.
Graphics
Shovel Knight is a throw back graphics wise to the old NES pixel graphics days. And you know what? It pays off rather well. Not only does it look like it would fit in with the NES library, it looks like it would be a super star in that library. This is mainly due to the extra appearance and animation that is available in modern day technology that wasn't available back then. This makes the pixel graphics look that much better, and makes every thing in the game easily recognizable. You don't have to guess what things are at all. You can easily look at them and tell what that person or item is supposed to be, even though they are NES style pixels. On top of that, there are a few still picture cutscenes in the game, though they are very few, they look very nice. For the most part, I really can't find much to say about the graphics, as really, I feel they do the job for the era they are representing. There is little to no glitches, and really, everything looks polished and the way it should be. The game just looks great in my opinion.
Sound
NES style music can either be a wonderful sound for your ears when done right that make you want to come back and listen to it many times over, or it can be some of the most annoying or ear hurting music you have ever heard. I've heard both in my time gaming, and I do have to say this is some of the better music out there. Obviously this is because of modern technology partly, but for the most part, all the music in this game is in the 8-bit style as well as you would expect. This is on the good side when it comes to 8-bit music. The tunes are catchy. Many of them are memorable, and several of them are ones you wouldn't mind listening to for extended periods of time. That is a good sign in my opinion of what makes good music in a game. On top of that, you also get the sound track downloadable to your PC for free for getting the game, so if you enjoy it in the game, you can put it on your PC or take it on the game with you to enjoy even further. The sound effects in the game as well do their part and aren't annoying, nor do they drown out the sound track either. That is the sign of good sound effects there as well. When they are there to keep you in the game, but not be very distracting. What sound effects are more noticeable are ones that you want to hear or need to hear. Nothing is ever annoying at all. You will enjoy all the sounds this game puts out for you to hear.
Control
Control is really the only part of the game that will give some players trouble. Some of the moves can be tricky to pull off at first, and do require you to learn how to use the moves properly to get full affect out of them or to get to hard to reach treasures in the game. It can sometimes feel a little bit slippery in some areas, but I think some of that is also done on purpose. You have different armor's that effect your speed and trajectory in the game, so this was I think done on purpose. Still, I would say there is a small learning curve when it comes to the controls, as early on and when you switch to using Plague Knight later in the game, you will have to get used to using these controls. For the most part the game is pick up and play, but really, this is the only part of the game that I feel has any sort of learning curve. You will still end up using some of the basic moves more often than the more complicated moves and equipment, as the moves to pull them off sometimes isn't worth the risk. It really is more a matter of, do you take the risk, or do you play it safe when it comes to the controls and doing the moves you want or need to do. The harder challenges will test your patience sometimes, but trust me, nothing is unreasonable at all, and everything is usually fair. So just keep at it, and don't give up. This game isn't unfair, just a little difficult in some areas.
Replay Value
There is great replay value in this game. Despite what you may think, there is actually quite a number of hours in this game available for the player, depending on how much you are willing to invest in the game. There is the main story of Shovel Knight. There is the main story of Plague Knight that can be unlocked later in the game due to DLC. There is also a New Game plus to have a harder game as you play through the game yet again. Also there is a challenge mode for you take on very hard levels as both Shovel Knight and Plague Knight, with almost 50 in total challenges. That's actually quite a lot in this game. They could have just ended this game after just completing the main game as Shovel Knight. However, they didn't do that. They kept going and offering more and more to the player and it really makes this game worth the money. If they had just stopped at one story and that's it, this game would really not be as strong in my opinion if it didn't have the extra story and the additional modes to accompany it. This really makes the player want to keep playing the game, and to come back to it again and again to see if they can improve their loot collection, item collection percentage, and to possibly lower their death tolls in the game. Just keep at it, and you can improve. That's the way the keep a player playing long after just beating the main game.
Overall, Shovel Knight, on WiiU, is a classic NES style game available for your modern consoles and definitely worth the $25 price tag for a physical copy of the game. Getting a thick manual, a digital sound track, and the game itself that will be enjoyable for easily 15 to 20 hours or more to get all of what you want out of the game, all seem worth it to me. For anyone that enjoys platformers, or old school NES games similar to Mega Man, I would say go out and get this game immediately. It is worth it in my opinion and a must have for all platform game lovers.
Overall, in my opinion at least, I give Shovel Knight a nine point five out of ten.
Gameplay: 9
Story: 9
Graphics: 10
Sound: 10
Control: 8
Replay Value: 10
Overall: 9.5
Shovel Knight
A popular digital game getting a physical release for the WiiU? Now that is something I can get behind. A platformer that is supposed to be based off of the NES days of platformers. The game got its beginnings from kickstarter and it goes to show you how well this game has done that it has been able to not only get released digitally, but to eventually get a physical release as well. This must be some kind of game. Why don't we try it out shall we?
