Not many
games let you actually play the villain. Not just choose the selfish or cruel
option on a conversation wheel, but step into the boots of the villain of the
story. Any thug can bully the weak. Conquering the world with style and vision
is not so trivial a task. Nefarious
is a welcome entry into a lightly populated field, earning a place alongside
such black-hearted classics as Dungeon
Keeper and Overlord.
Nefarious is an affectionate parody of the classic
hero/villain rivalries of gaming. Playing as Crow, latest in a long line of
bird-themed air pirates, your quest is to travel to each of the lands of your
world, defeat the resident hero, and kidnap the resident princess. Once you
have enough of them to run your royalty powered doomsday device you can finally give the world the conquering it so richly deserves.
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| Each level has a clear art direction and theme. Tsarist era Russia and dwarves go together well. |
Least the
story appear a bit regressive it quickly becomes clear that each princess is a
character in their own right, not just a McGuffin. The narrative has a lot of
fun with the classic trope, giving it due homage without becoming too
predictable or dull. In some cases what Crow insists is a kidnapping looks more
like a rescue. Other princess are formidable enough that Crow looks more like
the one who needs to be saved.
Villainy Victorious
Nefarious is also a much needed example of the
Kickstarter model of development done right. This is an era when other high
profile projects like Mighty No. 9 land with a resounding flop, and John Romero himself can’t get a
project funded. Despite
just barely hitting their funding goal of a modest 50k the team at Starblade
delivered an excellent final product. It’s encouraging to see somebody pulling off a success and delivering
what was promised, avoiding
cardinal sins like bloat, feature creep, and the abyss of forum drama.
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| A good villain bestrides worlds like a Titan, planetarium models or otherwise. |
Nefarious’ core gameplay is classic 2-D side-scrolling
platforming. Crow runs and jumps his way through levels, disposing of enemies
and obstacles with a swing of his oversized mechanical fist. More intriguingly
Crow can launch bouncing grenades from a limited but automatically regenerating
supply.
Crow takes
no damage from his own grenades, but when carefully timed their explosions send
him hurtling through the air. Grenade jumping takes a while to get the hang of,
but once you manage it makes movement an explosive joy. Speed runners and
collectible hunters will find mastering the technique worth their time.
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| Not every level is pure platforming. |
Nefarious is also un-afraid to shake up its
core mechanics. Once kidnapped each princesses changes Crow’s abilities for the
duration of your escape. This can be as simple as a floaty jump or as complex
as letting your grenades create short lived platforms. A few levels, such as a
mellow undersea exploration sequence, change up gameplay entirely.
Like a Boss
Boss fights
with heroes cleverly reverse the traditional formula. Crow, after all, is a
videogame boss himself. When he goes toe to toe with a hero it is inevitably
from the cockpit of some sort of giant death machine. These fights are short
but sweet, quick to learn and tremendous fun. For once you’re the one trying to
to crush, smash, or vaporize a smaller, more nimble opponent while protecting
your giant obvious weak point.
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| It's nice to be the one in the giant robot, for once. |
The difficulty
curve is sharp. While the opening level might lull you into a false sense of
security, the platforming skills and reflexes demanded to progress quickly
become demanding. The optional levels and alternate ending boss are just straight
up Nintendo hard, though this is certainly appropriate given the source
material.
Fortunately
you have unlimited lives. The checkpoint system is challenging but not
sadistic. Deaths tank your rating for a level, but this is only relevant if you
are going for the related achievement. Death also shaves off a modest
percentage of your current cash, but this can be recovered simply by reaching
that point again. Generally you can hurl Crow into the acid/lava as many times
as necessary to memorize a sequence and finally get it right.
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| Late game levels can get quite demanding. |
Much like
the early platformers it pays homage to, Nefarious
is not a lengthy game. Most first runs are unlikely to take more than 4-6
hours. Multiple endings, optional levels, and a host of challenge based
achievements add a lot of value for the dedicated. The tight scope and design
keeps the game from wearing out its welcome.
Devils and Details
While voice acting is quite sparse the character portraits that accompany dialog are
crisp and full of personality. A few of the in game characters can look a bit
crude or even fuzzy by comparison. Hitboxes are also slightly wonky, especially
when Crow is lugging a princess over his shoulder. Crow himself has just a touch more momentum than I like in a platformer that asks for this level of precision.
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| Between mission interludes occur on Crow's command ship, the Sovereign. |
These
minor polish issues are likely a result of Nefarious’s modest indie budget. To
be fair I only really noticed them because I was having so much fun with the
game I gave it a second playthrough. More seriously some achievements were not
awarding properly, and one strange bug left the Sovereign (Crow’s skyship and
mission hub) almost un-populated on re-loading a saved game, interfering with
progression and access to some of the optional missions.
An excellent
sound-track and surprisingly strong writing and characterization rounds out the
experience. Some tracks are quite catchy (Give the train robbery level music a listen below), and each does a great job setting the
atmosphere of the level. Characters are coherent and consistent. Crow himself is
amusingly aware of the tropes that govern his world and how to navigate them to
his advantage without it coming off as obnoxious.
If you have
any appetite for platforming I highly recommend Nefarious. While the reverse boss battles alone likely could have
carried the game, Nefarious works
hard to deliver compelling gameplay within its tightly controlled scope. The
game handles its source material with respect and affection while being
unafraid to build its own memorable world and cast.
Reasons to
Play: Clever use of premise and reverse boss battles. Excellent sound track. Indie
Kickstarter development done right.
Reasons to
Pass: Slight polish issues. Sharp difficulty curve.
Articles copyright James Cousar, games and images copyright their respective owners.
