Venture Kid – Nintendo Switch | Review

By John Hay
| 9th May 2019
| Review, Switch
| 0

I seem to be in a proper retro phase at the moment, I’m finding myself playing lots of old games and consoles and I’m once again being drawn to these pixel style indie games that pay homage to older console classics.

Venture Boy is one such title. The game has a really great visual look that mirrors the era it is mimicking perfectly. The pixel art looks like it would be perfect running on NES hardware but the colours and visuals do look a lot sharper so it’s obviously better looking than a NES title. Gameplay-wise it’s a Megaman clone. It has everything you would expect while playing levels, there are tight platforming sections, you get multiple weapons to switch between (you granted these after finishing a level) and the game itself simply feels like Megaman when you are controlling it.

While it feels like Megaman there are lots of elements that stop it being a must buy title. First off there is no real story, now with a game like this a detailed story is not of utmost importance but I would at least like to know why I’m killing animals on one level to killing crazy bikers on others. The levels themselves are actually designed well for platforming but they are fairly empty and the enemies are pretty easy to deal with and you find yourself blasting through levels with ease. At the end of each level, there is a boss to face, these are really easy to deal with as they only really have 2 attack patterns you have to deal with and they are fairly simple to get to grips with.

There are a few modes but these are slight variations of the same thing. The game doesn’t take long to beat but there is 1 collectable hidden within each level, these are fairly easy to find so you may not even have to replay it to collect them. Also unlike Megaman, you can’t tackle levels in any order so your progression is always the same stopping you from mixing it up for yourself.

Back to a positive, the soundtrack. The soundtrack is done in a classic chiptune style and I think I just have a soft spot for them because I always enjoy them and once again I would call this a good one, it really does a lot to make this feel like a retro title.

Final Impressions

I actually really enjoyed playing Venture Kid, it’s easy to play but perhaps a bit too much. The lack of challenge eats into the playtime and I don’t think its a game you will go back to in all honesty. It’s worth playing if you enjoy games like this as long as you are ok with paying for a short experience you should enjoy your time here.

*Code kindly provided by the publisher for review*

Developer: Snikkabo AS / Publisher: FDG Entertainment
Release date: 02/05/2019
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Platform Reviewed: Nintendo Switch