Shovel Knight

Shovel-KnightCover
9.5 Overall Score
Gameplay: 10/10
Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 10/10

Everything You'd Expect From a AAA Game | MiDi Music | Style, Style, Style

Sometimes Impossible to Retrieve Lost Loot

Game Info

GAME NAME: Shovel Knight

DEVELOPER(S): Yacht Club Games

PUBLISHER(S): Yacht Club Games

PLATFORM(S): Nintendo Wii U

GENRE(S): Action/Adventure

RELEASE DATE(S): June 26th, 2014

While talking to one of my colleagues after playing around two hours of Shovel Knight and explaining how good this game is to him, I brought up the issue with how I just don’t think today’s younger generation of gamers are going to get what makes this game so amazing.  See if you were born after the NES era, you will take one look at this game and just write it off as an “old school” game.  This game is way more then just some “old school” game.  This is a collaboration of what made NES games great at the time and manages to pull off one of the best games I’ve played in years.  It borrows so many of the great elements from all of my favorite games of the 80’s and Yacht Club Games manages to make one excellent adventure.

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Shovel Knight starts of with a little back story told through still frame 8-bit images and text.  The main hero, Shovel Knight is on a quest to defeat the Evil Enchantress and save his lady friend Shield Knight.  The story progresses through the boss battles and in the villages.  The main overworld map will remind you of a map straight from the Mario Bros. series but also has a feel like Yacht Club Games took the Mega Man level select screen and slapped it on a map.  After you complete levels you will also notice wanderers who are walking around that map that you can defeat for treasures a la the hammer bros popping up in Mario 3.

Walking around the villages reminded me of Zelda II or Castlevania 2, where you can talk to individuals by pressing up on them.  There are some little quests that can be done in the village that will either get you feats (Shovel Knight’s version of achievements), possibly a meal ticket (to increase life bar) or even a song that you can trade to the Bard for 500 gems and he will play if asked.  In a later village it is possible to upgrade your armor and add to you attack.  The game does a great job with the light RPG elements.

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The levels start out with some light platforming but by the 3 or 4 level it starts to get tough.  The back grounds vary from mountains, to inside a volcano, to even what looks like the inside of a fish shaped submarine.  All the levels have a unique feel to them and add their own blend of platforming within every level so that you never feel like you’ve played the same level twice.  The controls are spot on for the rigorous platforming as well.  B will be your jump button while either A or Y will swing your shovel.  After jumping if you press down, you will do a Scrooge McDuck-esque bounce with the shovel, which comes in hand later one as it helps with reach those higher places to get the secret stashes or even defeat bosses with a pounce of the noggin. You have an unlimited amount of lives and your progress is saved by checkpoints.  If you die you will lose three bags of gems and resort back to the checkpoints.  Sometimes if you fall into a pit somewhere your bags are impossible to retrieve which sucks if you are trying to save up for a weapon or extra health or mana.  If you feel a bit ballsy you can also destroy the checkpoints for gems, but that means not respawns and have to conquer the level in one shot.

You can purchase or find a variety of weapons as well that will aid you through your quest.  A few of the weapons you will get are fire rod, which shoots fireballs, a glove which can punch through sand repeatedly, the ability to become invincible for a few seconds and a weapon that reminds me of the cross from Castlevania.  There are also “bonus” type levels that you must use a weapon to help you get through to get massive amounts of gems.  I even later on found a ghost house which you have to venture through and destroy all the ghosts in.  There are secret areas galore which will also help your gem collection and each secret area is well enough hidden that you can help but get the feeling of accomplishment when you find one.  With so much content in the game you can really feel the love that was put it to this title.

The boss fights in Shovel Knight are like the icing on the cake when you get to the end of each awesome level.  You will battle villains such as Mole Knight and Treasure Knight amongst others  in your journey to take out the Evil Enchantress.  The bosses all have their own unique style of battle that you will have to figure out the best way to go about defeating them.  Luckily there is a checkpoint right outside the boss rooms, so when you die (not if LOL) you won’t have to track back through any ridiculous platforming areas.

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On the Wii U, you can use the GamePad for off-screen play or if you are playing on your TV, the gamepad will display your items, gear or Miiverse functionality.  At the time of me playing the review copy, the Miiverse functionality was unfortunately unavailable to demo.

Graphically, the game has a distinct 8-bit art style.  It looks like a NES game, but the cleanest and prettiest you will ever lay your eyes on.  The backgrounds look lively and the color palette and HD graphics make it look amazing.  The soundtrack is beyond phenomenal as well.  From video game vets Jake “Virt” Kaufman and Manami Matsumae (MEGA MAN!!!!!!!!) this midi soundtrack screams 80s and I friggin’ LOVE it.

The Recommendation

If you are a fan of any NES game or more specifically NES Action/Adventure game, this is the best one you will ever play.  If you own a Wii U, you must pick this game up.  I think Yacht Club Games might secretly be employees of Nintendo under another name because this game screams with quality and polish that are mostly only found in Nintendo games.  This is by far my favorite indie game I’ve played since Steamworld Dig and in my top 3 overall games I’ve played so far this year.  I can not wait to see what Yacht Club has up their sleeves for their next title.

 

 

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Author: Anthony DeVirgilis View all posts by
Managing Partner / Editor for Sony/Nintendo I prefer Indies to AAA titles... unless it's Nintendo or Sony Google+ Author

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