Sometimes a really well-made replica is enough. Diddy Kong Racing took 99.9% of the build, design, gameplay, and all of the maneuvers and power-ups from Mario Kart and did it so well that many Nintendo 64 gamers like to call it the ultimate karting title on the console. The same goes for Forza Motorsport 4, which, like its three predecessors, was an obvious copy-paste of Gran Turismo, but did everything except perhaps the graphics better than Polyphony Digital, thus surpassing its closest competitor.
The list goes on forever. Dark Forces was a Doom II clone, but a brilliant one, stealing the concept and structure but still producing something of its own. Sleeping Dogs imitated GTA and did it very well, just as Final Fantasy plagiarized Dragon Quest at the time, but it did it even better than the game’s creators had managed to do. "Original". The same goes for Uncharted/Tomb Raider, Red Factions/Half-Life, Area 51/Halo, Stardew Valley/Harvest Moon, Streets of Rage/Final Fight and many more. It is said that plagiarism is the best form of flattery. And in the case of Nikoderiko: The Magical World, Naughty Dog and the team behind Crash Bandicoot should be suitably flattered.
This game is a homage to Crash Bandicoot, and essentially, small Cyprus-based indie studio VEA Games took their cues primarily from Crash Bandicoot 4 and then spiced it up with the retro nostalgia of Donkey Kong Country to create a true gem create ultra-cozy platforms full of charm and character.
You play as Niko or Luna, both a kind of bipedal fox lion with a mohawk and folded jeans, who stumble upon a world of riches as they explore the clouds. Unfortunately, supervillain Grimbald and his 2,000 hired minions of Eggman’s mutant monsters sneak in and spoil the fun by grabbing the treasure and escaping, meaning Niko and Luna must jump through a series of colorful environments to find their treasure and the To restore order on the island. The story, like all old platform games, is neatly put together, so I can write a few lazy lines on the back of the game box, and not only does it not matter, I think it belongs in there. The story is as simple and uninteresting as the adventures of Mario, Sonic or Crash Bandicoot, and that’s fine with me.
The setup is as simple and easy to understand as the story itself. Nikoderiko: The Magical World is primarily a 2.5-inch side-scrolling adventure in the same style as Crash Bandicoot 4, where you move from left to right Run, jump over (or over) enemy monsters, collect power-ups, and land on small unstable platforms. to meet some kind of boss at the end of all four levels. Like Crash Bandicoot, developers create variety by adding "Bonus level" with old-fashioned 3D depth where, like in Crash, you either run into the frame or flee from enemies while rolling fireballs or giant mutant toads hot on your heels. We’ve seen it before. It always works well and here too. The variety is good and the structure is incredibly familiar.
The gameplay is solid, it’s clear that the developers really understand what makes jumping fun in games like Crash Bandicoot and Donkey Kong Country, and I like how they’ve taken the best of those two game series and mixed it up really nicely here have . There’s a built-in co-op mode where you can jump through the entire adventure with a friend. If you’re playing alone, you can switch between Niko and Luna at any time. The level of difficulty is also very appropriate and seems more balanced than, for example, Crash Bandicoot 4 (which annoyed me beyond measure towards the end), so that both a nine-year-old and a 47-year-old can play and enjoy this gem among platforms.
The aesthetics are also good, as is the music. VEA Games borrowed the basic design from Crash and spiced it up with playful vignettes and moments from Donkey Kong Country and Rayman, and it works well throughout the game. Of course, sometimes I think that Niko and his worlds are too similar to Crash Bandicoot, but as I said at the beginning of the text, there is nothing wrong with borrowing from the giants of the genre if you do it well, like VEA Games does. The music is also by old Rareware veteran David Wise, who composed the songs for the first three Donkey Kong Country games, and that means we recognize ourselves here too. Fun, cozy, nostalgic and varied, until the end.
If I could ask for something here, I would like the game’s controls to feel a little tighter, like I felt when playing Crash Bandicoot 4. Both Niko and Luna move a little too slowly for my liking and their jumping animations are very detailed that sometimes seem to be floating in the air and have nothing to do with actual gravity. However, in this context, this is nothing more than a minor quibble and nothing that bothers too much in a game that, in my opinion, pays homage to the old classics of this particular genre in the best possible way.
