3ROGUES

Name: 3Rogues

Developer: Redd

Story: This is the tale of three rogues in three worlds. You'll play each of them in turn as you try to rescue the kidnapped princesses of those worlds. As rogues, you'll have to be adept at backstabbing. The problem is that you really aren't.



Writing: Not applicable.

Gameplay: The first thing you can't help but note because the game spends several screens explaining in detail is that you can only attack enemies from behind. Any other way, and you will find yourself attacked instead. The enemies aren't intelligent and don't chase you, but this doesn't make it any easier. In the case of nearly half of the enemies, catching them from behind is nearly impossible without divine patience and panache. A precious few will give you free shots if you're quick enough to take them. Some can be chased because they always run in circles without stopping, but most are extremely difficult to kill, and they have a chance to turn around and hit you even if you manage to get behind them. You do not have this same chance. Of course, you do not have to kill a single enemy except for the kidnappers that have taken the princesses, but then you won't get gold that you'll need if you want to buy items. Of course, these items are totally unnecessary to the game.

Next, you need to advance in levels; a rather quaint idea these days. You're on a simple map with five locations. One location is the store. The fifth is the destination. Between those two are three stages you have to advance through because there are three spiked barriers blocking your path. Advancing the nearest stage will remove the nearest barrier. It's an incredibly simple setup. There's are variety of enemies you'll have to go through, each flavored to their own world such as mermaids, wolves, and the like. Outside of combat, game progression is puzzle based. In the ocean world, you have to find switches and throw them all in order to find the exit to each stage, for example.

Graphics: Tiles and mapping are RTP while character sprites are custom, possibly from a pack. They're a very simplistic design and everything looks like it was intended as a nostalgic game. It's a very, curiously simple, but pretty game.

Sound: If there was any question about the nostalgia aspect, the sound drives it home. Music and sound effects are 8-bit to a degree that reminds one of the Atari 2600. It's very nicely applied.

Conclusion: This game puts you in mind of the simpler games of a simpler era, where resources were limited, game features were primitive, and difficulty was based more on what the programmer couldn't do as opposed to what they wanted to do. Here, at this time, it's difficult to make a game seemingly this limited and to do it well. The developer has to remove features that would ordinarily be included by the engine by default, and then has to design a combat system based on severe restrictions that just don't exist anymore. For the purposes of nostalgia, Redd has succeeded brilliantly! The only problem is that I'm not sure how eager I am to return to the Nintendo hard era of gaming, but that's my problem.