Beat Boy

Great little (sometimes difficult) parkour game with a terrific soundtrack and a unique, colorful look that really works well with the music and game style. Only takes 1-2 hours to see the credits the first time, but the great music, fun level designs, and a (non-IAP) shop filled with some fun aesthetic items and power-ups, will definitely bring me back for another playthrough or two. Good: - Really fun run, jump, punch, obstacle course gameplay - New and entertaining challenges on each level (gravity zones!) - Terrific music that makes you want to play more - Neat effects, ragdolls, and slow-mo to celebrate your successes (and many more failures) - Good checkpoint system and fast "rewinds" to keep you in the game - Great little (non-IAP) store with some fun aesthetics and interesting perks and attacks - Cookie stealing giant worm! Could be better: - Interface and store is good and functional but doesn't have quite the same colorful, contrasty zest as the rest of the game ...

The executive summary version of this review is, I like the game and recommend it. When first trying it on a lower spec machine it was more frustrating than fun, then after trying it on a better spec system I found it to be enjoyable overall and was able to complete the game. For context to what follows, I grew up playing video games (e.g. on Atari, Intellivision, Nintendo, and then PC) for many years. While I was never an amazing gamer I did okay and could have fun with fast-paced games in various genres. I haven't been a 'gamer' for many many years now, and currently don't even own a computer with discrete graphics. The first couple of hours that I tried this game, it seemed way too difficult, but it seems that a big part of the problem was the PC that I was using at first, a micro form factor PC that does meet the listed minimum requirements. With that PC the there seemed to be almost no time to react to things appearing on the screen so the game felt way too fast, game responsi...