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A new platformer inspired by old school games

Nikoderiko: The Magical World reminds me a lot of old school platformers. I mean old, like the 90s old. Games like Crash Bandicoot and Donkey Kong Country be the ones that came to mind first. Is this game just a rip-off or does it offer anything new?

Plot

As many other platformers; the plot is very watery. Nikoderiko: The Magical World tells a story of two mongoose Niko and Luna. They must save a magical island from the evil Baron Grimbald. I think the story was OK as a kid’s game that the game is. There are some new characters introduced to the story as the game progress.

Gameplay, controls, audio and visuals

Gameplay in Nikoderiko: The Magical World is very simple to understand. Player travels on the map and after a level is finished the next level is opened. There are lots of things to collect in the game such as little flying things that can be used to buy things as models of the characters.

Which reminds me of the health system. I played this on easy mode (there was easy and normal to choose from) and I got three hearts, meaning I can be hit three times until it is game over. What I wanted was to be able to upgrade my health but sadly there is no option for that.

Is the game difficult? Well, it is somewhat, but so are all platfomers usually. But it was enjoyable and the game was not always played sideways, sometimes it was played in other directions which was a nice touch. There is a 2-player mode, so you can couch play as well.

Controlling the characters are OK-ish. I don’t know what it was but I didn’t fully like the controls. They worked, but felt little bit off. Players got simple controls in Nikoderiko: The Magical World; run, jump, swim, throw and shooting when riding other animals.

The game is partially voice acted. There was some parts in the animations that weren’t voice acted, I don’t know why, as I did like the acting when it was presented. Music is very quintessential kid-friendly platformer, which I also liked.

Visually Nikoderiko: The Magical World looked nice. Nothing overly fancy, but a game that you might expect on last generation consoles. There were some bugs in the game, though. For instance once I could fly all over the game map, even out of it, which made me skip the whole level to the end. The game offers two graphical options: one preferring quality and other performance.

One more level

Nikoderiko: The Magical World was a good old school inspired platformer. We can have many opinions of what is inspired and what is straight copied from other games. Yes, Nikoderiko: The Magical World has many similarities to some other well-known games. I do recommend this platformer to everyone who enjoys these kinds of games.

Nikoderiko: The Magical World is available on PS5 (reviewed), PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Windows.

(Review copy kindly provided by the publisher)

SCORE:

4/5

“There is a 2-player mode, so you can couch play”

RELEASE DATE: October 15, 2024
GENRE: Family
DEVELOPER: Vea Games
PUBLISHER: My.Games B.V.
PLATFORMS: PS5 (reviewed)
PS4
Xbox Series X|S
Xbox One
Nintendo Switch
Windows

 

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