Купить The Messenger

The Messenger is one of the finest games I've ever played. It's like if a brilliant team with good imaginations created a canon with tons of potential then took all of the greatest action platformers from the 80s and 90s, distilled their best aspects, then balanced and polished the whole thing to perfection to bring their creation to life for the modern era. The controls are tight and responsive. The player's capabilities are engaging and make every aspect of play feel amazing. The soundtrack is absolutely killer (I immediately bought the entire soundtrack full price after finishing this, which I never do). The writing and humour are intelligent and the story is told with a mix of gravitas and levity that just works. The visuals and sprites are 8-bit and 16-bit platinum-grade eye candy. Even the game's achievements are flawlessly executed. They encourage us to see everything the game has to offer but there's nothing grindy or arbitrary about them. The overall direction, design, and execution are absolutely sublime. The icing on the cake is that this is really like three games in one; it's like if an NES game came with its own SNES sequels built in. The first "act" is predominately an homage to linear 8-bit era action platformers and is heavily inspired by Ninja Gaiden, Castlevania, and Mega Man. The play and design is relatively simple compared to the more complex approach to come, but the unprecedented polish is still there. It culminates with a transition to an homage to 16-bit era action platformers with the challenge slowly ramping up to be closer to that of the time period it draws from while preserving modern save mechanics with infinite lives (in the base game). The second act is a metroidvania that builds upon the already stellar gameplay. The final act can be considered to be the DLC, which changes the formula in drawing from a wider variety of classics like Battletoads/TMNT IV: Turtles in Time and Super Punch Out. Once the game is complete, New Game + mixes things up by replacing the infinite lives system with a Contra-esque system where you can die a bunch as long as you keep earning more "lives," with each subsequent new New Game + upping the anti more and more. There's little I can say about The Messenger that's not positive. A minor critique would be that, not having viewed any promotional material, I found the early transition to a more comedic style a bit awkward/jarring but I chock that up to my not having any idea what the tone of this was actually supposed to be going into it. I feel like the challenge could have been increased but the DLC does a good job of accomplishing that and where it's at is probably best to ensure the game is approachable for gamers who haven't experienced OG Ninja Gaiden/Castlevania/Contra/Mega Man/Battletoads/Etc. These are really all just minor nitpicks. Objectively speaking, the game is as damn near perfect as any I've seen. Gamers who cut their teeth on the NES/SMS & SNES/Genesis owe it to themselves to get The Messenger. Beyond simple nostalgia, this hits all the same notes as the classics we love while bringing its own creative flavour and humour to the genres. While younger players might not be able to appreciate the meta commentary expressed by The Messenger's very design, they should still appreciate the quality of the product as a whole. It's a thoughtful love letter from gamers, to gamers.

The best action platformer I've played in a while, second half was still very good, bu I enjoyed myself much more during the first half

С виду игра незатейливая - простенький, но качественный платформер по мотивам Ninja Gaiden. Однако в процессе она эволюционирует и в конце концов становится нелинейной. Можно было бы сказать, что из обычного платформера превращается в метроидванию, но нет, для метроидвании возможностей всё же маловато, хотя основная фишка - перемещение между 8- и 16-битным стилем - очень радует, собственно, на ней и построена вся игра, и геймплейно и сюжетно (СПОЙЛЕР! это перемещение во времени). Сложность низкая, игра скорее для релакса, что по-своему хорошо, от хардкора надо иногда и отдыхать. Концовка, правда, затянута - платформинг, лёгкий и приятный в бОльшей части игры, под конец уже раздражает. Музыка, звуки, визуал - всё на уровне, соответствует 8-16-битным канонам, плюс добавлено немного современных красивостей. Кстати, помимо Ninja Gaiden, мне игра напомнила, почему-то, Kick Master. В общем, кто любит приятные и несложные платформеры в ретро-стиле - рекомендую.

Frickin' amazing fun game with a banger soundtrack. Might be a bit frustrating at times, but god it was good. There are many funnies and references in this too. Got many laughs out of it during streams. I would say it is well worth full price purchase.

wildly satisfying combat system, you feel like a freakin ballerina with wings once you've gotten good with it