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Review: The Adventures of Shuggy

The Adventures of Shuggy is the newest, and first Xbox LIVE arcade title from Smudged Cat Games whom is better known for their Xbox LIVE indie games such as Timeslip, The Tower, and A Bomb’s Way.

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Once you start up Shuggy you’ll notice a few different game modes beginning with the single player which just includes the standard campaign. After that there’s the multiplayer which allows for local co-operative gameplay, as well as a competitive “race” mode to see who can get the most gems at the end of the time limit which can either be played locally or via Xbox LIVE with up to four friends.

In the single player, Shuggy goes to his newly inherited home, a Mansion filled with 100 different rooms spanning the Dungeon, Boiler Room, Gallery, Cemetery, and Clocktower. All of these levels include a few distinct different elements to beating the levels and obtaining the gems needed to get past the level, ranging from traditional platforming to wrapping a rope around yourself to maneuver the later levels. The levels beaten will be displayed in the upper left-hand corner of the screen while maneuvering the different level select areas in the form of keys to the different rooms you have conquered as you progress throughout the game.

Again, what makes this game stand out from the rest of the line-up of platformers on the Xbox LIVE marketplace is the wide variety of different elements used to beat the levels, each of which provides a unique experience up until the very end of the game at the clock tower. This element is incorporated throughout the entire game, even at the boss battles where you’ll be flipping switches, taking use of multiple Shuggy’s, etc. to take down a a possessed gallery of paintings, a renegade boiler, etc. Providing a solid 6-7 hour play time the single player is frustratingly hard at times, but will keep you coming back for more and more over the solid 100 levels offered.

The same premise is brought to the Multiplayer, but instead of using an AI partner for the co-operative levels scattered throughout the campaign and some unique co-op levels you’ll have a living breathing partner to master the 36 levels available only to the local multiplayer. The local only co-op was a huge let-down for me, as I was itching to get together with a friend to try out the levels over Xbox LIVE. The other side to multiplayer is the competitive mode, which I touched on earlier is a basic game of surviving the enemies on screen, as well as the spikes and traps while collecting the most gems to reach the highest score out of the four players either online or offline ranging from the four different ‘Shuggies’ to choose from.

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When you first hear some of the tracks from the game, you’ll feel like you’ve been transported back into a 1970’s and 80’s cartoon show. It features upbeat yet unique tone in most of the music  which is a great choice of style to go with for this type of game. While the music isn’t the most memorable it’s a good fit to help guide you along the challenging levels Shuggy has to offer.

Graphics wise, I believe the look they went with fits the game perfectly, while having depth and detail to some of the beautiful dark landscapes of the Mansion it’s nothing too spectacular and that’s perfectly fine for a 2D platforming game such as Shuggy. One thing you will notice though is how small some of the levels are, with filler background art taking up a sizable chunk of the screen.While small, some of the levels can prove quite tough which makes up for the lack of size but it would have been a welcome addition if they used up the space allotted to add some additional content to the levels.

Overall, The Adventures of Shuggy is a fine platforming game for any fan of the genre, while the graphics and music style may throw off some gamers this is a pleasure you should look into picking up for the reasonable $10 price tag, and for their first Xbox LIVE Arcade title Smudged Cat Games have done a stellar job putting the game together and here’s hoping for other enjoyable games in the future from them and Valcon Games.

Rating
Description
8Gameplay
Despite slippery controls at times, the game plays fine with the various features throughout.
7.5Graphics
Not the best around, but the dark visuals fit well for the setting.
7Sound
Upbeat tracks keep the flow and style of the game going well, but are forgettable.
7.5Final Score
0

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