Turning to regard me coldly with its mechanical eyes, the humanoid robot raises its rifle and opens fire. Swiftly ducking down, I watch as its blast slams into the drone that was sneaking up behind me, knocking it out of the air. Returning fire, I slam several bullets into the robot’s torso. The bot barely flinches, drops to its knees, and prepares to fire again. Drat. I can’t jump over its shot, and with no handy ledge to climb remove myself from the line of fire, I only have one other option. My personal shield activates at the last second, absorbing the bot’s shot, but shattering in the process. With only enough charge left in the shield to absorb a single shot, I again open fire. This time, my bullets have an effect, and the bot staggers back and collapses, smoke rising from its ruined shell. Waiting a few seconds for my gun to recharge (it has infinite ammo, but takes time to regenerate shots), I continue on my adventure, hoping that I’ll be able to scavenge another power cell for my shield before the next encounter.
I have to admit that ever since the demo gave me a taster several months ago, I’ve been looking forward to trying Lunark. The moment I fired up the demo, the smooth pixel animation, the way of moving around the environment, and the levels composed of individual screens (rather than a continuous, scrolling level), put me in mind of one game, the classic that spawned the cinematic platformer genre (which includes the likes of Tomb Raider): Prince of Persia.
And I’m delighted to say, that’s what Lunark largely is: Prince of Persia, but in space. And, given that special thanks is included in Lunark’s credits to Prince of Persia’s creator, Jordan Mechner, I think this is no mistake. Oh, there are differences, of course. In place of the trap laden dungeons, players get to explore colourful forests, shattered ruins, moon bases and even futuristic high-speed trains. Instead of sword fights, players get to use their gun, and sometimes even their fists. Instead of Persian soldiers (and the occasional reanimated skeleton), players get pitted against merciless robots, drones, and space spiders (arachnophobes be warned). And instead of rescuing a princess from the evil Jaffar, players get to save a whole planet and species. Oh, it’s also less wince inducing, lacking the rather gruesome death animations that would happen in Prince of Persia whenever the player ran into one of the traps (the effects of running into steel-chompers was not a pretty sight).
But despite these differences, the core feeling of Prince of Persia remains. And that same, methodical approach to combat and exploring and navigating the world (or rushing ahead and ignominiously plummeting to one’s death), feels just as fresh and engaging as it was all those years ago, and it’s brilliant. Not content to just reference Prince of Persia, Lunark throws in a number of other touches, including rotoscoped cutscenes (think of it as an early form of motion-capture, but with the artists drawing over the top of filmed action), teleporter puzzles, coloured coded keys (a staple of older games), and numerous pop-culture references (including more than just a dash of Total Recall).
Also, for those who remember just how unforgiving older games can be, Lunark does feature a well implemented checkpoint system, which insures you are never too far away from where you meet your demise. While the game doesn’t do everything perfectly (the controls, in some combat encounters, could feel ‘sticky’ and unresponsive, and the forest level did have a four note theme – or at least felt like it only had four notes – which played ad nauseam and drove one of my colleagues to distraction), it does do most things extremely well. And given the recent patches, the dev is still improving how the game plays and handles, so I don’t think these niggles will survive for long (except perhaps that four note riff...).
All up, Lunark is an excellent homage to the style of games and gameplay that made gaming great in the first place. Whether you’re a Prince of Persia veteran with fond memories, or a newcomer to this style of game, or simply curious about retro-style games, Lunark can definitely be recommended. ■