Charge Kid

Genre: Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

Charge Kid is a challenging Platformer released in 2020 on PC and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2021. This game has players taking the role of a character who uses charges to jump in mid-air and must make smart use of this ability to get to the end of each level.

How this works is that in each level you’ll find nodes floating in the air with energy charges in them, and you can absorb this energy either by touching them or firing a mid-range horizontal boomeranging energy ball thing at them. Not only do you expend an energy charge to double-jump, but you also use these charges to hit blocks that act like switches to unlock barriers that stand in your way. You can only have one energy charge at a time, and as such you need to really think through how you’ll jump, how you’ll expend your energy, and when and how you can get more energy.

And I’ve gotta’ be honest, I found this game to be insanely difficult. By the third level you’re already dealing with challenges that will not only test your ability to plan out what you’ll do, but also your ability to execute really challenging platforming moves in a precise sequence. And it doesn’t help that this game’s platforming feels a bit stiff and unwieldy.

The presentation here is very simple too, using minimalist 2D pixel art with a relaxed synthesized soundtrack that works for the gameplay, but doesn’t do anything to make it especially memorable.

Unless you’re the sort of player who relishes an intense platforming challenge, stay away from Charge Kid. This game’s punishingly high difficulty makes it the type of game that only a small minority of players will appreciate, and even at its low price of $2.50, I think this is a game that most players will feel they wasted their money on.

tl;dr – Charge Kid is a challenging Platformer where players must make smart use of charges to double jump and unlock barriers. This game’s challenge level is absurdly high, and even at its low $2.50 price I think most players will feel they wasted their money on this, unless they’re the masochistic sort who enjoys these sorts of challenges.

Grade: C-

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