As most of us retrofans know. Graphics are the least important part about any great game. It is about the feeling the joy and fun. Minit has sort of a Noir feel to it which I feel is a bit of a shame to be honest. Every time I play I can't help but think that the game would have been so much livelier and radiant with colours. But then again. A hard boiled duck like creature kicking ass in a Noir thriller does actually sound awesome when I think about it.
The music on the other hand is the crowning jewel here. Every piece nails both atmosphere and feel in every single moment. You start with no weapon *tranquil and calm* Found the sword *adrenaline pumping bit bop. By themselves they may not be as memorable as say the theme from Zelda but as ambience pieces they are spot on.
Controls in the game can feel a little stiff sometimes but you will in most cases encounter the situation where you thought you missed but the attack actually hit. Happened to myself more than once. But that is more of an animation issue than anything else. I have so far played around 30 rounds and have only once encountered a situation where an attack missed the enemy (after xxxx killed) So as far as controls are concerned I guess I could say its 8-bit style with animations that make them seem more stiff than they actually are.
The game itself is an epic adventure to lift a curse and save the day. But after you find the sword a counter pops up and now you only have one min to explore before you are forced to restart and the clock resets. It can be infuriating a lot of times. But I did still feel the need to keep playing just to see what was to the right of the fork in the road that I previously chose to go left at.
But I still feel a game about exploration should be at your own pace. In my own opinion I honestly feel this would have been better suited to a platform game. But togheter with a sort of mix between 8-bit classics and atari 2600 classic feelings and a soundtrack that gets you pumped up I still kept coming back and will without a doubt continue to go back to. With more color variety and the timer removed this could have been a blast from the past in the same kind of league as Zelda. As it is now it stands more like a stressinducing game that makes you scream for all the wrong reasons.
But it is still a world I have no qualms about returning to and running my socks off in.
This is Epic Retroman saying old school rocks and see ya in the next trip down 8-bit memory lane.
Developer: JW, Kitty, Jukio & Dom
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Release Date: 3rd April 2018
Price: $9.99
File Size: 141MB