Monster Boy and The Cursed Kingdom | Xbox One Review

Every now and then, a game will come along that certainly surprises you. Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom from FDE Entertainment and The Game Atelier is just that. I have always enjoyed good old fashioned side-scrolling platformers, and this game does the genre justice. When I played through this game I was transported back to my childhood. It stirred up fond memories of classics on my NES such as Super Mario Brothers and Castlevania. I was especially reminded of one of my favorites, Adventure Island, which is actually a modified port of the original Wonder Boy. With that being said this game does so many things right and makes sure that games like this will continue on far into the future.

Capitalizing on a Classic

Monster Boy is a sequel to the Wonder Boy series that originally released in the 8-bit era. Wonder Boy was considered a successful series with multiple releases on different platforms, but primarily on SEGA Master System and the SEGA Genesis. At its core, the game is a side-scrolling platformer with RPG elements thrown in as well.

You play as a blue-haired boy named Jin who discovers his Uncle Nabu is causing trouble by magically turning people into animals. During this reign of chaos you are turned into a pig. As you follow your uncle, you find a character named Mysticat, who is advisor to the King. He tells you of a tale about magic orbs that can help restore the kingdom and charges you with a quest to find them.

As you collect orbs throughout your journey, you discover their ability to transform you into different animals. Each one of the animals gives you a different set of abilities. You base form, the pig, cannot jump very high, and is quite heavy and slow. Yet the pig form is important, because it allows you to use magic you find throughout the game. He also has a smelling ability to find hidden objects.

You can also change to a snake which allows you to climb on certain walls and navigate small spaces. The lion form gives you a charge and smash attack, and the frog lets you grab certain items with his tongue. Finally, the dragon lets you fly and shoot fireballs. Each form allows you to traverse through areas of the game with their respective skill set. Later in the game, you find areas that require you to rapidly change forms to traverse, which is a blast.

Additional Upgrades and Bonus Content

Your character also collects money on his journey, which you can use to buy armor and weapon upgrades. Each piece of gear has different perks to provide benefits to your character like a double jump or illumination. There are also different talismans you hunt down to help improve your abilities.

The magic system in Monster Boy is quite interesting. You gain magic abilities by finding and eating different truffles. These truffles allow you to throw fireballs, summon lightning, and even throw bombs. Another callback to older games is the addition of life containers. In familiar fashion, you can track these down to increase your life. There are so many different things to collect in this game. Just hunting it all down is enough to keep someone entertained for hours.

A Delight for the Eyes and the Mind

One of the biggest surprises from this game for me was the animation, which is absolutely beautiful. Each sprite is hand-drawn, and there is clearly some thought and love put into these characters. There are many little details found in the background that make you stop and look for a moment. Even the characters’ names are amusing, which are clever plays on animal names such as “Mysticat” or “Foximus”. The music, which also took two years to compose, is highly entertaining. Multiple times, I found myself bobbing my head along to the music and just enjoying the moment. If you like the music, there’s even a character in the main town that will replay certain selections if you track down his sheet music.

The gameplay is very enjoyable, but also maddening. One several occasion, navigating an area took me multiple attempts. These areas require precise timing and pattern memorization. As expected, this occurred mostly during the final stage of the game. The puzzles in some of the levels were also difficult and took some time to solve. Although these minor quirks may have been frustrating for me, others might find them much more simple. The volcano section took me quite some time to push through and was quite difficult. However, it was also my favorite area of the game due to it provoking me to think of a solution to its puzzles and challenges.

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom Final Verdict

Overall, Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom on of of my favorite platformers to release over the past few console generations. The game does a phenomenal job of giving small callbacks to its history and roots, including a few references to other games that retro fans should find funny. Not to mention, there’s a plethora of hidden areas and secrets to uncover. I would highly recommend this game to anyone who loves platformers. With its fun puzzle, beautiful animation, and interesting gameplay, I hope that games like this continue to be made.

This review is based on an Xbox One copy provided by FDG Entertainment for coverage purposes, and it’s also available on Microsoft Windows, PS4, and Nintendo Switch.