Moon Diver

Moon Diver is a classic platform game, very difficult to play but also very fun. It is an action game with some RPG elements and with an excellent multiplayer mode for four players. Recommended for those who love this genre of old school platform.

It will not be remembered as one of the greatest in the digital catalogue as it could be much better, but retro gameplay fans will enjoy it.

If you're interested in Moon Diver, play halfway through the game by yourself to gain some levels, collect various magic, and get used to the structure. Then fire up multiplayer and never look back.

It's a game whose RPG-stylings will lend themselves well to super-powered speed runs many months from now, whose light touch and hidden depths could well create something of a cult following.

Both immensely satisfying and somewhat frustrating at the same time.

Cooperative platforming action with a nice nostalgic touch and some new features.

Like Strider before it, Moon Diver is a repetitive button masher that will enthrall you regardless of its shortcomings.

A good game for the niche of gamers it's aimed at, but it's also inconsistent and flawed.

Moon Diver is at its best when playing with others, and all the positives really shine: the great effects and animations, the constant hack 'n slash adrenaline rush, and that addictive "let's-keep-going" element. But even then, things get way too repetitive, there isn't a ton of inspiration in regards to basic enemy design, and the overall repetitiveness of the entire production becomes painfully obvious.

Moon Diver is one of those divisive little numbers that you'll either love because of its repetitive, twitchy bombast, or want to drown in its own spittle. It's here. It's queer. Get used to it.

The multiplayer part of Moon Diver justifies its existence. Alone, however, the gameplay is getting repetitive pretty quickly despite its RPG elements. You're in for a mix between Mega Man and Hard Corps: Uprising.

Moon Diver could have used more attention in creating a fun experience that didn't rely on over saturating players with enemies to kill, but depending on what kind of person you are, the hectic multiplayer can be a blast with an old-school bend.

Moon Diver takes all the charm of a retro-action arcade game and presents it with a shiny, new-generation look. At the core though, this game is about as old school as they come. As much as I love it, I am afraid that this is one solely for fans of the genre.

If you can stomach its repetitive combat and odd cinematics, Moon Diver provides a moderately satisfying button-mashing experience.

Ultimately, Moon Diver doesn't stray from its old-school roots and only the most masochistic gamers will find much joy here.

While your characters are nimble – able to double jump, slide on the spot, cling on to walls, ceilings and sporadically placed platforms – the melee combat is pretty tiresome as enemies overwhelm often by number rather than by skill. Cross your fingers you have a ranged attack in your repertoire else you're screwed. [July 2011 p84]

A game so retro it feels like the illegitimate offspring of early Castlevania and Final Fantasy titles. [June 2011, p.109]

A hell of a single-player challenge, which should only be taken on by the sort of sadist who one-credit-clears Cave shooters. For the time being, however, even as Moon Diver hardly feels like a modern-day Big Damn Deal, it is at its best when posing as the over-serious side-scrolling equivalent of a party game.

Moon Diver is a game from another time. More a sibling of Strider 2, with whom it shares it creator Koichi Yotsui, than a successor, it has the same qualities. New elements like 4 player play and a magic system are thrown un a 90's design, both visually and gameplay-wise. So it's hard for it to feel like a 2011 game; which may very well be both its main strength and weakness. Superplayers will enjoy its skill requirements, others won't find enough in there for them to pay its 15 dollars.

Absolutely not a next generation Strider, but it is an unusual and fun co-operative platformer if you have the friends to hand.

So, no, Moon Diver isn't the second coming of Strider. Instead, it's carved out its own niche as a serviceable and party-game-flavored action title. Grab three friends, mash some buttons, and you can't go wrong. Just don't expect it to be Shakespeare.

Move. Kill. Move. Kill. Repeat for hours upon hours until you pass out.

Moon Diver isn't the next big thing in the 2D action platform genre, nor is it Square Enix's new instant classic. It does have some good ideas, but lazy design decisions and the repetitive stages do bring it down a few notches.

Bland environments, reused enemies, and repetitive combat make even short levels feel drawn out. [June 2011, p.75]

Efforts to align Moon Diver's classic gameplay with an environment 20 years removed from its progenitor have only done it harm. The greatest shame is that the game did not fall victim to the caprice of an indifferent natural order; Moon Diver is betrayed by the deliberate adaptations of rational designers.

Moon Diver is an "Old School" and the gameplay is based on the classic Strider, both created by Kouichi Yotsui. However it cannot even try to compete against its "father" in terms of variety or simple fun. A boring and almost impossible game for just one player, it turns more pleasant with up to four members of that awkard Ninja team in cooperative, but the lack of imagination in the design patterns, the repetitive enemies and the awful graphics are things we were not expecting. Definetely not the sequel we all are waiting for.

Irritation, apathy, mild disinterest - just a few things we felt while playing Moon Diver. [Issue#205, p.94]

The only way to experience the whole game with relative ease is by dipping your toes in the online pool. Unfortunately, most of the title is plagued by repetition, lifeless design, and enough Japanese obscurity to deter most enthusiasts, meaning Moon Diver's appeal is broken quicker than Ryan Giggs' super injunction.

Moon Diver has many flaws: poor gameplay, an absent narration, an unbalnced difficulty level. More than enough to stay away from it.

A bunch of misfit characters, bland stages and overly repetitive, mash-happy action. [Issue#109, p.110]

Anyone that is still actively playing (and enjoying) old beat 'em ups like Strider or Shinobi may have the temperance to enjoy Moon Diver. The controls are some of the tightest I've played in a platformer. Unfortunately, the crappy everything-else means that those who spend most of their time in modern games should stay there.

Quotation forthcoming.