Never Give Up

Genre: Platformer

Players: 1

.

Review:

Never Give Up is a challenging Platformer released in 2019 on PC and Nintendo Switch where players control a man trying to reach the exit in a series of progressively more difficult versions of each of the game’s levels.

The gameplay here feels very reminiscent of Super Meat Boy, With the game’s tight controls and good physics making moving and jumping around really satisfying, although Never Give Up is arguably more so due to its double-jump and slide moves. Add to this some really excellent level design and this is shaping up to be a really great take on the genre.

Unfortunately, there are two problems that hold this game back. The first one is the game’s “hook” that player play through each of the game’s levels multiple times, with each iteration being more difficult, with more hazards and challenges. While this seems like it could be a fun idea, it makes this game extremely repetitive – even if each iteration of the level is changed, it is still at its core the same level.

The other issue here ties in to the game’s presentation, with your voiced character constantly making little quips as you play. When it happens the first time it’s mildly amusing, but the more you play, the more this just becomes an annoyance as your character constantly makes bad jokes and whines about how frustrating it is to get killed so much. The rest of the game’s presentation is fine, with a decent enough 2D art style and synthesized music, with neither of these being particularly noteworthy or memorable.

Despite my complaints, Never Give Up is still a solid entry in this particular corner of the Platformer genre, and the strong gameplay and good level design make this a great choice for fans of that genre. It definitely has its flaws, but I still think this is worth trying out.

tl;dr – Never Give Up is a challenging Platformer where players navigate through multiple progressively more difficult versions of each of the game’s levels. The core gameplay and level design here is excellent, but the repetitive game structure and incessant jabbering of the main character both detract from what is otherwise a fun take on the genre.

Grade: B

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are Jamie and His Cats, Ben, Ilya Zverev, Andy Miller, Homer Simpin, Johannes, Francis Obst, Gabriel Coronado-Medina, Jared Wark, Kristoffer Wulff, and Seth Christenfeld. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}