Developed by Matthew Genther and published by Kata GamesRage Among The Stars is a platform game inspired by old school classics but even more, inspired by that little cult masterpiece of Super Meat Boy. Like the latter, in fact, a series of levels will await us where we will die dozens and dozens of times … We have reviewed Rage Among The Stars for Nintendo Switch! Ready to find out how many times we’ve cursed?
Rage Among The Stars: an alien and many spikes… too many
There history by Rage Among The Stars, if you can call it that, is practically ancillary and unnecessarily “cryptic”. We are bizarre alien which looks more like a stylized skull mounted on a micro body… which in terms of size and aesthetics recalls the aforementioned Super Meat Boy (but it is white, the alien). In addition to us there are two other subjects: a yellow-hooded guy who will give us very brief instructions during the equally short tutorial and a green-haired guy, naked and ugly whose role… we leave it to you to find out.
The short initial video sees us aboard our spaceship which, due to a problem, finds itself crashing onto a planet in our own right. unknown. And that’s how the problems start. Here we are required to move forward of level in level (for a total of forty), conquering the exit (a microscopy door) and trying to curse as little as possible (which definitely hard) … And think I could curse both in fixed and portable mode, the latter ideal for the type of game and for short hit and run games.
Gameplay: die
Rage Among The Stars is a game hellish. Literally. You will die countless times. Too many. The game knows, on the other hand the title itself is a clear warning. The genre itself predicts it and that’s fine. The game wants you to die, it wants you to feel the suffering, there anger… and above all it hopes to give you that wonderful satisfaction that comes when you finally reach the finish line with your own efforts alone. But here not everything goes as it should.
The problem with Rage Among The Stars is that it works as long as the challenges involve jumps or paths horizontal. Here the difficulty, while still high, can be balanced by the player’s skills. Our character can jump (several times and even itself in the air), to climb on the walls jumping and … that’s it. So it’s up to you to learn how much to jump and especially when. And we repeat: as long as the unwinding is horizontal, the game also works quite well.
Vertically it’s a disaster. Jumping from wall to wall trying to dodge the various spikes will bring the level of endurance to the human limit. This is because the precision demand is excessive. And in turn … inaccurate. You have the annoying sensation of being hit by spikes even if you only get close and die even when you probably shouldn’t. And we talk about having to jump over microscopic portions of the wall and repeatedly, from jump to jump. It is therefore necessary to memorize well when and where to jump, to learn from it mistakes not only ours but also of the game.
In short, Rage Among The Stars is not really well done. The levels themselves suffer from both aesthetic and structural monotony. The same traps they are repeated indefinitely but positioned in an increasingly infamous and, above all, numerous way. Surviving is a challenge that requires commitment but above all quintalates of patience. Mastering the alien isn’t easy, you are forewarned.
Graphics and sound
There graphics of the game is minimal. Definitely minimal. And anonymous. Also ugly, if desired. It doesn’t catch and… we already mentioned how poorly structured the spikes are, right? In short, the aesthetic impact is a sort of Super Meat Boy who did not fully believe in it. The sound shares the same fate: anonymous, repetitive and not at all memorable. Also because between one death and another, you think about everything except the sound.