Nogalious is a retro 8-bit platforming game in the spirit of the late 80s and early 90s world of 8-bit computers. I know that when you hear 8-bit you automatically think of the NES but in much of the world the term 8-bit calls to mind the early days of the computer with the Amiga and Commodore 64. Nogalious is a title that pulls from those early computers in its style and while that style is fantastic, much of the same issues inherent with those early computer games comes along for the ride.
This 2D platformer hits you right in the nostalgia and calls to mind titles like Rick Dangerous. You control a tiny little man on a quest and try to platform across several static screens per stage. The one thing to note is that the game is very European in how it plays. Unlike Japan and the West, European games loved to have everything on the screen out to kill you. If something looks animated in any way it usually means death.
These sorts of games are of a time to be sure, but they never really struck me as having great design. Instead of needing skill like something along the lines of Super Mario Bros., European design dictated memorization of each screen. Nogalious sticks to this and you’ll spend most of your time memorizing patterns instead of getting better at the game from practice.
This wouldn’t be all that bad if the game had tight controls, but it doesn’t. Controls can be best described as clunky, often fighting against the player leading to frustration. Whether playing on the keyboard like a traditional PC game or using a controller both come with the same problems.
Movement doesn’t always register which will lead to many a death from falling to your doom. Attacks and action commands work perfect, so I can only hope a future patch will address some of the strange input issues regarding movement. But because this one was released on everything including the vintage MSX, ZX Spectrum and C64 I don’t know how likely an update is.
Story wise Nogalious is your standard adventure fare. You are out to stop the big baddie Darama and his four boss henchmen. To do you you’ll have to use a bunch of items in the vein of The Legend of Zelda to progress and to take down the bosses. It’s a setup that is familiar and easy to wrap you head around. On top of the action there are lots of puzzle elements, some more obtuse than others. There are hints floating about but much of the time you’ll have to guess, wondering if your next move will open up a new area or get you killed. Memorization is the name of game.
Visually the game is a real treat. It’s not just inspired by those 8-bit computer games, but it does feel like it was developed with them in mind. I suppose this is to be expected as it released on those old platforms alongside modern consoles. The pixelated style is nice and if you are only used to the Western console games of the 80s and 90s, this one shows what the rest of the world was getting. Animations are simple, the design clean, and everything looks nice and colorful. But there are occasions where objects that look like they are in the background will kill because they get lost among the action when lots of stuff is going on.
There is a lot to like in Nogalious but there are also a lot of issues that keep it from being a great experience. Game design mistakes from the past crop up, and while I understand sticking to your roots, some things are better left in the past. The memorization nature of the game will leave you feeling frustrated more often than giving you a feeling of enjoyment and with only five stages with tons of screens each, you’ll be doing a lot of it.
There is no real learning curve here as it’s simply a guessing game with each screen. Some enemies will kill you, some wont, and then the ones that won’t, might if they are in certain spots. It often becomes a messy affair that has you questioning everything instead of enjoying what the experience has to offer.
None of this is a killer since you could always point to how classic 8-bit computer games played, but what you can’t ignore is the games broken hit-boxes that aren’t helped by those clunky controls. This really comes into play with bosses as your attacks sometimes don’t register even through you just ran a sword through their head. Sometimes your attacks send them back, other times it goes right through them. It makes boss fights much harder than they should be.
Then there are the Steam achievements that seem broken. There were times where I walked into an area and three or four achievements popped up on the screen. Then there were times where I got achievements only to get them again when I walked back to the same screen. And if you die it seems that the achievements reset themselves at random. Something is clearly off with their implementation. On top of that are some annoying translation issues into English. Nothing that kills the experience but it does give off the feeling that the game lacks that bit of polish it rightfully deserves.
Nogalious isn’t for everyone, but if you grew up on in the 8-bit computer scene it hits all the right marks. It’s also a really nice game for those in the West to get a good idea of how different games were across the pond in both look and design. If you have the patience and really great sprite art catches your fancy, Nogalious should satisfy for the tenner it’s asking for admittance.
Final Score:
3/5
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