A few months ago, the Switch finally got it Pizza Toweran indie action platformer that received a lot of praise for its effective delivery of Nintendo’s long dormant Wario land series. However, developers Tour de Pizza aren’t the only team taking inspiration from Wario. Summitsphere Antonblast is a wild and wonderful action platformer that feels like it could really be To be the next Wario Land game if it has a different paint job; Its combination of speed, precision, and clever level design makes for a genuinely fun experience that’s only let down by consistent performance issues.
Antonblast stars as Dynamite Anton, whose angry, red-skinned appearance makes Satan feel jealous and insecure about his status as “the reddest creature of them all.” So, in a petty act of revenge, he sends his henchmen to Anton’s apartment to steal what he treasures most: the Spirits he keeps around his living space. . Enraged, Anton grabs his hammer and sets out on a quest to reclaim what was stolen and give Satan a piece of his mind.
Play through any given level here and get inspired Wario Land 4 is immediately apparent. Anton (or his roommate Annie, if you prefer) traverses levels like a nearly unstoppable force of nature, smashing boxes and exploding enemies as he wields his hammer Smash around and power through obstacles with his ‘Clutch’ charged ability. There are plenty of side paths to explore and collectibles along the way, but the ultimate goal is to get the bomb at the end of the level so you can start “Happy Hour.” Once activated, a countdown timer will start and you only have a few minutes to return to the level with the Gods you have collected. These mad dashes to safety are a real thrill, as you’re often forced to take a different route back to your starting point and often leave a huge path of destruction in your wake. about.
However, just passing a level is not enough to get the full experience, even if you take the time to look at all of its collections. After defeating each one, you unlock the time attack mode and combo chains for the level, and this is where the exceptional level design really comes into focus.
As for Time Attack, each level gives you a short amount of time to achieve which requires you to master the level layout and understand the nuances of Anton’s moveset to optimize your efforts yours. Combo chains work almost the same, but here you are tasked with maintaining an uninterrupted combo by strategically smashing boxes and blasting enemies, all without any cooldown. any blood to help you escape. We really like what these two modes have to offer, as they force you to take on each level differently each time, and add challenge and replayability to an already solid platformer. Great.
Even if you only stick to the bare minimum of content to complete the basic story, Antonblast still displays remarkable variety throughout its relatively short run. It should only take you about 10 hours to complete (it can take twice that time if you do it everything), but it makes the most of that time by continuously introducing new level ideas and concepts along the way.
One level has a power-up that essentially turns you into Taz the Devil, completely obliterating everything in your path as you transform into a whirlwind of chaos. Another stage introduces a lightning-fast buddy shark that Anton can ride on land or sea, providing new movement options as he tries to hang on for dear life. This is the kind of game that keeps things going moveand its commitment to introducing new ideas and building levels around them keeps it feeling fresh.
In terms of visual presentation, Antonblast is clearly inspired by old Newgrounds-style Flash animations and ’90s Nickelodeon shows. The colorful world you terrorize on your journey has something of a It’s twisted and dream-like, and all the characters and animations have a very special feel. Looney tunes-esque vibe with their exaggerated movements. At any given moment on screen, something is bound to explode, scream, or collapse, and this is accentuated by the Joy-Con’s vibration feature, resulting in a very uncomfortable feeling. lively visual experience. But it’s the attention to small details that really makes the art style, like the long trail of the letter ‘A’ following a terrified enemy you’ve just pushed sideways into a brick wall.
The sound keeps up with the frenzy of the action with a pop and jazz-influenced soundtrack that keeps the energy level high throughout. And we especially appreciated the occasional animated sound effects to emphasize Anton’s destructive actions—things like the sound of a plane crashing used when Anton makes a dive from a high jump helps keep the goofy atmosphere front and center.
One downside is that performance is nearly impossible to keep up with continuous action. There are plenty of moments where the screen is filled with explosions, poker chips, and screaming enemies, resulting in a significant drop in frame rate. These drops don’t have a huge direct impact on your ability to control Anton, but they certainly still detract from the experience to the point of frustration. We’ve also seen reports of crashes and some software lockouts experienced by other players during launch. We’ve been assured by the developers that a performance improvement patch targeting these issues has been submitted to Nintendo, but note that the current version available at launch is quite rudimentary—you can want to wait for fixes.
Conclusion
Antonblast is a great tribute to Nintendo’s Wario Land series with its frenetic action and focus on gameplay variety. Cartoonish visuals, high replayability and a breathtaking overall experience make this game highly recommendable, although we’ll temper this by saying it really needs some performance improvements. capacity on Switch. Whether on Switch or elsewhere, we recommend picking this up if you’re a Nintendo fan other Italian mascot and looking for a fast-paced, well-crafted new 2D platformer—Antonblast has achieved that goal and is well deserving of a spot in your library.
