Savage Halloween Review (Nintendo Switch)
Every year the monsters are invited to the big 24hr Halloween rave, but this time no one came home, as an evil vampire used a spell to block the passage back to the afterlife because, according to him, the party could not stop.
Pros:
- Brilliant 8bit graphics.
- 154MB download size.
- Chiptune soundtrack.
- Platformer gameplay.
- 8-way shooting controls.
- Guns-you have a selection of guns available and you collect ammo for them and can jump between them at will.
- 3 characters each with unique stats-James, Lulu, and Dominika. A handful of character color palettes.
- Funny guns like Frog guns, Chicken guns, ghosts, and spread.
- Bullets all act uniquely like Frogs will bounce off walls, ghosts will stay around you and chickens explode.
- Endless runner style levels.
- Shmup style levels.
- Two-player local support.
- A lot of variation.
- Levels have hidden rooms.
- Crates-contain ammo for particular guns.
- Death-instantly respawn, run out of lives and continue from the last checkpoint.
- Seven stages.
- Each stage is made up of levels and a boss fight.
- Clever level design.
- Retro feeling.
- A couple of sections feel like a homage to other games of the genre.
- Big boss battles.
- Two difficulties-normal and hardcore.
- Health pickups.
- Can shoot when on the ladder.
- Crouch and shoot.
- Can stand still and shoot in all directions.
- Find extra lives.
- Collect special action tokens.
- Some really nice-looking levels with animated backdrops and cool lighting.
- Progress on the stage select screen is saved even if you get the game over.
- The best score is shown on the main menu.
- End of stage score breakdown.
- The score pops up as you kill enemies.
Cons:
- No touchscreen support.
- Basic almost nonexistent tutorial.
- Difficulty spikes.
- Sections of a level can feel drawn out.
- Same enemies but different colors.
- Checkpoints are levels so they are far apart.
- When picking up ammo it will automatically change to that gun.
- Can’t change controls.
- No leaderboards.
- Little replay value.
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Graphics - 7/107/10
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Sound - 7/107/10
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Accessibility - 7/107/10
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Length - 7/107/10
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Fun Factor - 8/108/10
Summary
Savage Halloween is a platformer shooter with a retro game style with its Chiptune soundtrack and 8 Bit graphics. It’s a really good solid platformer, shooting is 8 way, the enemies are plentiful and the level design is basic but has enough secrets and crossroads it’s engaging. Every area on the map is a location that looks unique but also really good. I like that you have lives and continues but even at a game over your actual map progress is saved. You have 3 characters who each have unique stats for health, speed, and attacks and it does make a difference. Early doors feel basic and kinda flat but it builds over time and does eventually turn I into quite the challenge. I love jumping back in from time to time as it’s a good one of those.
