La Mulana Review
21/09/12 03:05 Filed in: Video Games
I'm about to do something very unprofessional and that is review a game which I haven't even finished. La Mulana is challenging, really challenging but also really good so I wanted to talk about it anyway because otherwise it might fall into an obscurity which it doesn't deserve.After years in development hell where it waited for approval from the same crack team of quality assurance professionals who green lit Imagine Party Babyz and Major League Eating, I'm glad to say that it is finally here and it is an excellent throwback to the 8 and 16 bit eras.
La Mulana is a 2D action platformer released by Nigoro for Nintendo's WiiWare in September of 2012 as part of a sub-genre known as castletroids or metrodivanias. They're called this because like Metroid or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, the gameplay involves exploring a sprawling world to collect upgrades and new abilities which opens up even further areas as well as secrets in areas you've already visited.
Did I mention that this game is challenging? Because it is. For example, you know how in most games when you solve a puzzle, it plays a jingle to let you know? Not in La Mulana, you have to find an item just to have that convenience. That may be too much for some people but thankfully, the difficulty has been toned down from its original version.
Yes this is a remake of a 2005 Windows game by designer Takumi Naramura as an homage to a Japanese gaming computer known as the MSX. This version, being an official release, unfortunately scrubs a lot of the references to that system but in exchange it has beautifully updated hand-drawn artwork and synthesized music. If you want to play the original, then it can be downloaded for free but I would really recommend paying the ten dollars to try this version on your Wii or PC after all the work and trouble gone through to make it possible.
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