I purchased this gem for less than a single US dime and cannot believe the actual comparable value: A quick-action platforming adventure reminiscent of everything from “Mega Man” to “Clash at Demonhead”, in gameplay and soundtrack and fun factor. The 8-bit retro aesthetic is serviceable if nothing special, but it fits the truly silly narrative and pun-filled characters well. A uniqueI purchased this gem for less than a single US dime and cannot believe the actual comparable value: A quick-action platforming adventure reminiscent of everything from “Mega Man” to “Clash at Demonhead”, in gameplay and soundtrack and fun factor. The 8-bit retro aesthetic is serviceable if nothing special, but it fits the truly silly narrative and pun-filled characters well. A unique mechanic features, as the titular hero P.Eagle can grow different projectile weapons on the ground that he can then harvest. But what sounds like an annoying extra step in order to change weapons actually demands strategy about just ‘when’ to grow one because you actually need some space to throw the seed and have to actually run up and pick it. The first weapon, a simple semi-auto that fires a lot like the Mega Man Megabuster, also has semi-infinite ammo, in that you can run out of bullets but you can just grow another gun to replenish them; but this isn’t true of the subsequent other tools of destruction, of which there are several, that must be unlocked from beating the awesome boss fights; those weapons’ seeds must then be purchased.
There’s a sizable though compact overworld to explore, replete with random encounters that call back to how “Adventure of Link”’s monsters roamed around; here to, if you run into one you’re sent to a small level where you take on a few baddies. There’s caves, towers and forests to peruse, each with their own side-scrolling, platforming level to conquer, and the difficulty feels just right for the era of games it’s aping. Level design is kept interesting by constantly switching up enemy types and platforming challenges, the latter of which consist of tricky jumps and climbing special background walls while holding down the left shoulder, and often over bottomless pits. That’s my only gripe with this otherwise very well executed title; if you die, by loss of HP or falling, you have to restart the entire stage and lose the coins you earned in that run. This is partly remedied by purchasing cheat revives at the shop, but they’re naturally very pricey. But make no mistake about it, even with those, “Revenge of the Bird King” demands practice and learning from past mistakes. There’s lots of unlockable items and secret caches to find (ala digging walls like “Shovel Knight”) and you can level up HP and damage, so even failure is rewarded, just very slowly.
I highly recommend “Revenge of the Bird King” to anyone wanting to experience a careful amalgamation of some of the best the Retro genre entails. It’s bright aesthetic and punchy tunes marry brilliantly with the fast action and surprisingly involved platforming, and the unique gun-growing mechanic has more depth than first perceived. At its current insane markdown it’s an absolute steal, but even then, you can’t go wrong here.… Expand
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