Firework

Genre: Action-Platformer

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

Firework is an Action-Platformer released on PC in 2018 and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2020. Players take the role of someone named Yan who is the caretaker of a facility looking after some childlike… um… dots… when the facility is attacked by a group of… um… enemies… all of whom have fire-themed powers.

Yeah, so I have no idea just what is going on in this game’s story. It’s not really clear who any of these characters are or what they want, despite that the game seems to be very interested in the game’s story. However, they have the unfortunate side-effect of adding a lot of monotony to the game’s visuals. The locations you’ll be fighting through? Repetitive boring-looking rooms in aforementioned facility. The enemies? Mostly vague figures caught on fire, often to the point where it’s not easy to tell different enemy types from one another. Beyond this complaint, the game’s 2D pixel art visuals and similarly retro-style sound and music aren’t bad, but that doesn’t make the game any less aesthetically boring.

While the presentation here needs some work, the gameplay is at least pretty well-crafted, with mechanics that pretty closely resemble the Mega Man X series, although the game progression here is a lot more linear, and Yan’s ability to do a directional air dash is put to good use in making some challenging but not overly-difficult platforming.

Unfortunately, the repetitive-looking visuals cause problems with the gameplay as well, as the game’s level designs don’t always make it clear which way you’re intended to go, and these repetitive visuals only add to that problem. At multiple points I found myself backtracking, trying to find the path I had somehow missed, something that was more than a little frustrating.

Still, despite these issues, Firework is still a decent Action-Platformer that fans of the genre and especially Mega Man X fans may want to give a look. The story is nonsensical and the game’s presentation leaves a lot to be desired, but the gameplay here is mostly quite good and well worth trying out.

tl;dr – Firework is an Action-Platformer with gameplay mechanics like Mega Man X, though with far more linear progression. The core gameplay here is good, but the repetitive levels and enemies often makes it feel too monotonous. Still, fans of the genre may want to give it a look.

Grade: C+

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