Oh, shocking... this game is GOOD!
Out of everything I've decided to revisit from my childhood, Maximo is the one that has held up the best thus far. It's absolutely frustrating, incomprehensibly meanspirited, and immensely janky without proper camera movement... buuuut, the stages, enemy designs, general atmosphere, and progression systems are all SUPER memorable.
Weirdly, this game has that Dark Souls style of combat where you're mostly expected to attack once or twice, move out of the way (or block) and wait for your opportunity to strike again. Some enemies have unique ways in which you must dispatch of them (like jumping over them to hit them in the back or crouching to smack at their legs), and there is ZERO tutorials that help you learn how to play, tell you what to do, where to go, or how to deal with foes. It definitely shares that Soulsborne ethos of "until you learn how to be patient, you will never succeed."
It's very much a direct translation of old arcadey game design into a 3D space, and it's a little bizarre, but it works super well! As a kid, I'm pretty sure I never even got past the first fucking level, and there are 30 in this game, so it's safe to say most of my journey was spent playing an entirely new game pretty much!
I really enjoyed how the player improves themselves/progresses. You have a certain number of "locked" slots that allow you to pick up modifiers which can alter how you play. Some let you attack twice, throw your shield like Captain America, have a stronger downwards smash attack, or turn your imbued weapon into an elemental bullet.
You can have as many of these on you at once, and they MASSIVELY change your capabilities in dealing with certain enemy types. You can swap around which ones are in your locked slots, and you get more of these permanent slots every time you defeat a boss. It heavily encourages playing well and it makes loss even more frustrating, as anything that isn't in your locked slot gets lost.
Certain attacks, like a downward strike that causes a shockwave of swords to appear around the player, are vital in determining your victory. I really enjoyed getting these little buffs and bonuses that changed what I'd do, and I love that by the end of the game, they just get stronger and stronger. One in particular causes enemies to get completely knocked backwards when you use your shield and it is SO USEFUL.
You also collect gold, spirits, extra lives, keys to unlock chests (or doors), elemental weapons, armor, and maybe more throughout a level. There's TONS of collectibles to encourage exploration. The thing is, you can ABSOLUTELY get away with running past tons of enemies (which I sometimes did), but there are so many alluring secrets that it's genuinely hard to resist checking as many nooks and crannies as possible. Even then, I rarely got above 80% level completion on any levels, it was usually around 60-70% SOMEHOW, even though I felt I combed through them quite thoroughly. Goes to show how many secrets there are, I guess!
The final region is actually my favorite, as it's an awesomely- designed labyrinthian castle with great hedge mazes, creepy dungeons, gorgeous regal interiors, and dope ass courtyards that evoked a super solid medieval aesthetic. But also like, why is that place is such a nightmare to explore? You need a certain number of keys to proceed to each level, which kinda forces you to go back to older levels, replay them, and stock up on keys. It's fucked up!
All the areas in general are well designed and evoke different feelings. Whether it be an old graveyard, a frozen over wasteland, a dense swamp, or hell itself, each feels really solid and every level does a good job striking its own "idea" within that aesthetic. It's an awesome cartoony world to look at and explore. And it's great that the enemies adapt to the regions they're in. It's not just skeletons over and over.
Overall, I really like Maximo. It's genuinely quite good and although it is VERY frustrating, there's tons to appreciate here. Also, that final fucking boss??? I C O N I C.
Out of everything I've decided to revisit from my childhood, Maximo is the one that has held up the best thus far. It's absolutely frustrating, incomprehensibly meanspirited, and immensely janky without proper camera movement... buuuut, the stages, enemy designs, general atmosphere, and progression systems are all SUPER memorable.
Weirdly, this game has that Dark Souls style of combat where you're mostly expected to attack once or twice, move out of the way (or block) and wait for your opportunity to strike again. Some enemies have unique ways in which you must dispatch of them (like jumping over them to hit them in the back or crouching to smack at their legs), and there is ZERO tutorials that help you learn how to play, tell you what to do, where to go, or how to deal with foes. It definitely shares that Soulsborne ethos of "until you learn how to be patient, you will never succeed."
It's very much a direct translation of old arcadey game design into a 3D space, and it's a little bizarre, but it works super well! As a kid, I'm pretty sure I never even got past the first fucking level, and there are 30 in this game, so it's safe to say most of my journey was spent playing an entirely new game pretty much!
I really enjoyed how the player improves themselves/progresses. You have a certain number of "locked" slots that allow you to pick up modifiers which can alter how you play. Some let you attack twice, throw your shield like Captain America, have a stronger downwards smash attack, or turn your imbued weapon into an elemental bullet.
You can have as many of these on you at once, and they MASSIVELY change your capabilities in dealing with certain enemy types. You can swap around which ones are in your locked slots, and you get more of these permanent slots every time you defeat a boss. It heavily encourages playing well and it makes loss even more frustrating, as anything that isn't in your locked slot gets lost.
Certain attacks, like a downward strike that causes a shockwave of swords to appear around the player, are vital in determining your victory. I really enjoyed getting these little buffs and bonuses that changed what I'd do, and I love that by the end of the game, they just get stronger and stronger. One in particular causes enemies to get completely knocked backwards when you use your shield and it is SO USEFUL.
You also collect gold, spirits, extra lives, keys to unlock chests (or doors), elemental weapons, armor, and maybe more throughout a level. There's TONS of collectibles to encourage exploration. The thing is, you can ABSOLUTELY get away with running past tons of enemies (which I sometimes did), but there are so many alluring secrets that it's genuinely hard to resist checking as many nooks and crannies as possible. Even then, I rarely got above 80% level completion on any levels, it was usually around 60-70% SOMEHOW, even though I felt I combed through them quite thoroughly. Goes to show how many secrets there are, I guess!
The final region is actually my favorite, as it's an awesomely- designed labyrinthian castle with great hedge mazes, creepy dungeons, gorgeous regal interiors, and dope ass courtyards that evoked a super solid medieval aesthetic. But also like, why is that place is such a nightmare to explore? You need a certain number of keys to proceed to each level, which kinda forces you to go back to older levels, replay them, and stock up on keys. It's fucked up!
All the areas in general are well designed and evoke different feelings. Whether it be an old graveyard, a frozen over wasteland, a dense swamp, or hell itself, each feels really solid and every level does a good job striking its own "idea" within that aesthetic. It's an awesome cartoony world to look at and explore. And it's great that the enemies adapt to the regions they're in. It's not just skeletons over and over.
Overall, I really like Maximo. It's genuinely quite good and although it is VERY frustrating, there's tons to appreciate here. Also, that final fucking boss??? I C O N I C.