Played Curse Crackers, Drew Bonnie, Made a Review

Coming off of Prodigal, which I played last year, I had my expectations in check for Curse

Crackers: For Whom the Belle Toils. I thought it would be a fun throwback to the Game Boy games

that inspired it, but nothing much more than that. I don’t mean to throw shade at Prodigal at all, it's a

good game and I enjoyed it. But when the source of inspiration is the handheld The Legend of Zelda

games, it's hard to measure up. It's a nice game that I likely won't return to because I'll just play Oracle

of Seasons instead. Knowing that Curse Crackers would be a send up to Game Boy era platformers the

same way Prodigal is for Game Boy adventure games, I assumed I would mildly enjoy it all the same.

Nah, this game rules. The interesting thing about Game Boy adventure games is that they are

really hard to make, so only a few exist. And the ones that do exist know what they're doing because

they are likely Zelda games. It feels like Prodigal bit off more than it could chew in a lot of areas due to

how small the dungeons and world was. It was compact to the point of being an indecipherable puzzle.

I know I missed a ton of content in Prodigal just because I couldn’t figure out how to access it and

wasn’t invested enough to put in the effort to overcome that. Curse Crackers is a platformer though.

Being a sprawling adventure isn't expected of it. It's allowed to be compact and benefits greatly from it.

Every level is stuffed with goodies and hidden rooms and because everything was contained in the

level based structure. I was never confused or intimidated by the prospect of collecting everything in

the game. Honestly, Curse Crackers is about as much of an adventure game as Prodigal and I'd argue a

better one. The world map makes the world feel bigger despite it not being interconnected. There are

quality of life features that make it easier to manage side quest and collectibles, which I cannot

understate how much I appreciate. The story is genuinely more interesting and the characters are more

pronounced. You don't progressively gain permanent abilities, but you do get a bigger arsenal of

consumables. It's a wildly different approach, but Curse Crackers still stands tall as a decent adventure

game and stands head and shoulders above most of its inspirations in terms of being a side scrolling

platformer.

Curse Crackers appears to be made in the same vein as the Super Mario, Megaman, and

Castlevania Game Boy games. While Prodigal wouldn't compare well with Zelda games on the Game

Boy and Game Boy Color, Curse Crackers would probably be one of the best platformers on the

system. It surpasses its inspirations in most ways and becomes a wonderful game in its own rite. I think

the way your character controls is perfect for the type of game this is. It has the tightness you'd expect

from Megaman, but also allows for momentum like you'd expect from Mario. Curse Cracker’s run button is a

switch that changes you from a jogging speed to a sprinting speed instantly. There is no period of

acceleration here, it's a completely digital exchange. If you hold the run button you move horizontally

twice as fast and it applies to all movement, not just running. You can press run in midair and

immediately start traveling faster through the sky. It's instant gratification in a way I’m not used to.

Mario and Sonic have conditioned me to think speed has to be earned, and I genuinely think that's a

valid philosophy. But when you have such little screen real estate, earning speed is a major hassle. It’s

ultimately why I don’t come back to Super Mario Land 2 that much. I’m not as comfortable blasting

through it like I am with other Mario games. Curse Crackers sidesteps this brilliantly. Just having a

button that makes you zip through the level whenever you want to, while encouraging speed running to

get better at using that instant velocity is a fair alternative to standard momentum based games.

There's a delightful flow in Curse Crackers when you start trying to blitz through levels. The

hurt boxes of enemies are generous so you don't have to be an Execution God to bounce off 7 enemies

in a row. You can toggle run to be on constantly when you get comfortable with the level. The move set

also works seamlessly in terms of getting you from point A to point B. In Curse Crackers, you play as

an acrobat named Belle. She's got as much maneuverability as her profession suggest. Belle has a

standard jump, a high jump, a slide jump and even a double jump if you can launch your projectile

attack downwards to the floor. The movement honestly might feel closer to Donkey Kong 94 than

Mario Land 2 with how many options you are given. The most fun I've had in the game is using all

those movement abilities to blast through the level as fast as possible. Speed running isn't just

encouraged by giving Belle the ability to move fast. There are shortcuts and strategies you can use to

complete the level earlier. The level design in the game is low key the most impressive thing about it as

it facilitates exploration and brevity, while also introducing new mechanics constantly.

I will definitely be returning to this game. It clicks with me in so many ways, but beyond that,

I'm in love with the vibe. The desaturated Game Boy color pallet enhances its cozy atmosphere and

every character design is a winner. I appreciate the increased amount of scenes where I can see the full

character designs. The characters in Prodigal looked great too, but you really only got portrait art of

them along with their overworld sprite, so it felt like it wasn’t getting as much out of those designs as it

could have. I know what characters look like more in Curse Crackers. I know the world a bit better too.

I'm a little bummed there's no clear incentive or reward for Side Quest, but I do just like doing them

intrinsically because I'm charmed by the game so much. After playing this, Color Grave has now

become a development studio that I will forever keep an eye on because I trust they will always cook

up something good. This game leaves room for a sequel and I’ll be there day one if it ever comes to

fruition. There's not much else I can do to express my enjoyment of this game other than to repeat how

fantastic I think it is. And also draw gay fan art of it.

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