Moon Raider

Genre: Action-Platformer

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

Moon Raider is an Action-Platformer released on PC and mobile devices in 2020 and ported to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch in 2021. Players take the role of a young girl searching the moon for a cure for her mother’s illness, blasting away hostile aliens as she does so.

The presentation here is mostly good, with colorful 2D pixel art visuals reminiscent of a Mega Man game or a WayForward title backed by a decent but forgettable synthesized soundtrack. I should note that by default the sound in this game is wayyyyyy too quiet – you’ll want to adjust this in the settings.

While Moon Raider has a level layout that feels like it could be a Metroidvania, this is not set up for exploration and returning to prior areas the same way as games in that genre tend to do – this is mostly a pretty linear game. Technically, players can explore a bit to free helpless friendly critters and collect the 200 gems your character needs according to the story, but there’s little reward in the gameplay for doing so.

As for that gameplay, this is mostly a pretty standard Action-Platformer. Not bad, not great, but decent enough. Unfortunately, it’s taken down a notch due to some poor hit detection and jittery camera movement.

Ultimately, Moon Raider feels like a game that could have built to something bigger and more interesting, but its sights are set low, and even then it stumbles in some places. As Action-Platformers go, this is decent, but unexceptional other than its appealing presentation.

tl;dr – Moon Raider is an Action-Platformer about a young girl fighting hostile aliens on the moon while searching for a cure to her mother’s illness. This game has a nice retro-style presentation and seems like it could have been built up to become a more interesting Metroidvania, but instead it’s mostly a pretty disposable Action-Platformer that does little to distinguish itself within its genre.

Grade: C

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