Mangavania is an motion platformer that takes place throughout 20 ranges, set to a monochrome palette and 8-bit soundtrack. The sport description states that the Mangavania is the story of Yuhiko, who’s preventing by means of the underworld to discover a treatment for his brother.
After taking part in by means of the sport, I nonetheless needed to search for the precise plot. The one tidbits of story which can be informed all through are imparted by random animal characters that you’ve got the choice of discovering all through every stage. Even while you discover them, the dialogue they do have is awkwardly written. In reality, the one actual motive to search out them is as a result of they provide you gems, which can be utilized to buy upgrades on the principle menu, however extra on these later.
For probably the most half, the degrees are specified by a non-linear trend. To finish them, you need to discover a set variety of fairy-like creatures which can be hidden within the stage after which hit them with an assault. When you hit all of them, the door to exit the extent unlocks and you’ll depart by means of it.
There are enemies and traps that block the trail, however the fight is so unsatisfying it’s higher to deal with all the things as an impediment to keep away from. Your assault vary is extremely quick and there’s no profit to defeating enemies. It really takes extra time to battle them than it does to keep away from them – and your run is timed.
The sooner you full the extent, the higher rank you might be assigned for that stage. This has no bearing on something past the variety of gems you obtain, which once more are used to buy upgrades.
There are 4 upgrades to select from: a double bounce, a splash, a bow and arrow assault, and, lastly, an additional coronary heart. I bought the double bounce potential first as a result of it’s a large enhance to mobility and I frankly had no real interest in buying the opposite upgrades. The difficulty is, about midway by means of the sport, I reached a stage that informed me I wanted the bow assault to finish the extent.
What’s annoying about that is that you could additionally use gems to restart runs for those who die throughout them. On prime of that, you don’t earn a ton of gems until you rush by means of the degrees extremely quick, or discover the beforehand talked about random animal characters. I didn’t notice the talents had been going to be required unlocks till they had been required, so I needed to replay the primary stage a number of instances to grind out gems for the unlocks.
Now an argument might be made that I ought to’ve performed higher and this wouldn’t have been a difficulty, however there are two issues I’ve to say in response to that. The primary is that there is no such thing as a strategy to pan the digicam, and there are a number of ranges the place the zoom stage of the sport leaves so much to be desired.
Many ranges have pits that you could fall down that can trigger you to lose a coronary heart of well being. There are additionally many sections the place you will have to drop all the way down to a decrease stage. There may be completely no strategy to know which is which with out taking the plunge. This will get outdated quick, and I didn’t actually care concerning the different talents, so I didn’t see the hurt in spending gems to simply restart on the checkpoint.
My different motive for desirous to rush by means of ranges as shortly as attainable was the soundtrack. There are a handful of songs that play within the background, each as repetitive and boring because the final. I’ve heard royalty free music that may’ve made a greater backdrop.
Music and sound design are a significant a part of any recreation, and Mangavania falls flat on each accounts. Not solely is the music tedious, however even the enemy sound results are a nuisance to hearken to. Mixed, it makes the already uninteresting gameplay even tougher to sit down by means of.
The roughest ranges are the boss fights, which really feel utterly pointless. Levels 10 and 20 each function boss fights, satirically, with stage 10’s boss being the tougher of the 2. They each take an unreasonable quantity of hits to defeat, and I truthfully don’t see any strategy to clear the fights with out utilizing the gems to proceed the battle.
Beating the ultimate boss of the sport unceremoniously leads to a credit score display screen. I suppose your brother is protected, or cured? I nonetheless don’t know what ailed him, or how defeating a bizarre blob man that goofily hangs from the ceiling by his foot manages to treatment him. However I suppose that’s the story of Mangavania.
The necessity to use gems to defeat them additionally feeds again into the earlier difficulty of probably needing to grind for gems to complete the sport. The entire state of affairs is made weirder by the truth that you don’t begin the sport with the power to assault. It’s discovered within the first stage and when you accumulate it, you will have it all through the remainder of the sport. Even after I went to replay the primary stage, I didn’t want to gather the power once more.
I don’t perceive why the remainder of the talents couldn’t have been discovered and unlocked the identical means. There may simply have been extra elective upgrades to buy from the shop. This might forestall any danger of needing to grind for gems.
General, there may be only a lack of polish in Mangavania, however fortunately it’s somewhat quick and also you do get a straightforward 1000 Gamerscore pocketed for ending it. Working at about an hour lengthy, you’ll presumably discover that’s about an hour greater than you’ll want to spend with Mangavania.
