![]() Narita boy has its flaws – it’s initial pacing, too much dry text exposition, perhaps too reliant on backtracking. ![]() Still, I started to enjoy myself after leaving the first area and wanted to continue playing from then on. It took a while for the game to actually get going – perhaps a bit too long as it ran the risk of losing me. There are also the occasional boss fights, of course – in particular, the Black Rainbow stands out as one of those imaginative enemies. ![]() ![]() The enemies can be quite imaginative at times, and I do like their esthetics ever so often. While some combat sequences can be a bit challenging – having you retry them a couple of times – the game overall is not particularly difficult. There is no real punishment for dying other than setting you back a bit. You can test those against an ever-expanding roster of enemies, which often are introduced when you learn said new ability. You’ll unlock new abilities as you go along, including sword techniques and special abilities. You do come back to a certain hub world every so often, but there aren’t any upgrades to unlock with new items or abilities. Expect a lot of backtracking when you do all of this, though I wouldn’t really call it a Metroidvania type game. Those puzzles generally take the form of figuring out the right symbols to activate a teleporter. You progress by unlocking doors by talking to characters, surviving combat sequences and solving those puzzles. Gameplay-wise, Narita Boy is a slight roguish hack and slash, where you do a lot of talking to characters and solve the occasional puzzle. And while the life story of the creator is relatively self-contained, the game ends basically in a cliffhanger. That being said, the overarching story where you try to restore the creator’s memories is infinitely more interesting – though perhaps a tad bit predictable. The idiom “show don’t tell” rings quite true in Narita Boy’s case. It certainly doesn’t make the world more interesting for it. It feels like they’re trying to prove something nobody would ever ask for. Unfortunately, the game’s writers seem to be trying a bit too hard in this area – as NPCs are constantly droning on about how the world works and referring to coding terminology whenever they can. The many similarities in the setting and narrative are apparent, though I guess at least with a more competent understanding of how coding works. I don’t think it’s a secret that this game takes a lot of inspiration from Tron – almost to a fault. The neon pixel art looks amazing, and the score is mesmerizing at times. Let me first say Narita Boy is gorgeous in its presentation. Your goal is to find this world’s creator’s memories and restore them – resulting in you watching major events of his past that tie into your current situation. In the prologue, he wipes the memories of the creator, who – as you are told often enough – is the only one who can stop what’s going on. This digital domain has been thrown into disarray by the villain HIM, who was supposed to be one of the leading figures of this world but basically turned evil. In Narita Boy, you are the titular character – a kid who plays too many video games (if that’s really a thing) and is transported into his “PC” to take the mantle of the titular digital savior of this digital world. Platforms: PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Nintendo Switch Platforms: PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Nintendo Switch
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