Review: Skelattack (PlayStation 4)

by Jim Smale · June 9, 2020

Play Skelattack and save the Underworld in this fun action platformer! Together with your best bat friend Imber, you jump, slash, and flap your way through the Underworld and stop the human threat!

Pros:

Beautiful cartoon graphics with an almost Cuphead like filter over the top.
1.02gb download size.
Four trophies, Yes a total of four trophies. (1 silver and 3 Gold)
Metroidvania gameplay.
Tutorial as you play. Separate repeatable dungeon in the hub town as well.
Map uncovers as you explore, it will show doors.
Unlock fast travel points.
Main hub with shops, quest givers.
Gems-drop from enemies and chest.
Upon death drop gems but you can pick them back up.
Constant checkpoints.
Bouncy fun soundtrack.
Puzzle elements.
A wonderful cast of characters to find and interact with.
Humor throughout.
Combat is all about countering and dodging attacks.
Actions- melee, double jump, wall jumping, and magic. Then you can get abilities.
Nearly every room has multiple routes.
Hidden rooms and shortcuts.
Find bone broth to increase your health bar size.
Has a Super Meat Boy vibe about it especially with the platforming and Wall jumping.
Instant restarts and area loading.
Big boss battles.
Cool little cutscenes.
Simple enough to pick up and play.

Cons:

Only four trophies.
Really difficult.
Slow progress.
Way too many one-hit death scenarios.
It can be hard to make out what is a platform and what is in the background.

8/10

Graphics - 8/10
7/10

Sound - 7/10
8/10

Accessibility - 8/10
7/10

Length - 7/10
7/10

Fun Factor - 7/10

7.4/10

Summary

Skelattack is a Metroidvania that has a very striking visual presence, it looks almost Cuphead like in its filter and animation which is no bad thing. Back to gameplay and it is a mix of Metroidvania and Super Meat Boy style platforming, you can instantly die on May spikes, enemies and traps that the game runs at a blistering pace a lot of the time, but the combat is slow and the overall sense of progress is grinding. Sure it is easy enough to pick up and get going but with so many cheap deaths (resulting in losing the currency in the game “gems”) you get frustrated with how it can’t decide if its a fast or slow action game. Now that’s just my hot take and fans of Meat Boy may well get a lot more from the game but they would not be able to deny the game struggles to make its own identity and instead cribs a lot of ideas from other games but that in turn knocks the pacing off. Overall it is a game that is very niche, caters to a certain player, and is not an average Metroidvania.