Owlboy
Review
Despite the long, hard training given by his mentor, the famous Owl Asio, Owl-hood has not been very easy for a small, mute owl named Otus. His first flight was not one to be remembered, if you ask Asio. The disappointment on Otus’ face could have be seen from miles away. Well, today is another day, thought Otus before taking his watch over the floating Island of Vellie. It’s a big day for an Owlboy like him, especially after reports of pirate ships flying around the area! You know you can do it Owlboy, you know you can!
Owlboy is a platformer / adventure game where you play a small owl, who, with the help of his friends, will have to save the capital Advent from a pirate invasion.
You will be greeted by a fabulous piece of orchestral music as soon as you land on the main menu page; it truly gave me goose bumps!
As you start a new game you will be introduced to the story, which will also include a short tutorial. Then your character will wake up on the floating city of Vellie, where you will receive your first orders. This chapter is pretty much an exploratory one and will give you a good feel of how to manoeuvre your owl, as well as what to look for in each level: coins and heath items. Most of the coins are half-lodged into the ground - pull them up and coins will appear. You will also earn coins by flying through rings which are scattered all around the levels. There are a certain number of coins to be discovered per stage. If you find them all, you’ll earn a golden star and it will also contribute to accessing special devices from the buccanary’s shop. To restore health, just pick fruits from trees or pull vegetables from the ground.
As you progress through the story and meeting new characters, some of them will join. One point I forgot to mention - Otus doesn’t have weapons! Sure, he can fly, roll and twist his wings but he can’t shoot anything. He carries someone around who can shoot at enemies. Enemies are pretty fun, lion thingies that spit fire from their mouths, cavemen who throw rocks at you, pirates and their parachute explosives and one-eyed flying green balls, to cite a few. Boss fights are quite tricky here and has taken me several attempts to beat some of them so far.
Nice puzzles, however quite obvious in my opinion.
The pixel artwork is fabulous and I really like the fluidity of the animations. The soundtrack is splendid - it grabs you from the start. Control-wise, you can use the mouse and keyboard but I prefer to use a gamepad – it’s better, in my opinion. It is quite easy to go through the levels, apart from the boss fights, which are more challenging.
Positives
+ Great graphics and animations+ Splendid soundtrack
+ Responsive controls
+ Good story and characters
+ Achievements and trading cards
Negatives
- Needed to be more challengingReview Summary
Owlboy is a very well-designed game with splendid pixel artwork, great animations and marvellous music!
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Zeepond Rating: 9/10
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