Astroman

Astroman is retro-inspired, but not actively old school. Sharp pixel-art graphics are replaced by splodgy, hand drawn cartoons, and while the background tunes share similar beats and styles to prehistoric game music, they doesn’t use the same synthetic, chip-tune instruments.

But its nostalgic naivety lends more than just a faux-ancient presentation. Unlike many of the po-faced, arty indies of today, Astroman has no intention of instilling emotions any deeper than rugged enjoyment. It carries no pretentious pretense, no big idea or poetic verse. Astroman is, to its absolute credit, unapologetically artless, aspiring to no greater challenge than to make a pitch perfect platformer that transports you - Ratatouille style - back to the 90s and the era’s brief dalliance with brilliant 16bit metroidvanias and pudgy Amiga classics.

It’s gameplay isn’t quite as sharp as Metroid and its level design is smart, but can’t hold a meat-hiding candle to Castlevania. But it works well enough, giving you springy, free-form leaps, a limp, spluttering laser pistol and nine or so great little levels filled with puzzling shortcuts and hidden areas, unique ideas and, again, that retro-era feeling of a small grid-locked tileset applied judiciously for surprising new rooms and areas.

There’s a clear dissonance in your toolkit - frequent upgrades to your space boots turn your hops into triple-jumping, springy leaps with a splutter of jet-pack expulsion on top, but your suppressed laser gun never upgrades - which lets you know that Astroman is more about jumping than blasting. And thankfully so.

Astroman - Xbox Indies