Riptale

Review

Is he some sort of a Ninja or an Arabian fighter? It really doesn’t matter what his origins are; all you need to know is that he is an astute warrior who uses his swords to perfection. And let me tell you, he’ll need to be at his best to defeat all the enemies he will encounter in Riptale!

Riptale is a 2D side scroller platformer game where you control a master swordsman who has to eliminate all enemies as well as bosses in three different levels.



Each of the levels - the crypt, the underground forest and the mushrooms cavern - have three stages to clear, including a boss fight at the end of the third stage. When you launch the game the first time, you’ll only be able to play on the normal difficulty, but as soon as you beat one of the levels (including a boss), you’ll have the ability to play the game in a hardcore mode. The difference between the normal and the hardcore modes is that your warrior will only have one heart instead of four. Which means that if he gets hit once, he’ll die!

The gameplay is pretty much focused on the fighting element. Your fighter will be equipped with three gems, which are located on the top of your screen. Each time you perform an attack, one of your gems will be used. The good news is that the gems will regenerate after a few seconds, but this can make it tricky if you have to make three or more rapid attacks. However, if you manage to wait a few seconds between attacks (for the previously used gem to regenerate) you might be able to clear all the enemies on your screen and achieve a high streak. My best so far is six successful attacks in a row.

Within each of the levels, your character will be able to destroy boxes or vases, some of which may contain coins. There are two types of coins: small and large. The smaller coins will give you 10 credits while the larger coins will reward you with 30 credits. Coins can also be dispatched after killing certain enemies. After gathering as many coins as possible, you can use the credits at the shop, which you’ll find within each level. You won’t miss them as a sign will be displayed at the entrance. At the shop, you‘ll be able to purchase new gems (five in total) which hold different attacks, including a homing attack and a triple sword movement attack. The beauty here is that you can choose your own deadly combination and swap your gems at the shop. Having three triple gems would mean that your fighter would be able to perform three sword swings per attack; a nice way to clear a room, I must say! Another way to gather additional coins is by finding the challenge rooms within the level. They’re not obvious and the challenges are pretty tough, to be honest, and consequently your character might even die by accepting the challenge.

The game in itself is pretty hectic; you can expect your combatant to be hit several times and lose some of his hearts (health). Find the heart barrel within the stage and your fighter will automatically be awarded with the return of one lost heart. The other ways to get a heart back is to kill a certain number of enemies in the row or at the end of each stage if you manage to complete it.

Plenty of different enemies to fight in Riptale.  Some will throw projectiles, while others will rush towards your combatant with a sword; snakes are ready to take a bite, and dragons will torch you, just to mention a few.  I only managed to finish the crypt levels, and I must say that the boss fight was quite hard! When you move on to the next level, the only extra obstacle that I could see was the addition of spikes, but they won’t be there if you restart a game from scratch.

I really like the black and white artwork of the game, as well as the splashing red blood when you kill an enemy. The soundtrack suits the game well, but is repetitive and annoying after a while. The good news is that you can turn off the music if you wish to do so. In terms of controls, you can use a gamepad or your keyboard.  In my experience, the gamepad is the way to go!


Positives

+ Nice artwork
+ Normal and Hardcore difficulty
+ Plenty of enemies
+ Challenging gameplay
+ Create your own attack combinations
+ Achievements & trading cards

Negatives

- Can be frustrating at times

Review Summary

A challenging platformer with a good combat system, with distinctive black and white artwork! Riptale is a game to grab!

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Zeepond Rating: 7/10

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