Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom - PlayStation 4

This is a great, classic style platformer that looks absolutely stunning and is a joy to play. Monsterboy is a great take on the classic wonderboy series of games. This is everything I dreamed of as a platformer growing up; with great artwork, graphics, level design, and charm.This is a great game for kids and should be in every kid’s stocking this Christmas, or for every adult that is feeling nostalgic. There’s still some decent challenges with the platforming and boss fights. There’s a wide mixture of forms for the character to change into, each with its own unique powers that allow you to access deeper parts of the game. There’s some light rpg elements with gear perks and unique sets, with the best gear hidden behind metroidvania style puzzles.The best way to recommend this game though, is that I spent hours playing it and completely lost track of time. It’s one thing to spend hours grinding in a game because of loot boxes, or to be stuck on some cheap boss is a soulsborne style game, and a completely different experience to lose time because you’re actually having fun and enjoying yourself

I became aware of this game shortly after playing last year's excellent Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap remake. That game was amazing in it's own right and this game follows and improves on it in every way!Very challenging at times but never too confusing and it's always satisfying to complete a difficult section. Very creative forms and abilities and the boss fights are all pretty interesting. I love the graphics and music and there's some fun references to the earlier games.Overall, this is an amazing entry in the series and I hope there's even more in the future!

First off, I bought this game a few months ago, and I (and my bro, who has also been playing it on the same save file) have encountered no crashes and no bugs or glitches whatsoever, at least none that we recognized as such. In the "technical" sense, it has been working flawlessly, at least as far as we can tell. We don't like that modern-day game-developer strategy of shoving games out, glitches and all, and then fixing them later any more than anyone else does, but then, we usually don't buy games the instant they come out (or BEFORE they come out); it's usually a while before we buy them (price often being a factor).Secondly, we have not (yet) played any of the previous Wonder Boy games, so we really can't compare this game to any of those, at least not gameplay-wise. (We CAN say from screenshots of the PS4 update of The Dragon's Trap that this game looks better than it does.)My bro and I have to admit that this game has elicited some strangely mixed feelings from us. Yes, the game has some beautiful graphics. It has good sound effects as well, maybe not the best we've ever heard, but quite adequate. The music is great, although in many cases the music that plays in a certain area doesn't always quite seem to fit that area. That's not really a problem, though. The play control is fine. While the game can be thrown into the platformer category, there is kind of an action/RPG-type thing to it, in buying and finding weapons, armor, potions, life hearts, etc. There are some rather Zelda-like elements to the game, the life hearts being one example. It's neat to be able to have all of the different forms, all of which are cool in their own ways (although I must say that the snake form is my least favorite).But, while both my bro and I have enjoyed playing this game, it has very often been rather frustrating --- occasionally VERY much so, although only rarely has it truly infuriated either of us. We haven't yet beaten the game or obtained everything that you can get, but we have played well over halfway through the game (I don't think we're too far from the end), a point where I feel comfortable writing a review. However, while we have had to try MANY times to get through MANY parts of the game, so far we have always managed to do so, eventually; we haven't reached a point where we wanted to just totally give up on the game and say, "Screw it."We've found that on some occasions, what you have to do takes some figuring out (that is, it isn't always quite obvious immediately), and once we figured it out, it wasn't really that hard, at least not in every case. Really, in certain cases, we found it to not be so much hard as tedious.The "regular" enemies can be quite bothersome at times, especially when they appear in places where there really didn't need to be any enemies to try to get in your way.Many times, you need to be equipped with the right piece(s) of equipment for the right situation. Many if not all of the upgrades are worth getting, so it's a good idea to try to find upgrade gems. The "abilities" (or many of them) that the gems give your equipment can be quite helpful. However, even when using the right equipment and the upgrades, the game isn't exactly a breeze.One thing that would have really helped with the game is if it let you hold more than just one heal potion at a time, even if it was only two.While it may sound strange, my bro and I HAVE had fun playing the game, despite the abundant frustration. The game does ultimately have a charm to it, at least for us. Even we're kind of surprised by how we keep coming back for more. We have kind of a love/hate relationship with the game, but at the end of the day, I think the love outweighs the hate. If you think all this seems bizarre, well, we don't blame you.One thing that this game can't be accused of is not being challenging; anyone who CAN accuse it of that ain't human! Because of just HOW challenging this game is, it may not be for everyone. More "casual" gamers might want to steer clear of it (not that I or my bro are exactly expert gamers), but if you like to have a LOT of challenge... here you go!(By the way, if my bro and I complete the game and/or there turns out to be anything else that I feel should be pointed out, I'll update this review.)

The game, in theory, is good, however I bought this after reading the developer wanted a perfect product released. I only buy physical media so I took the chance.The game has only been out 2.5 weeks and already has like 3 or 4 patches. Can't even finish the map without a patch. Seems like a pretty big issue to be able to miss before release...I am disappointed. This new logic of "push the game out, make the money, fix it later" has killed my love of games.Very sad.