Demon Turf (Switch) Review | Nintendo Life

If there’s one thing gamers constantly crave, it’s a decent 3D platformer. Although the genre has seen its fair share of all-time classics, it’s safe to say that its popularity waned as shooters and action RPGs ascended throughout the 2000s. In fact, unless Come a 3D platformer by the name of “Mario”, “Crash” or “Spyro”, you are likely to face a rather steep uphill battle to success.

Demon Turf seeks to hook fans of old-school platformers while implementing various modern elements to keep things fresh. Developed by Fabraz and published by Playtonic Friends, it stars Beebz, a 1000-year-old demon who must navigate a series of levels, or ‘territories’, to claim the land of the Demon King and ultimately usurp the ruler of his power. throne.

Making a 3D platformer feel authentically ‘retro’ can be a difficult task. Fortunately, Demon Turf succeeds for the most part. You’ll spend most of your time using Beebz’s various abilities to get from A to B, jumping platforms, bouncing off trampolines, and taking out various enemies that get in your way. Your objective is to collect batteries to unlock the entrance door to the boss characters of the zones; defeat them and proceed to the next set of stages.

Platforms controls feel notably tight. It’s clear that developer Fabraz has taken some notes from Nintendo’s top platformer games, with Beebz capable of triple jumps, backflips, and long jumps, all of which feel easy to run and chain. Before long, you’ll be performing ridiculous athletic feats that would make a certain plumber make with pride. There is a bit of a learning curve involved when you start out – moving what is effectively a 2D sprite within a 3D world can be a bit jarring for the first few levels – but after a short time you will get used to a good pace.

The stages themselves can get tricky at times, so this is where Demon Turf’s unique checkpoint system comes in. Instead of handing out standard checkpoints like any other platformer on the market, you need to configure your own checkpoints by planting a flag in the ground at your chosen spot. You only have a certain number of flags that you can use, so deciding where to use them can make levels child’s play or a nightmare to navigate. He can also teleport between checkpoints if necessary, although we rarely find any requirement to do so.

In essence, however, being able to establish your own checkpoints is not Really They add a lot of value to the experience. Stabilizing your territory is a fun idea, but most of the time you’ll be so engrossed in progressing through each level that you’ll forget to plant flags, which means any eventual mistakes will send you back to the beginning. The game does it highlighting specific areas of each stage that would be convenient locations to plant a flag, but this arguably goes against the whole concept.

As brilliant as the rig is, the same can’t be said for the combat unfortunately, which is just too eccentric and repetitive, stopping the momentum you get during platforming segments. At various intervals, you will come across small, contained arenas in which various enemies will appear; you will have to get rid of all of them to unlock the next path through the stage. By default, Beebz can fire projectiles that force enemies to recoil on impact, meaning you can take advantage of this and send them flying off the edge of the arena or directly into a barbed wall. Sounds fun in theory, but the execution looks flat.

As you progress through the game, you’ll gain new abilities like the grappling hook, which can be used to both pierce through and grab enemies, but again, using this ability never feels intuitive or fun (at least, out of the way. ). . Every time a combat section emerged, we found ourselves running through it only to return to the star platform. Fortunately, the amount of time you spend on platforms far exceeds the occasional combat section.

Aside from the standard levels, there is a lot to move on to in the game’s core world. Here, you’ll meet a host of characters, some of whom offer challenges to tackle, including a rather whimsical game of golf where you move a giant rock across a field towards the finish line. You can also collect items like lollipops and exchange them for colored dyes, so you can mix up the Beebz look throughout your journey.

With flat 2D characters in 3D environments, Demon Turf initially looks a bit, well, odd. In practice, the juxtaposition of visual styles actually has a lot of charm – it’s not exactly Paper Mario, but it works. There are so many expressive elements in Beebz and the surrounding cast that it reminded us very much of the timeless style of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

Music and sound design are also worth mentioning. The music reminded us of games like Splatoon and the classic Dreamcast title. Radio Jet Set, with vinyl debugging and rhythmic rhythms that make up most of the melodies; it’s full of attitude – we love it. Most of the main characters are voiced, which is a fantastic little touch that is always appreciated, even if some cast members sound a bit too loud. little dubious at times.

conclusion

Demon Turf is a fantastic platformer that is steered away from true greatness by boring and repetitive battling sections. Keep going though, and you’ll get a game that rewards daring and bravery, bolstered by wonderful platforming controls that allow you to chain together incredible combos. The images are initially a bit jarring, but the character design really shines through and gives it a timeless aesthetic. If you’re a fan of 3D platformers from the ‘golden’ era of N64 and beyond, this one is worth checking out.