Gameplay
The gameplay of Shovel Knight is exactly what you would expect when you are getting into this game. It is a classic NES style platformer. It basically plays in a Mega Man style for best comparison. You are on a grid like map where you can go up, down, left, or right, and you explore the map while passing by checkpoints on your way to the boss of each level. There are eight main bosses in total with a main boss at the end. Yes, this sounds familiar, but there are also other mini bosses thrown in as well. There are a couple of side levels that rely on you being able to use your new skill you buy and acquire along the way to get lots of treasure. Treasure is quite important in this game, as you need it to buy most of your power ups from the stores, along with health, magic, armor, and weapon upgrades. There are quite a number of these, but there is also no shortage of treasure to go around. The chances of you needing to farm treasure is very low as it is quite plentiful, as long as you don't die a lot of course. Whenever you die, you lose three small bags of treasure. The more you are carrying, the larger the bags will be when you lose them. However, if you can get back to where you died, you can recover your treasure bags and keep going. If you die again before recovering the bags, those first bags are gone for good. So, as long as you don't die a ton, you will be alright treasure wise. Really, the difficulty is my only major point here, as it does have some of those NES hard moments to it. This can frustrate the newer players to the platforming genre, or those that didn't grow up with older platformers that aren't as forgiving as newer games. However, luckily, there are checkpoints you can go by along the way for you to continue from whenever you die, and there are unlimited continues. However, unlike some games, you can get greedy and blow up the checkpoints for a treasure boost. Doing this however, does eliminate the checkpoint, so you have to be careful if you want to go this route. Shovel Knight uses a unique weapon, a shovel obviously, to attack his enemies. You can are usually just going to rely on basic swinging of the shovel, but there are several magical items you can use to assist you in attacking as well, such as an axe like weapon that swings upwards, and a magical ball that can bounce along the ground to attack your enemies. Still, the bulk of the game is what the game is all about, and that is the platforming. Most of it is incredibly fair, and the parts that are tricky, aren't usually too unfair. There is some difficulty there as you go through the game, but you sort of expect that. As I said before, this could turn off some players, but for anyone that has played games like this before, this will be nothing new and actually quite welcomed that there is some challenge to the game. On top of that, there is actually another character you can play in during the game after you beat it once. Instead of Shovel Knight, you can play as Plague Knight, who is an alchemist that attacks with bombs instead of the shovel. This changes the way the game plays a lot as you now have a distance weapon and can jump a lot higher with some manipulation. This makes some jumps in the game much easier and harder depending on how you look at it. The same with the bosses. Being able to jump in the air and hover there for a bit as you throw bombs while slowly descending actually is quite helpful. Plague Knight's bombs have various upgrades you can buy to make them explode in different ways and be thrown in different ways. On top of that, there are various special attacks he can perform, like throwing a special large bomb, and doing an uppercut like move with a staff. So as you see, there is not one character, but two different gameplay styles for you to get used to in this game. Each play style is different in the way they play, with their own strengths and weaknesses. Depending on your preferred play style, one character likely will feel more comfortable than the other. This can make some people like one mode over the other, but for me, they both have their own pleasing gameplay styles. I feel anyone that enjoys these old school platformers will enjoy this game.
Story
I'm sure you are wondering, if you have ever played any old school platformers, how in the world this game actually has a story. Many games of the era this game came from didn't really have that great of a story to go along with them, and if there was one, it was mainly in the manual only with only bits and pieces sitting around in the game. You needed the manual to make sense of most of the games back then story wise. Yet, this is a game that actually does both. Unlike many games these days, Shovel Knight comes with a nice thick manual that explains the game, and many of the characters to help get you started in the game. When you actually play the game, the game actually has dialogue and story to go along with you as you take Shovel Knight on his journey to try and find his partner, Shield Knight, who went missing a long time ago. Now that the world is in danger from the Enchantress and her new order of knights, it is up to Shovel Knight to come out of nowhere and try and stop them. While the story isn't exactly super in depth, there is enough there to keep you involve until the end. Also, it is a bit on the short side. That was always a downside for older style games like this, was their short stories, if any at all. However, once again, due to there being a second story with Plague Knight, there is an entire second story to go along with the game. So just when you think you are done, the game throws you an entirely new story where you play as one of the not so good guys instead. While still short overall, having two stories instead of just one is a nice treat for an old school platformer.
