How many games can you recall or name that have you in the position of the bad guy? I know I have a hard time of doing so. Has anyone wanted to feel the rush of kidnapping the princess instead of saving her? Well, now you have that opportunity.
Introducing “Nefarious” developed by StarBlade. It is one of the few games that lets you take the form of the bad guy who always steals the princess. Only this time, he (you) may get away with it. Set in a 2D action side-scrolling adventure, take on the role of Crow, an evil genius who needs royalty to fuel his death ray appropriately named the “Doom Howitzer.”
There are a variety of unique features that sets the game apart from other, more heroic versions. The biggest feature about this game is the obvious “playing as the villain” aspect. That is a cool perspective to have. From the trailers I have seen, it seems that after you capture the princess you must run a gauntlet of security forces trying to prevent you from getting her. This always fails, and the evidence is however many times Bowser has kidnapped Princess Peach. A lot of kidnappings, I tell you.
By now you have been thinking, “What will boss battles look like?” Well, they are the opposite of anything you have played. Instead of dancing about, trying to do small amounts of damage to an evil villain in a mech suit or any variety of evil villain gear, you get to be behind the wheel and do large amounts of damage to the pesky hero. In the trailer, there is a large mech suit and what looks to be a hovercraft with a large ball and chain to swing around. The hero does not stand a chance.
Like all villains, you have a significant something about you that lets others know who they are messing with. This significant something for our evil villain Crow is his trusty grenade launcher. Of course, what’s so special about a grenade launcher you may ask? Well, in addition to lobbing explosive balls all over the place, there are different types of ammo you can arm the grenade launcher with. I have no idea what these may be, but I know they will be useful for some reason or other.
So many games out there have interesting backdrops, settings and artwork that set them apart from others of a similar genre. “Nefarious” seems to have captured that aspect. There is not much to say except the graphics of 2D games, on average, vary from game to game, and each has its own style, so you can pick it out from a crowd. “Nefarious” is set in a colorful dystopian world full of enemies to defeat and heroes to crush.
“Nefarious,” is scheduled to release on the PlayStation 4 Tuesday, Sept. 11. The Nintendo Switch release will follow on Sept. 13, before finally coming to the Xbox One on Sept. 14. It looks to be a fun time and incorporates a mostly unexplored portion of gaming history. Happy hero hurting, everyone.