Nuclear Blaze Review (fisk)
TL;DR really fun, great difficulty control from HMB mode to kids mode, good graphics, good music, good story, repayable.
Phobias wasps, fire, claustrophobia(maybe).
AMAZING game! Seriously transported back to the days of finding a new game on Nitrome except where Nitrome did one thing per game and didnt really branch out Nuclear Blaze is not so one note. Nuclear Blaze fully expands on it core mechanics and in some places exceeds the expectation. I do love the placement of the axe and it makes me want to replay immediately and then there the HMB mode!
The graphics are cohesive tho once or twice i did find myself growling "wtf I couldnt see that." Pixel art typically gets labeled "retro" but I dont feel that label applies to this game. I cant be certain if its a limited pallet or not. I suspect not but the art feels deliberate, intentional, and well thought out in the same way a good 8 or 16 bit game was.
The music is good and the change between fighting and done is very nice. I didnt notice it too much but it was always complimentary and I never felt like i wanted to be listening to something else.
I have a habit of either breaking a game (in a bad way) or getting distracted to the point where I lose the thread and I lose interest or I have zero idea where I'm supposed to go. I didnt get lost once in this game. I can not overstate that. Ive gotten lost playing celeste...
Difficulty wise this game is for all skill levels. With the ability to change behaviors of flames, give your self armour, AND the kids mode this game is most certainly a game for anyone. I played with a controller and its very will layed out.
The game without giving anything away is very "SCP". While this game is for anyone its probably not for everyone. Some of the areas feel claustrophobic, there are large wasp enemies, and some of the areas feel for lack of a better descriptor are kinda creepy and on top of all of that the obvious one this game does deal with large amounts of fire.
Though this game is short I'm writing this after finishing the game and looked into kids mode totaling in 2.2 hours this game feels "complete". Now I say "complete" because I could totally see a handful of games done in this setting. Perhaps a puzzle game as some one fleeing, a Metroidvania as a continuation of this story, or a resource manager where you are over a special division of fire fighters. HOWEVER, its not NEEDED. This game is complete and I cant think of anything that would make it better without ADDING anything.
I cant wait to see what this studio does next!