Beyond the Ice Palace 2 Review Details The Brutal Combat Dark Fantasy Atmosphere and Platforming Flaws
Bringing back a forgotten intellectual property from the glory days of the 1980s is a very risky task. Over 20 years after the original being released in 1988 for the Commodore 64, the STORYBIRD Studio has launched Beyond the Ice Palace 2. Instead of just trying to imitate the olden days, this one strives to combine classic, brutal 2D action with contemporary, adventurous gameplay. The result is a charmingly dark world with a proven track record for battles and atmosphere, albeit one that stumbles over its traversal time and again.
This setting is a very brilliant dark fantasy. A long time ago, the gods gave to an unnamed hero an arrow divine to kill an evil Woman wizard. When he beat her, he became king and made prosperous his kingdom.
But the kingdom's peace was broken by corrupt courtiers who stole the sacred arrow and infused it with the blood of dark magic, then plunged it into the heart of his killed body. Then, a demonic shere expands into the country.
Hoping to restore their devastated land, a band of wizards conducts a dead raising spell, restoring the fallen king to unlife. Deprived of his divine gifts, he embarks upon a path of vengeance armed only with the weight of the chains formerly used to restrain his rotting form. This is a simple, albeit potent revenge tale, made even more enjoyable by immersive environmental storytelling and the introspection provided by fighting through the misery of your prior subjects.
The heart of the combat in this game is the slow, weighty pace of the game. The character doesn't run along like a stereotypical new super stealth ninja, his movement is lumbering and deliberate, as befits a mummified zombie dragging around iron manacles. Your only arsenal: the chain links, which you can lash out in all directions to deter hell monsters.
More than just punches and kicks, there's a lot of other tools at your disposal. Like its predecessors, the game has a powerful attack to break enemy shields, a spin around chain move to block bullets, and a dash that relies heavily on meter consumption to perform. Perhaps the most enjoyable tool on display here is the well timed dodge, which lets you jump over an opponent and backstab them for even more blood. As you defeat enemies, your meter fills up, and once it's full, you can enter a frenzy mode and perform some devastating combo attacks.
The best parts of the combat system are undoubtedly the major fights. Boss battles are epic, requiring you to have razor reflexes and hard worn pattern memorization. Each major foe has its own visual style and its own moveset.
They can be ridiculously tough, but the developers did make sure you're given enough warning of when you might be hit.
When you finally get the pattern of the attacks down when each boss is in its second phase and deal the killing blow, the feeling is incredible.
Despite being rolled out with Metroidvania badges, the world structure more resembles a level based adventure where circles of interconnected levels. The world 24 distinct environments including haunting swamps, fiery capitals and gothic manors is varied and intricately created. The game rewards exploration by having bonus passages lead to metal and wizardry gold, power crystals and accessories.
Progression is through these stone thrones throughout the maps, which also act as fast travel points. During this phase, you'll be able to spend collected crystals to improve your core metrics like max HP, stamina reserves, or base damage. In addition, you'll encounter secret merchants that sell you equippable trinkets that provide passive defensive or damage buffs that can be buffed on discovering secret crafting pearls.
If there's one thing that stands out as the game's biggest flaw, it's the platforming. The king's momentum makes ordinary jumps clumsy and clunky. The most infuriating part in the game, though, is the excessive dependency on the grappling hook effect. You'll constantly need to grapple onto aerial rings that hang above bottomless pits or spikes.
Unfortunately, these swings use physics that are inconsistent to the extreme. The collision detection on the grappling rings frequently miss, so you die even if you press your button just right. The upward propulsion move (the grab dash) doesn't give you any real air control, so you just fall like a rock.
Also, the game cuts checkpoints way back during the huge platforming sections at the end of the game, leading to repeat, boring deaths that artificially ramp up the difficulty.
All that mechanical hiccups for a presentation that is undeniably amazing. The 16 bit styled pixel art are exquisite, animated to a point where grotesque monstrosities and crumbling castles look like living, breathing things bathed in saturated, unsettling hues of blood red and sickly yellow. Add in a totally amazing symphonic soundtrack and I swear you had the sound of the greatest 90s vampire hunting pinacled movies playing in the background.
Pc Version Tested.
Disclosure: We received a free review copy of this product from Devs
