Badland: Game of the Year Edition

Genre: Arcade

Players: 1-4 Co-Op / Competitive (Local)

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Review:

Badland is an Arcade-style game first released on mobile devices in 2013. Since then, it has been ported to virtually every platform available, along the way getting extra features that are collected in this Game of the Year Edition, including improved visuals, updated controls, and added multiplayer features. At its core, this game is about flying one or multiple creatures through obstacle course-style levels, trying to reach the end.

Despite the game’s age and mobile roots, Badlands is a decent-looking game that does a lot with a little. The game’s visuals are depicted using black characters and foreground elements against detailed, colorful backgrounds, with some nice lighting shining through at times to set the mood. This is complemented by environmental sounds rather than music, which gives the game a somewhat natural feel to its environments.

The gameplay here is mostly straightforward – use the left stick to move and hold down the A button to gain altitude. However, things are made more interesting by various pickups players find along the way. Some have your birdlike creature joined by numerous others all controlled by you, some shrink or grow all birds you control, some make your birds all spin clockwise or counter-clockwise, causing them to roll against surfaces they touch, and so on. Nothing here is especially unique or thought-provoking, but it does add some variety to keep things interesting. Having said that, even with these gameplay elements, the game can still feel somewhat repetitive.

Still, as a simple $6 Arcade-style game, Badland is a decent distraction that’s enjoyable in small bursts, and even provides some really enjoyable moments, such as seeing your entire horde of accumulated birdlike critters change size at the same time when you grab the corresponding power-up. It’s not likely to hold your attention for long stretches of time, but it’s worth getting to play in-between other more involved games.

tl;dr – Badland is an Arcade-style game that has players flying a birdlike creature (or possibly a flock of them) through an obstacle course-style level to an exit. It’s not especially deep or original, and it can be a bit repetitive, but it’s still enjoyable enough to keep you entertained for a short while in between other bigger games.

Grade: C+

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