The Cub Assessment (PS5) | Push Sq.

One of many hardest issues about making a 2D platformer should merely be making it stand out amongst the hundreds of others. The Cub, from Golf Membership Wasteland staff Demagog Studio, at the least offers itself a leg up in that regard, then, with stylised visuals, a moody soundtrack, and a persistent radio present that performs over the entire recreation. It is a good look total, however sadly, the platforming cannot match it.

In contrast to the placing puzzles of the developer’s earlier title, The Cub is a one-hit-one-kill platformer with little to name its personal. You may undergo the routine of leaping, sliding, transferring objects, and dealing with a number of stealth sections for lower than three hours. Whereas the sport markets itself as being difficult, checkpoints are typically very forgiving so that you by no means lose quite a lot of seconds of progress — save for a number of set items that put you again initially.

What truly proves irritating is a few actually messy and complicated signposting that makes recognizing exit factors loads tougher than it must be. Particularly within the early recreation, there are a number of areas the place it’s totally troublesome to inform the place you truly have to go to progress. You are all the time side-scrolling proper, however the place on the y-axis that exit route truly is will be powerful to identify.

It is the general visible and auditory design of The Cub that saves it from full mediocrity, although. The principle character spends a lot of the sport with a helmet on its head that receives a radio station enjoying social commentary and music. The cool factor is you will truly lose sign as you head underground into caves, making what’s mentioned over the airwaves when you come out the opposite facet extra intriguing. With the unorthodox soundtrack and stylised scenes in addition, the sport will get by on its seems to be and sounds relatively than really feel.

It makes for an expertise perhaps simply half a step above common. You’ve got performed many video games similar to The Cub earlier than, however you have by no means performed one that appears or sounds prefer it.