Writings of Mass Deduction

I’m purchasing an Xbox Live Indie Game every day, seeking out the quality titles that got lost in the shuffle and are not well represented in the top 50 lists on the Xbox Dashboard. Today is day #141, and today’s game is “Curse of the Crescent Isle”.

Curse of the Crescent Isle is a platformer in the vein of classics like the North American version of Super Mario Bros. 2, and Ducktales. However, it does some things I like better than the games that appear to have inspired it.

First, from the developer (AdamTheOtaku):

“A king sets out to rid his kingdom of a horrible curse.”

OK, that’s not much to go on. The king you play the game as has to rescue each of his friends, one after the other. As you do so, each person you rescue grants you a new ability that you can use in your quest to help the remaining victims of the curse. One of the more creative abilities you are granted is the ability to “ride” an enemy and user their powers against their compatriots.

The game’s basic controls are jump, grab, and throw, and pairing these up with the special abilities you unlock is the key to success in the game. Utilising the abilities of enemies you grab really adds a unique flavour to the game, such as the ability to drill up or down, or to grab the ceiling, depending on which enemy you are utilising. Unlike a lot of recent XBL Indie Games platformers it takes more than one hit to die making this a more forgiving experience than something like, say, “Aban Hawkins & the 1000 SPIKES”.

Presentation is heavily NES-influenced, but in a good way, especially for the nastalgia-inducing chiptunes-style music and sound effects.

Click here to download “Curse of the Crescent Isle”, and then please come back to rate the game.

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