Written by Anthony L. Cuaycong
Title: Furwind
Developer: Boomfire Games
Publisher: JanduSoft
Genre: Action, Adventure, Platformer, Puzzle
Price: $9.99
Also Available On: Steam
Furwind is long on promise as an ode to action platformers of decades past. All of the usual factors making the genre popular are present in Boomfire Games’ offering. First, it makes use of an animal as the title character out to save the world. Second, it has its leading man — or, rather, fox — and his surroundings presented in colorful pixel art. Third, it employs immersive music and ambient sounds to keep gamers transfixed as they explore cave after cave. Fourth, it requires hand-eye coordination, no small measure of tactics, and a willingness to grind in order to attain success.
If Furwind works for the most part, it’s because the tasks at hand are diverse but not entirely unfamiliar, stimulating but not to the point of frustration, and rewarding by way of preparation for the next challenge. The story itself is far from unique, and the game sometimes stumbles in pushing it forward with passable voice acting and myriad text screens that exhibit the occasional grammatical error. Not so the undertakings, which are designed to keep the adrenaline pumping. Movement is fluid and animations are crisp while in the midst of timed jumps, item collection, and enemy fights, more than making up for the evident reuse of background assets.
Perhaps Furwind could have benefited from more polish; its official Nintendo site, for example, doesn’t do a good job of selling its strengths. Considering its Spanish roots, however, its stumbles with a language that isn’t its developers’ native tongue can be forgiven. And it does have plenty of strengths to boast of. At $9.99, it’s likewise a good value-for-money proposition designed to keep gamers glued to the screen for a good half a dozen hours of fun and entertainment. It presents a variety of routes, tough but fair battles, intriguing level designs, and ingenious attack modes that place it a cut above others in its price point.
THE GOOD
THE BAD
Furwind is long on promise as an ode to action platformers of decades past. All of the usual factors making the genre popular are present in Boomfire Games’ offering. First, it makes use of an animal as the title character out to save the world. Second, it has its leading man — or, rather, fox — and his surroundings presented in colorful pixel art. Third, it employs immersive music and ambient sounds to keep gamers transfixed as they explore cave after cave. Fourth, it requires hand-eye coordination, no small measure of tactics, and a willingness to grind in order to attain success.
If Furwind works for the most part, it’s because the tasks at hand are diverse but not entirely unfamiliar, stimulating but not to the point of frustration, and rewarding by way of preparation for the next challenge. The story itself is far from unique, and the game sometimes stumbles in pushing it forward with passable voice acting and myriad text screens that exhibit the occasional grammatical error. Not so the undertakings, which are designed to keep the adrenaline pumping. Movement is fluid and animations are crisp while in the midst of timed jumps, item collection, and enemy fights, more than making up for the evident reuse of background assets.
Perhaps Furwind could have benefited from more polish; its official Nintendo site, for example, doesn’t do a good job of selling its strengths. Considering its Spanish roots, however, its stumbles with a language that isn’t its developers’ native tongue can be forgiven. And it does have plenty of strengths to boast of. At $9.99, it’s likewise a good value-for-money proposition designed to keep gamers glued to the screen for a good half a dozen hours of fun and entertainment. It presents a variety of routes, tough but fair battles, intriguing level designs, and ingenious attack modes that place it a cut above others in its price point.
THE GOOD
- Intriguing level designs
- Colorful pixel art and immersive music
- Good value for money
THE BAD
- Could have benefited from more polish
- Controls can take some getting used to
- Unoriginal story
- Evident reuse of background assets
RATING: 7/10
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