Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap

I've gotta stop buying games because of their artstyle. This game looks so gorgeous, I just had to play it. I quickly realized I should have just skipped through a few Let's Play videos to see all the prettiness. The gameplay in this is just bad. I should have known better given that so many oldschool platformers were bad, even when they were originally released. Its kind of why the video game market crashed back before Nintendo came around (though even they couldn't stop the flood of bad games being made at the time). I was trying to overlook the gameplay, instead focusing on how beautiful all the hand drawn artwork was. The characters you encounter are fantastic and they are great reimaginings of their original retro counterparts. The developers have made it super easy to compare the characters with their originals (as well as everything else in the game). With just a press of a button, you can switch between the original look of the game and back (and boy was it ugly back then). Alas, good looks can't overcome the terrible platforming found here, as much as I wish it could. I really am conflicted about this review, but I have to remember that gameplay comes first as it is a game. Maybe the developers will make a sequel that overhauls the gameplay while keeping this amazing new artstyle.

I finished it on Linux and didn't know the old game, but it's really good and the new art is fantastic. The remade soundtrack uses a lot of actually played instruments as well. It is made on top of the original game and you can switch between old/new graphics and sound anytime with buttons, so it's more or less a remake and remaster at the same time. And you can choose the human form to be female and the title to be displayed as "Wonder Girl", that's kinda neat, although you play in animal forms most of the time anyway. The difficulty is well balanced. I usually play games on easy but managed to finish it on "Normal" without too many issues, just some of the jumping sections in the secret areas were quite hard. I'd give it 5 stars, if controller support wouldn't be completely broken in the current Linux version (if GOG's version is the current one)... My Saitek DirectInput pad and the Logitech F310 in DInput mode aren't recognized at all and when I set the F310 to XInput mode, it is shown in the menu but I cannot map it and no input works although I have xboxdrv installed. At least there's QJoyPad to workaround this issue since you really want to play that game with a pad.

This game surprised me even though I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting. The developers went above and beyond in remaking it to the point that it really shows how much they cared about the original. Truly a top-notch effort. This game is incredibly charming.

Note that this review is driven equally by nostalgia and a general love for action adventure games :) The amount of care that has been put into creating this game is unbelievable. Like so many others have already stated: it's a retro-remake done right. The gameplay feels exactly like it did way back then, which is a good thing. The game is relatively short, but I've finished it multiple times and still enjoy picking it up every now and then. The additional levels are cool and def. pose a challenge. Visually the game is stunning, as is the re-arranged music. This is a must buy if you love Metroid-Vania games.

Never played the original, but this one is fun for a casual gamer. The different player transformations and environments keep this fairly brief game interesting. I'm not sure why anyone is complaining about the play control. The controls are incredibly simple and you don't need to remember a lot of buttons. I needed help for one of the last puzzles, but otherwise the challenges are straightforward. The art and music are superb. I bought it at full price and don't regret it.