Charming Platformer with some little kinks to work out – Bloo Kid - with ads Review

When I downloaded Bloo Kid, I went into it rather excited. I do have a soft spot for platforming games, especially in a pixelated format, and this game looked like it had promise. I was rather surprised to find, however, that the game was not a side-scrolling platformer, but instead a 2d survival game, where the screen stays on the same area the entire time and the player must jump on the heads of the enemies until all waves have been defeated. While at first I was a bit disappointed (as the advertising had not hinted at the game being a single screen survival), I soon found myself enjoying the game, as the gameplay is solid and the controls are wonderfully smooth (usually). The graphics are incredibly eye-pleasing, and I enjoyed the classic retro tunes the levels offered, even if they were a bit repetitive at times. But to those thinking this may be a solid download, beware! The difficulty on this game is absolutely insane! The first few levels ease you in just fine, but platforming with the sometimes unresponsive controls while dodging projectiles from four enemies at once... in the second world?? Ridiculous. In fact, I am inclined to believe that the developers didn’t even play test their own game. A perfect example are the Dark Knight Enemies. In World 2, the player encounters Knight Enemies that dash forward when they are horizontal to Bloo Kid’s position. Later on, in World 5, the player meets a new type of Knight, the Dark Knight. These darker variations follow the same behavior mechanics, but will also block attacks from above (which are required to kill them). This means that the only way to attack them is to hit them in the middle of their dash attack. If you combine this with a spiked pit, you have a major problem. If the enemy dashed into the pit (an incredibly easy to make mistake) the Dark Knight will be invulnerable from above. This means that to make the Dark Knight vulnerable, the player must jump on the spikes and take damage. This forced damage can end a run very quickly. If the developers had tested their game, they would have realized this issue, and either reworked the Dark Knight or not put Dark Knights in levels with spike pits. This is not the case, and many levels are unreasonably hard due to this issue. The game is charming, but due to its nonsensical difficulty, I have to give it a pass.
Review by Bumblegoot on Bloo Kid - with ads.