Towerfall: Ascension Review
Developer: Matt makes games Inc.
Format: PS4, PC, Ouya
Release Date: Out Now
You’ve bought the PS4, arguably the most graphically capable console to ever hit the home console market. It’s still early enough in its lifecycle that games are expensive and the risk of purchasing new console shovelware is high. Towerfall seems like an unlikely choice, its’ sprites looking more at home on an 8-bit machine. But beneath the nostalgic exterior lies a game that is so polished and captures the spirit of gameplay to such an extent, that is should be a part of everyone’s digital library.
Released originally on the Ouya, it received a staggering welcome and performed as a flagship title on the android console for the first few months of its release. It is still regularly cited as one of the greatest games to grace the micro-console. Its appeal comes from something found rarer and rarer these days in consoles games. Sheer simplicity coupled with addictive gameplay. The controls are basic, the character control is extremely smooth and the objectives couldn’t be easier to comprehend. A tribute to the days gone by where multiplayer meant being in the same room with your friends, Towerfall is the kind of game that you could have a bunch of people passing the controller around the room with absolutely no need for extended explanation or the risk of people getting bored. Perhaps the only fault with Matt Thorson’s jewel is that after any time spent playing the multiplayer mode makes the singleplayer option appear slightly shallow as you don’t have friends to cheer as you make a particularly lucky shot or when you’re down to one arrow apiece and you are trying to goad your opponent into making a mistake. The singleplayer mode is, like the rest of the game, basic but challenging. Quests are available to be conquered in “normal” and “hardcore” mode, the latter being very unforgiving while the former still introducing enough of a challenge to prevent anyone breezing through it in an hour or two.
For those that haven’t played the game before, the game is basically a 2D free for all, with everyone given a number of arrows to try and wipe out their opponents, either with a Robin Hood type moment or bouncing on their head like a certain Italian plumber. A token nod towards physics is in effect with the arrows arcing through the air and increasing in velocity as they start their descent but it’s not uncommon for an arrow to arc up slightly to act in your favour when aimed at an opponent. As you release arrows, they remain where they have landed and can be picked up by any player that runs over them. The environments are static arenas with paths looping from side to side and top to bottom. Players can jump and catch onto ledges to pull themselves up and have a dash command available which is vital to players as you are invulnerable to damage for the split second that your character bursts across the screen. There are a variety of powerup’s available to keep games from getting too repetitive such as explosive arrows, arrows that spawn brambles, wings, shields, explosive corpses and many more besides.
If you’re a member of the gaming alumni who can remember controllers with less than 8 buttons, this game will drag you lovingly back to the days when you had one game for your console and you played it to death. For those of you who can’t remember a time when PlayStation wasn’t a thing, this is an example of the type of game that made gaming in the late 80s and early 90s absolutely fantastic. The pixelated characters that embody you and your enemies are easily identified without worrying about realistic hair swishing and cloth mechanics. You are lucky to get a walking animation with these graphics. The Nokia ringtone style audio accompanies it perfectly and the result is something that reminds you just how far we’ve come graphically and, as an afterthought, how much we’ve forgotten about making games fun.
It’s a bit unfortunate that there isn’t an option for online multiplayer, the game itself appears to be a perfect candidate to pull it off. A snobbier part of me is happy that this is the case and the game is a true testament to the games we played in our youth but the realist in me is well aware the number of people owning even two PlayStation4 controllers is slim. This is a bit unfortunate as the highlight of this game is in the local multiplayer. If you do have more than one controller, this is no brainer, buy this game.
Score: 4.5/5
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