Battle Princess Madelyn (PS4)

From Kickstarter to Kickstarted "Battle Princess Madelyn" by CBit Games was promptly delivered as promised, and on multiple gaming platforms. The story driven, and oldschool gameplay inspired platformer which took ideas of Chris Obritsch's daughter's vision for a Ghouls 'N Ghosts themed adventure was given life in such a beautifully rendered, and audibly enjoyable way with a handful of options made readily available to tweak the experience to your liking. Along with a couple visual/audio style options it offers two different ways to play the game including a traditional story free Arcade Mode with 10 stages, and several branching paths within each along with epic boss fights as well as a protagonist modeled after Madelyn, the daughter of Chris. In addition to the arcade mode comes a Story Mode with comic panel style animations telling a tale of a sickly Madelyn being read a fairy tale story by her grandfather. A story about a princess knight who takes up arms to save her kingdom, and avenge the death of her loyal canine companion, Fritzy. A dog who comes back to life in ghost form to assist her on her journey to topple the ultimate evil. It is a story that is mirrored, if every so slightly, in both modes of platforming play.

The game opens up boldly with a memorial message paying respects to the real Madelyn's passed away grandfather, and her real world dog, Fritzy. It's a touching intro that sets the undertone of the game's underlying moral. That moral being the importance of honoring the dead, remembering passed loved ones, and ultimately moving on and doing what needs to be done in their absence. In the game the main character Madelyn bravely takes up arms, and armor in the game alongside Fritzy, and her grandfather the king as they embark on a quest to end the threat of an evil invader that wreaked havoc on their kingdom, and killed Fritzy who had leaped to Madelyn's defense in the heat of the moment. Thus setting the somewhat serious tone for the tasks at hand.

The Gameplay ...

Madelyn, like Arthur of the "Ghouls 'N Ghosts" series, wears armor on her adventure which sheds upon hit, and visually so. When hit three times, and shed of her armor in layers Madelyn will resurrect in a blast of lightning, but only three times in total. Allowing her to continue onward to an extent. She also wields throwing weapons of varying sorts that can be switched between on the fly via "L1 or R1". Her aiming is more akin to a game like Contra as it is multi-directional. She can jump, attack, and move/aim using the DPad or left thumbstick. Shoulder button functionality controls Fritzy who comes into use later on in the game, and assists in opening up previously inaccessible areas, as well as with enemy dealings. Pressing the touchpad will open up Madelyn's inventory, and allow you to access her items when needed.

On her adventure, whether it be in Arcade Mode or Story Mode, Madelyn will face continuously spawning enemies of varying sorts. Killing them will produce coins, gems, and money bags which can in turn be used in village shops within Story Mode in a "Legend of Zelda II" fashion or as score points for the gathering in Arcade Mode. Aside from coin collecting Madelyn will also find helpful items, and gear hidden in the branching environments that will help her traverse the increasingly complex platforming terrain. Much like games of the Metroidvania style. Things like shoes that allow for a double jump are included, among other useful things. Utilizing these special items Madelyn can make it to new areas that were inaccessible before, and even avoid/deal with certain obstacles and enemies more easily. In Arcade Mode Madelyn can also collect dropped special armors from certain enemy types that will make progress easier with unique projectile attacks, and a more beefy defense.

Making it from beginning to end is no easy feat, but the game does have an auto-progression save feature that will bring you back to unmarked checkpoints so that you don't have to start all over from the beginning. Should you close the game by pressing "OPTIONS", and selecting the 'return to title' option you can pick up where you last left off, but only in Story Mode. Once you quit out of Arcade Mode you will have to restart from the very beginning upon startup.

One thing to note about Story Mode is that the villages offer villager side quest opportunities much like "The Legend of Zelda II" did. By talking to villagers with floating icons over their head they will sometimes ask you to find an item they've lost or misplaced, and return it. Upon returning it you will be rewarded for your efforts. Also to note is that getting some items like projectile weapons, and keys is done by kneeling before specific statues that adorn the backgrounds of environments. This plays in the whole paying respects theme that the game is partially about. Along with the item gifting statues there are also some secrets to be found in other statues you'll encounter along the way. From adventuring to fighting off baddies, and even looting you will find there's a lot to discover in "Battle Princess Madelyn". Perhaps even some worthwhile life lessons to learn.

The Verdict ...

As much as I'd like to brag about how great this game was, and tell you that it lived up to the hype there are some notable problems that keep me from doing so. In regards to gameplay the enemy spawn system is frustrating, and not in the oldschool "Ghouls 'N Ghosts" way. You will constantly run into enemies that spawn directly under your character without warning or that spawn out of nowhere as you jump forward. These cheap shots are cheap, and unavoidable. On top of that I couldn't get Fritzy to do anything at all. I tried pressing every button imaginable, and all he did was collect the energy orbs that were supposed to let him do his thing. It could be that I didn't progress far enough though. Keep in mind I did not finish the game, because of the aggravation of the enemy spawn system. To compound the enemy problems further their attacks were sometimes out of pattern only serving to cause me to want to quit before I finished even more. They'd either attack in a way different from usual or fire projectiles quicker than usual to throw you off, and get a cheap hit in. What's really telling about all of this is that some of the PSN trophies you earn are in line with this abnormal enemy system, and the deaths it causes.

My only other complaint outside of that is that Arcade Mode's scoring system does not coincide with any menu based leaderboards. That the score you earn is pretty much meaningless. Not only that but you never really get a traditional game over in Arcade Mode to be able to input leaderboard initials or anything of the sort.

Weighing these problems does hurt my verdict. The game, outside of it's presentation, is flawed to a point it's hard to keep playing. The enemy spawn system in particular is unfair. I would say I understand what the developer was going for, but with a trophy awarded for deaths, and a repetitive boss death points to an intentional bad design choice. Artificial difficulty, if you will. In light of that I cannot recommend this game as is. It feels unpolished, and forcefully difficult. Perhaps the developer will patch it later on as they have done, but until then it is a pass from me considering all of this.