Ufouria: The Saga (1992)

Beat on both speed modes. Normal speed was ok for the general platforming since the game was so easy, but slow mode was needed for boss fights. It was such a weird name for a game but it was technically about UFOs. It was a mix of Metroid, Little Samson and Mario, being an open world Metroidvania with an actually useful in game map. There were 4 characters to swap between each with their own special ability and attack, and the game was about unlocking new areas with these abilities. At first I did not know how to kill anything and had to look it up. Mario stomps but you had to hold down while in the air or you would just take damage. I really didn't see the point of adding this extra step. Enemies dropped healing or rocks to pick up and throw, but killing enemies without the stomp never dropped hp, so I rarely used the rocks. Most of the boss fights used this rock throwing mechanic. The entire art style was weird. The main guy looked like a snowman or something and was generally the best character to control since hp was shared. He later got the ability to climb vertical walls but this was a little difficult to use without holding down turbo as you had to mash the button way too fast. His special attack was a forward punch that was only really useful in a few tight spaces when you could not jump on enemies. Too often I got hit by enemies while transitioning or bounced off an enemy to be sent back to the previous screen, only for it to be right back. The 2nd character was a red lizard and the position of the pupil made the character look brain dead. Like it was some other creature wearing the skin of the red lizard. This guy could swim and walk on ice without slipping down every few seconds, though the platforming in general was on the slippery side. His special was ice breath that turned enemies into solid blocks for platforming, which was the most annoying part of the game. At least you could fail and fall into lava without instantly dying. 3rd was a ghost who fell much slower. This made him more annoying to control during general play but was needed to make longer jumps. And his special automatically killed most enemies on the screen. It was not actually necessary but made the platforming easier. Last guy was a green angler fish who could go fully underwater. I had the same problem here as with climbing in that you had to mash the button like crazy in order to swim and I had an incredible difficult time getting into narrow tunnels. Turbo button came to the rescue again though once he got stuck in the pipe and I had to load state. His special was a bomb that destroyed weak blocks, but they came back after pressing select to switch characters. The biggest problem with these special attacks was that you had to stand still charging them up for a few seconds, which was not fun. I found all 4 heart containers and used medicine to fill them up but never needed to use the full heal item. Overall the combat was not much fun and the entire game was a little lacking in content, but unlike Metroid, the map and lack of samey looking screens made it not frustrating to navigate.

6.8/10

Ufouria is a charming game, with pretty graphics and a great soundtrack. The playable characters and the enemies are quirky and funny.

I suppose this game can be considered a Metroidvania of sorts, as the gameplay is based around exploration and going back to previous areas after unlocking new powers or abilities.

The main problem of this game is the movement: you are slow. SLOOOOOOW. Everything is slow! Moving, falling, attacking, crouching, respawning. It drives me crazy!

Of course, you don't have any means to "fast travel" and the map certainly could be better, so I quickly downloaded a better map to avoid visiting the same areas over and over.

I also used fastforward basically every time I could, to make the movement more tolerable. The game is not difficult, but I still resorted to savestates in a few boss fights. This is the kind of game where you feel like and idiot if you die, because the enemy patterns are really simple.

I did not enjoy playing this game, but I'm glad that I did, so now I know it's not that good as some folks say it is.