Maximo is one of the most literal translations of 80's 2D action platforming gameplay to the third dimension I've ever played. It manages to capture a lot of what made those retro platforming games so addictingly brutal but often doesn't account for how an extra axis can affect those design sensibilities.
First, let's just get the camera out of the way. Maximo doesn't make use of the right thumbstick. Straight up. It's a baffling omission and the only camera control you have is being able to center it with L1, but only when you're not moving the left thumbstick. Combine that with the one-of-a-kind decision to deliberately have the camera at a tilted angle, seemingly done to put the player at unease, and there can often be a lot of self-doubt when trying to aim at enemies or jump onto tiny platforms. Sometimes I'll see reviewers complain about a game's camera when said game is something like a kid-friendly 3D platformer. Like, who cares if the camera requires manual control in Sonic or Sly Cooper? You're not doing anything too taxing that'd prevent you from dual-tasking both your character and the camera. That sort of handwavy defense doesn't work so well when you're playing a more demanding title where the smallest of mistakes can lead to disastrous losses.
Maximo doesn't present the most complex challenges gaming has to offer but instead gives the player relatively basic hurdles to overcome and punishes the player severely for every misstep. Enemies and environmental hazards behave with the kind of rudimentary language you'd expect from old NES games. Maximo's arsenal of abilities is microscopic compared to other action game stars at the time but his move list can be expanded by finding Ability pickups from slain enemies. A lot of these are immensely useful, to the point that you'd feel naked without them... and that's when Maximo(the game) kicks your sorry ass by revealing the punishment for death: All abilities you're holding onto will be lost upon death, outside of the few you're allowed to "save" in your special "Locked Slots". It's like losing all your options in a bullet hell shmup. As the game progresses, more and more enemies and hazards will start to expect you to be equipped with certain abilities, making a parade of quick deaths likely unless you can find a workaround. For example, there's an enemy who chucks bombs at you who, if hit with any non-projectile attack, will explode in your face and deal massive damage. If you don't have a projectile-related ability of any sort (not something you're given by default) then you can't defeat them safely and must run around them entirely. Hell, even your shield is a commodity. Truly, nothing can be taken for granted in the world of Maximo.
That's what makes the rudimentary camera and lack of a lock-on or any other kind of Quality of Life feature an issue. Maximo has a lives system and requires you to pay Koins(yes, it's spelled with a K) to save your game and while I didn't ever have to use a continue(which, in theory, are also limited) a few of the deaths I had didn't feel entirely my fault, which doesn't sit well when dying has the potential to set you so far back and make you feel like utter shit.
So why do I like Maximo? Well, sometimes it's fun to play a no-frills 3D action platformer. Not many of those truly exist and it's nice that Maximo sticks to its guns and knows when to roll credits. It's not a terribly long game, and its pick-up-and-play nature harkens back to the days when you could waltz into an arcade and just give any game you saw a shot. You'll lose everything when you die in Maximo, but you've got nothing to lose if you decide to give Maximo a play.
...
Just wanna add that getting the "Mastery" label for every level looks nightmarish. You have to collect every koin, defeat every enemy(can't let them die by their own hands), collect every stationary power-up, open every chest, and break every interactable object in a level to get it. Try doing it yourself, you won't, coward.
First, let's just get the camera out of the way. Maximo doesn't make use of the right thumbstick. Straight up. It's a baffling omission and the only camera control you have is being able to center it with L1, but only when you're not moving the left thumbstick. Combine that with the one-of-a-kind decision to deliberately have the camera at a tilted angle, seemingly done to put the player at unease, and there can often be a lot of self-doubt when trying to aim at enemies or jump onto tiny platforms. Sometimes I'll see reviewers complain about a game's camera when said game is something like a kid-friendly 3D platformer. Like, who cares if the camera requires manual control in Sonic or Sly Cooper? You're not doing anything too taxing that'd prevent you from dual-tasking both your character and the camera. That sort of handwavy defense doesn't work so well when you're playing a more demanding title where the smallest of mistakes can lead to disastrous losses.
Maximo doesn't present the most complex challenges gaming has to offer but instead gives the player relatively basic hurdles to overcome and punishes the player severely for every misstep. Enemies and environmental hazards behave with the kind of rudimentary language you'd expect from old NES games. Maximo's arsenal of abilities is microscopic compared to other action game stars at the time but his move list can be expanded by finding Ability pickups from slain enemies. A lot of these are immensely useful, to the point that you'd feel naked without them... and that's when Maximo(the game) kicks your sorry ass by revealing the punishment for death: All abilities you're holding onto will be lost upon death, outside of the few you're allowed to "save" in your special "Locked Slots". It's like losing all your options in a bullet hell shmup. As the game progresses, more and more enemies and hazards will start to expect you to be equipped with certain abilities, making a parade of quick deaths likely unless you can find a workaround. For example, there's an enemy who chucks bombs at you who, if hit with any non-projectile attack, will explode in your face and deal massive damage. If you don't have a projectile-related ability of any sort (not something you're given by default) then you can't defeat them safely and must run around them entirely. Hell, even your shield is a commodity. Truly, nothing can be taken for granted in the world of Maximo.
That's what makes the rudimentary camera and lack of a lock-on or any other kind of Quality of Life feature an issue. Maximo has a lives system and requires you to pay Koins(yes, it's spelled with a K) to save your game and while I didn't ever have to use a continue(which, in theory, are also limited) a few of the deaths I had didn't feel entirely my fault, which doesn't sit well when dying has the potential to set you so far back and make you feel like utter shit.
So why do I like Maximo? Well, sometimes it's fun to play a no-frills 3D action platformer. Not many of those truly exist and it's nice that Maximo sticks to its guns and knows when to roll credits. It's not a terribly long game, and its pick-up-and-play nature harkens back to the days when you could waltz into an arcade and just give any game you saw a shot. You'll lose everything when you die in Maximo, but you've got nothing to lose if you decide to give Maximo a play.
...
Just wanna add that getting the "Mastery" label for every level looks nightmarish. You have to collect every koin, defeat every enemy(can't let them die by their own hands), collect every stationary power-up, open every chest, and break every interactable object in a level to get it. Try doing it yourself, you won't, coward.