We analyze this indie metroidvania with its own flavor and influence of the classics for Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PC, of the Spaniards of Last Chicken Games
Space heroes are usually held on a pedestal. Brave individuals who dare to go beyond our world into outer space. Willy may seem like a hero during the first minutes of Willy Jetman: Astromonkey's Revenge, beating that dragon and saving an alien people. But as we will soon know, his role there was very different.
After a spectacular space accident, the galactic sweeper Willy and his faithful and funny helper Gladys have to take care of cleaning up that disaster, picking up the lost parts of the alien planet of Gravos and recycling them in order to take care of the environment … and earn money in the process. The Spaniards of Last Chicken Games do not hesitate to bathe this experience of irony and good humor present from minute one in this nostalgic adventure, which we have now been able to analyze for Meristation in its version of Nintendo Switch.
Because we have seen many times how well this can work out, Willy Jetman is another of these retro-style games that capitalize on nostalgia. He does it in a casual and purely referential way, without relying too much on it, but playing enough to give quite nice moments, such as clashes against bosses that look like the classic Donkey Kong or the Arkanoid.
Its metroidvania format should not take many by surprise, the game uses the classic structure of the genre. Large two-dimensional levels that expand along several screens each offering different paths at the same time. The mapping forces us to constantly zigzag between the different routes, killing the same bugs and obtaining the same coins until the next save point, or until we know what change or what tool will make us move forward in history.
The jetpack takes over the function at Willy Jetman. Eternal secondary in games of all kinds, here takes a leading role and makes good use of it. The levels are designed to cross them floating, they are very vertical, the platforms are spaced apart and the screens are full of flying enemies. The control is as comfortable as a 2D jetpack can be, by pressing and holding a single button we rise and we can adjust the height by means of measured pulsations. If we complement it with a jump and we rise in perpendicular we will gain height very fast, while if we activate it while we move in some direction it will cost something more to load with us.
Regulating the appropriate height for each situation and confrontation is still a challenge at any time. And we have to know how to handle it because practically all confrontations are measured to overcome them using the jetpack. Enemies go in big hordes, whether on the ground or flying in undulating ways, touching them hurts us and they often shoot us, so dodging in the air is also an important mechanic that we will have to master.
Even in the final bosses, who have their own rules, it is an essential mechanic in most cases. One of them for example forces us to fly across the screen dodging a horde of flying tadpoles while the incessant boss tries to absorb us all the time, others will force us to use it to put great distances in a few seconds and thus dodge deadly platelets or Bursts of bullets.
Often Willy Jetman has a lot of bullet-hell, enemies that shoot us in horde while flying, bosses with complicated shooting patterns … The stages are filled with bullets and our character is not exactly immune to them. The agility and speed of reaction is key in a game that, in case it is not being entirely clear with these lines, is quite complicated despite its friendly and casual look.
Although we and our weapons can level up, the game always keeps the difficulty adjusted to give us the feeling that we are somewhat inferior to our enemies. We are killed with few hits, even the most basic enemies can kill us if we get confused, and many of the enemies are a shooting sponge. The save points are not far, but they are not close enough to avoid cursing on occasion, and with death we lose both the credits we get (the currency of the game) and the experience, even if this made us climb level before dying.
It is advisable to know how to fight fire with fire in this case. The diverse arsenal of weapons is one of Willy Jetman's main virtues, knowing where to use them too. That beautiful flamethrower that pulverizes certain terrestrial and flying enemies is of no use naturally under water, but the weapon that we can use underwater has a very specific triple shot that will force us to rethink how we position ourselves.
Weapon descriptions, like most game texts, on the other hand, are fun and useful. There are weapons that are much more effective with certain types of enemies to the point that they can become an almost role-playing element. Robots are especially weak at a very specific type of energy weapon, but not much else. Taking into account that we can only carry two weapons with us at the same time, and that the rest are stored in the save points, knowing what weapons to carry for each section of the game is also part of the grace of the title.
As metroidvania, it meets many of the boxes that are expected of him. The platform and 2D action are the main mechanics. The first is supported entirely by the jetpack, with great routes that we have to do floating efficiently to preserve the “resistance” bar of the device, automatically refillable when we are on the ground.
There are purely platformer interior sections that work as a bonus or to get important objects to move forward, intricate traps full of traps, enemies placed in evil or where the ground is literally lava. They add visual and playable variety to a mapping that otherwise we will have more than seen due to the usual backtracking. The high difficulty forces us to travel the same areas many times, but it never gets tedious, and every time we die it is usually our fault, for having underestimated a specific enemy or not having enough backs in any specific area.
An environmentalist message (while ironically corporatist) stars in another of the main activities of the game. Collecting lost parts of the damaged ship and taking them to recycling points that populate the entire mapping will give us credits. These credits are the ones we use to improve the weapons and objects we get throughout the adventure in the stores that accompany the game's save points.
This humorous tone accompanies the whole experience and it is the final touch that a notable game lacked, wherever you look. From the numerous dialogues between Willy and Gladys, full of puyas, to a nice visual section that, although it falls somewhat short when it comes to giving variety and detail to its locations, it has characters and elements with its own identity to which they are Take love
Code provided for the Nintendo Switch version.
CONCLUSION
Willy Jetman: Astromonkey's Revenge is a fun and competent metroidvania that has several tricks in his sleeve to get out of the standard game of the genre. The use of the jetpack configures all the experience around it, creating a varied platform that is based on long journeys and mastering the flight, and in combats in which the positioning in the air and the type of firing of the weapon becomes essential. There are some problems along the way, its handling of the difficulty creates some confrontations and somewhat tedious areas, and visual variety is lacking throughout the adventure, but the positive aspects end up exceeding the negative ones.
THE BEST
- Fun and friendly tone, very charismatic protagonists
- The use of the jetpack is very well integrated in the fighting and the platform
- Different arsenal of weapons, each ideal for different types of enemies
WORST
- The difficulty reaches tedious peaks according to which zones or clashes
- Missing visual variety in the scenarios
Good
It meets the expectations of what a good game is, it has quality and does not present serious failures, although it lacks elements that could have taken it to higher levels.
