Marko

About the Game:

Marko, or Marko's Magic Football as it's referred to outside the US, is a sidescrolling platformer that centers around Marko and his, well, magical soccer ball football. Okay, look, I'm calling it a soccer ball... because 'MURCA! I've never actually heard of this game before, let alone played it, so I'm not really sure what to think going in.

Gameplay, Story and Value:

I'm... not sure where to really start with this one...

Marko is a mess. The controls are unreliable and unresponsive, and you never know when or even if you'll actually be able to make an attack. The combat in this game focuses around Marko's soccer ball, which has been imbued with mystical abilities via a strange green sludge. What magical properties have been bestowed upon this ball? Well, when you kick it really far, then press the C button, it appears in front of you... except for when it doesn't. There's very little consistency for how the ball handles which really sucks when it's your only means of defeating enemies.

Rest assured, kicking a magic ball is not the extent of Marko's abilities! He can also jump, and dash, and when these two abilities are used together the whole @#$%ing game breaks! Even from a dead stop, trying to move while holding the dash button will cause Marko to skid out, just as if he were already in motion. This is fine, until you slide off a ledge or that valuable few seconds you just lost causes you to become eaten by a sludge monster. Not to mention it's just annoying as all hell. The jumping works okay for the most part, so long as it doesn't have to handle any kind of collision detection whatsoever aside from "landing", and even this it can get it wrong.

Now I'll be honest, the story is fantastic, and reeks brilliantly of Saturday morning cartoons from the 90's. Ultimately this just serves to make that actual game that much more disappointing...

Levels are all structured in the same way, requiring you to find your way from Point A to Point B, avoiding enemies you can't defeat and engaging those you can. Along the way you'll want to pick up stars and soda cans because reasons. I have read that this process repeats itself thirteen times before you're finally offered the sweet release of end credits... I doubt I'll be confirming this for myself.

Presentation, Music and Sound:

While Marko initially impresses with a fun cartoon styling, after you've looked at it for a bit it all starts to feel somewhat cheap and lazy. It's unfortunate that Marko's biggest strength quickly starts to resemble something ripped straight out of budget children's programming. There are several animations, which is nice, though they really only serve to further hinder the gameplay.

Music has a fun eeriness about it, like you'd hear in something like Plants vs Zombies, though the sound effects are completely forgettable.

Fun:

I try notice to reference the source list I'm using for my project too much, but this is crazy. Marko was placed considerably higher than games like Ristar or Ghouls 'n Ghosts? Really? Rocket Knight was placed on the list by me to replace a non-working cartridge so that doesn't count, though I imagine OutRun was also a much better game than this...

I guess playing through some stinkers can be fun too?

Review:

Gameplay: