League of Evil
Posted February 3, 2011
While casual games have been dominating platforms like the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, a difficult title will come along every now and again to offer the hardcore crowd challenging gameplay. In the case of League of Evil (99 cents on the app store), the old school platformer will make you fondly remember your 8-bit Nintendo days while cranking out about half of the difficulty seen in a recent release like Super Meat Boy. However, don’t expect a great deal of originality in League of Evil. If anything, it pays homage to all the classic games of the Mega Man era, but doesn’t bring any new gameplay concepts to the table. The loose story is simple, but effective. You are a super-secret agent that has to take on all the mad scientists of the world before they end up annihilating the planet.
It’s essentially a platformer, so you will see buttons on the iPhone to move left and right as well as A / B buttons to jump and punch / kick. The controls are very responsive and effective, surprising for a touch title. I really didn’t miss a real touchpad. The secret agent has the ability to double jump, thus giving him extra distance to get over spike pits, swinging arms of death or freaking laser beams. He can also slide along walls, allowing you to reach other platforms with timed jumps. You are basically racing through each level, avoiding the obstacles and kicking the crap out of the insane brainiacs at the end. The pacing is definitely slower than Super Meat Boy, definitely helpful for methodically making your way through levels.
There are 50 plus levels in the game that will likely take about 2 hours of your gaming time, depending on good you are at platformers. At the end of each level, you get a star rating (up to 3 stars) and there are also hidden briefcases around the level to locate for more achievements. This is an OpenFient enabled game, so look for achievements for completing all the levels, collecting all the briefcases and getting 3 star ratings on every level.
Visually, the graphics are clean, but intentionally pixilated to capture that feeling of 8-bit nostalgia. There are four different designs, based on the story progression, and they all have unique color schemes. The character animation is fantastic and you will love seeing enemies get blasted apart with pixels going everywhere. Controls are tightly incorporated with the physics engine and everything works exactly as it should.
If you aren’t a fan of Contra style music, you won’t enjoy the classic tunes of League of Evil. The developer did a good job of switching up the music to match the designs of each group of levels. The music, while not overly catchy, is perfect for the style of game.
For just under a buck, League of Evil has plenty of charm and enough levels to justify the purchase. Purchasing tip, the free Lite version has 5 exclusive levels to play through, so you may want to start with it before picking up the full version of League of Evil. Also, if the allure of playing this from the comfort of your couch isn’t enough to suck you in, you can find a free version of League of Evil as a flash game online. However, the Apple version includes 14 exclusive levels not found in the online version. Download League of Evil for the iPhone or iPod Touch if you are into platformers or are just looking for a way to relive your 8-bit glory days.
Discuss This Game on Our Official VGT Forum
It’s essentially a platformer, so you will see buttons on the iPhone to move left and right as well as A / B buttons to jump and punch / kick. The controls are very responsive and effective, surprising for a touch title. I really didn’t miss a real touchpad. The secret agent has the ability to double jump, thus giving him extra distance to get over spike pits, swinging arms of death or freaking laser beams. He can also slide along walls, allowing you to reach other platforms with timed jumps. You are basically racing through each level, avoiding the obstacles and kicking the crap out of the insane brainiacs at the end. The pacing is definitely slower than Super Meat Boy, definitely helpful for methodically making your way through levels.
There are 50 plus levels in the game that will likely take about 2 hours of your gaming time, depending on good you are at platformers. At the end of each level, you get a star rating (up to 3 stars) and there are also hidden briefcases around the level to locate for more achievements. This is an OpenFient enabled game, so look for achievements for completing all the levels, collecting all the briefcases and getting 3 star ratings on every level.
Graphics
Visually, the graphics are clean, but intentionally pixilated to capture that feeling of 8-bit nostalgia. There are four different designs, based on the story progression, and they all have unique color schemes. The character animation is fantastic and you will love seeing enemies get blasted apart with pixels going everywhere. Controls are tightly incorporated with the physics engine and everything works exactly as it should.
Audio
If you aren’t a fan of Contra style music, you won’t enjoy the classic tunes of League of Evil. The developer did a good job of switching up the music to match the designs of each group of levels. The music, while not overly catchy, is perfect for the style of game.
Conclusion
For just under a buck, League of Evil has plenty of charm and enough levels to justify the purchase. Purchasing tip, the free Lite version has 5 exclusive levels to play through, so you may want to start with it before picking up the full version of League of Evil. Also, if the allure of playing this from the comfort of your couch isn’t enough to suck you in, you can find a free version of League of Evil as a flash game online. However, the Apple version includes 14 exclusive levels not found in the online version. Download League of Evil for the iPhone or iPod Touch if you are into platformers or are just looking for a way to relive your 8-bit glory days.
Discuss This Game on Our Official VGT Forum