Graphics
Shovel Knight is a throw back graphics wise to the old NES pixel graphics days. And you know what? It pays off rather well. Not only does it look like it would fit in with the NES library, it looks like it would be a super star in that library. This is mainly due to the extra appearance and animation that is available in modern day technology that wasn't available back then. This makes the pixel graphics look that much better, and makes every thing in the game easily recognizable. You don't have to guess what things are at all. You can easily look at them and tell what that person or item is supposed to be, even though they are NES style pixels. On top of that, there are a few still picture cutscenes in the game, though they are very few, they look very nice. For the most part, I really can't find much to say about the graphics, as really, I feel they do the job for the era they are representing. There is little to no glitches, and really, everything looks polished and the way it should be. The game just looks great in my opinion.
Sound
NES style music can either be a wonderful sound for your ears when done right that make you want to come back and listen to it many times over, or it can be some of the most annoying or ear hurting music you have ever heard. I've heard both in my time gaming, and I do have to say this is some of the better music out there. Obviously this is because of modern technology partly, but for the most part, all the music in this game is in the 8-bit style as well as you would expect. This is on the good side when it comes to 8-bit music. The tunes are catchy. Many of them are memorable, and several of them are ones you wouldn't mind listening to for extended periods of time. That is a good sign in my opinion of what makes good music in a game. On top of that, you also get the sound track downloadable to your PC for free for getting the game, so if you enjoy it in the game, you can put it on your PC or take it on the game with you to enjoy even further. The sound effects in the game as well do their part and aren't annoying, nor do they drown out the sound track either. That is the sign of good sound effects there as well. When they are there to keep you in the game, but not be very distracting. What sound effects are more noticeable are ones that you want to hear or need to hear. Nothing is ever annoying at all. You will enjoy all the sounds this game puts out for you to hear.
Control
Control is really the only part of the game that will give some players trouble. Some of the moves can be tricky to pull off at first, and do require you to learn how to use the moves properly to get full affect out of them or to get to hard to reach treasures in the game. It can sometimes feel a little bit slippery in some areas, but I think some of that is also done on purpose. You have different armor's that effect your speed and trajectory in the game, so this was I think done on purpose. Still, I would say there is a small learning curve when it comes to the controls, as early on and when you switch to using Plague Knight later in the game, you will have to get used to using these controls. For the most part the game is pick up and play, but really, this is the only part of the game that I feel has any sort of learning curve. You will still end up using some of the basic moves more often than the more complicated moves and equipment, as the moves to pull them off sometimes isn't worth the risk. It really is more a matter of, do you take the risk, or do you play it safe when it comes to the controls and doing the moves you want or need to do. The harder challenges will test your patience sometimes, but trust me, nothing is unreasonable at all, and everything is usually fair. So just keep at it, and don't give up. This game isn't unfair, just a little difficult in some areas.
Replay Value
There is great replay value in this game. Despite what you may think, there is actually quite a number of hours in this game available for the player, depending on how much you are willing to invest in the game. There is the main story of Shovel Knight. There is the main story of Plague Knight that can be unlocked later in the game due to DLC. There is also a New Game plus to have a harder game as you play through the game yet again. Also there is a challenge mode for you take on very hard levels as both Shovel Knight and Plague Knight, with almost 50 in total challenges. That's actually quite a lot in this game. They could have just ended this game after just completing the main game as Shovel Knight. However, they didn't do that. They kept going and offering more and more to the player and it really makes this game worth the money. If they had just stopped at one story and that's it, this game would really not be as strong in my opinion if it didn't have the extra story and the additional modes to accompany it. This really makes the player want to keep playing the game, and to come back to it again and again to see if they can improve their loot collection, item collection percentage, and to possibly lower their death tolls in the game. Just keep at it, and you can improve. That's the way the keep a player playing long after just beating the main game.
Overall, Shovel Knight, on WiiU, is a classic NES style game available for your modern consoles and definitely worth the $25 price tag for a physical copy of the game. Getting a thick manual, a digital sound track, and the game itself that will be enjoyable for easily 15 to 20 hours or more to get all of what you want out of the game, all seem worth it to me. For anyone that enjoys platformers, or old school NES games similar to Mega Man, I would say go out and get this game immediately. It is worth it in my opinion and a must have for all platform game lovers.
Overall, in my opinion at least, I give Shovel Knight a nine point five out of ten.
Gameplay: 9
Story: 9
Graphics: 10
Sound: 10
Control: 8
Replay Value: 10
Overall: 9.5
Amotose
~amotose
I've not played the Wii U version much but on the 3DS, there should have been a physical copy to tie in with the eventual Amiibo release. Will you be replaying this when the Amiibo comes out?
Tails_Fanatic
~tailsfanatic
OP
The 3DS does have a physical copy though.
