Review: Raskulls (XBL)

9 Jan, 2011

Title: Raskulls
Price: 800 MS Points
Platform: Xbox 360 via Marketplace
Developers: Halfbrick
Release date: December 29th 2010

2010 was a great year for Arcade games on the Xbox Marketplace, with the likes of LIMBO and Super Meat Boy being released to glowing critical praise, Austrailian independent developers ‘Halfbrick’ snuck this little number in as a belated Christmas gift on December 29th. Raskulls is everything you would come to expect from an Xbox Arcade title- simple, fast paced and addictive.

Raskulls is a side-scrolling action platform game, set within a fictional fantasy world of races and at times hair pulling puzzles. This world is populated naturally by the band of various characters know as the ‘Raskulls’, a world which is becoming threatened by a group of vermin adversaries called the ‘Pirats’ who whilst in search of the ‘Cheese planet’ become aware of the presence of a powerful artifact called the ‘Shiny stone’ that they need to power their ship after an unexpected crash landing. Their initial attempt at securing the object fails, and in response the Raskull king devises a cunning plan to capture the thieves. From that point forward the game revolves around the capturing and recapturing of the precious stones over the course of 3 chapters featuring their own respective playable character. Whilst I wasn’t expecting much from the plot, it is clear certainly that a lot of thought went into the writing side of Raskulls as Halfbrick use every opportunity to showcase the beautiful visuals and strings of witty dialogue they have composed for their unique and unusual characters.

Gameplay wise, it initially would seem that Halfbrick are unsure what type of game they are trying to make. What starts as platformer soon turns into a ‘racing’ title and then onto a puzzler. While many critics found this to be a mess, I personally found that it mixed up the gameplay quite nicely and added a lot of variety. The racing and time attack stages for example require the player to be very quick on their feet, using their block-breaking wand to smash through colourful obstacles and repel attack enemies. In these stages you have a variety of pick-ups that increase your speed and allowed you to take down the blocks much quicker than normal. The ‘Frenzy’ bar allows the player to go into a type of overdrive, allowing them to run faster and smash through obstacles, however this lasts only for short bursts, and pick-ups are required to keep it up and recharge. These perks are important in gaining an advantage over the opposition in competitive modes especially. Raskull’s also includes a large multiplayer option for up to 4 players to compete against one another competitively.

On the flipside some levels will require you to take your time and think carefully, such as with the wizard challenges. Your wand has a limited amount of ‘zaps’ and you must use them wisely to navigate through the wall of blocks to find additional ammo and reach the end. Running out of zaps means game over, and with me this happened quite a lot. Successfully completing each challenge allows you advance further around the map, (which reminded me a lot of the level navigation on games such as Super Mario) and medallions are earned building towards awarding Xbox achievements. The challenges naturally get increasingly harder, with some requiring multiple attempts for before I was even close to working out the correct technique to finish.

The visuals of Raskulls are certainly the first striking thing about the game, boasting a range of colourful level designs and unique character models, it is certainly a very pretty game to look at! The first set of levels places you in control of a lovable loser with a an unpleasant habit of getting caught in the path of the King’s half bricks (see what they did there?), known only as Dragon. It has honestly taken all my will not to refer to said character as the ‘Soup Dragon’, and I have no idea why I started the character this in the first place. There is a lot in Raskull’s level design to remind you of platformers gone by, with me myself personally finding a lot of the original Sonic games within the earlier stages of the game.

The writing in terms of character dialogue is tip top. While you could be forgiven for assuming that a game like Raskull’s is aimed at a younger audience, a lot of the fantastic humour contained within is not exactly child friendly, but it is entirely likely that it would simply go straight over the heads of younger players. The comic timing is spot on right from the first level between the banter of the two soldiers to the enemy at the end jumping to defense of his ‘nuts’. The gameplay itself, while admittedly very hard at times, contains nothing that younger players couldn’t find an endless amount of fun in.

To conclude, Raskulls is a fantastic arcade title that both creates a wonderfully challenging set of puzzles and keeps you on your toes. The breakneck change of pace when going from level to level keeps the game feeling fresh, and the engaging multiplayer and achievement points will keep you playing longer after you have completed the single player campaign. In the tradition of great platformers before it, there is something here for every player and all ages. If you’re looking for something keep you entertained on Xbox in the run up to the new releases of 2011, pick up Raskulls for one of the funniest and most visually delicious experiences on Xbox Live! Highly recommended!