With the emergence of high profile AAA FPS shooters ruling the market, the 2D platformers of the early 90s have gone the wayside. Sure, we get some indie offerings that are a fun diversion, but rarely do they have the staying power of Super Mario Bros. had in the 8 to 16-bit eras. Little Triangle is the first game in recent history that evokes the same feeling of determination in me to complete each level flawlessly since the Super Nintendo era.

The design of the game is top notch and features an amazing contrast between cute cartoonish characters and some really dark imagery. For every character that looks like it was ripped from Sesame Street, you’ll find 2 others that look like they were drawn from your darkest nightmares. While not nearly as charismatic as the recent Cuphead, I found myself easily drawing comparisons between the art styles. The early levels feature random eyes or mass graves filled with dead triangles that really stand out against the bright colors featured. The polyphonic music accompanying the game fits the tone well, coming across as a mixture of Metal Gear meets Super Mario Bros.

The gameplay featured in the campaign is similar to other platformers; simply make it from point A to point B while picking up collectibles, rescuing hostages, and evading or killing enemies and traps. With only your trusty double jump serving as your means of attack, timing is everything. The game starts out as a pretty accessible affair, but the difficulty spikes early on. While not as difficult as Super Meat Boy, it will test your patience. Most of the levels are well designed, and most deaths are fair and feel earned opposed to simply being cheap and difficult for the sake of being difficult. You will encounter some enemies or platforms that you will quickly learn whether they are safe to jump onto or not through trial and error, playing a fun game of “Can I land on this” from time to time.  This sadly does not translate to the boss battles, which occur frequently, approximately every 3-5 levels. While some are simply races to make it to the end of the level, others require performing specific actions while evading their attacks. I really enjoyed the races, which play out in the manner of running like hell from Godzilla to mixed results. The actual battles are much less fair as the attacks are sometimes unavoidable, thus making it extremely frustrating.

The first major boss, who appears to be a mild parody of a gigantic Nazi, is a prime contender for most annoying boss of the year. The double edged sword of this battle is that while some of the attacks do repeat in a set pattern, others are dependent on where the player is located at the time the attack begins. He will throw out some hints that he’s going to perform an attack, but it was highly frustrating nonetheless. You’ll need to make careful use of your double jumps, as using the ability at the wrong time or when it isn’t necessary will end up with you being a very easy target. I did not break my controller, but I was unable to complete the level with less than 11 deaths.

The good news is there are frequent checkpoints that will allow you to continue in most cases with little progress being lost. The story mode can be played in 2 different modes, Casual and Hardcore, with only minor difference between the two. Checkpoints are found in each mode, but in hardcore mode a single hit means you will revert back to the most recent one. In casual mode, you will be given 3 hearts and after the 4th hit, you will die. You can gain additional hearts by reaching a checkpoint, with each one offering a single heart. While I was able to complete a few levels in hardcore mode, I found casual mode to be more my speed.

Featuring 30 standard levels and a number of secret levels, there is a good amount of content here. Most levels feature multiple secret areas, which hold hostages or additional collectibles, meaning it will become a challenge to achieve 100% without being hit early on. The hostages unlock new skins that can be applied to your character while the collectibles are used as currency to unlock the secret levels. The secret levels are reserved for those who are only up for the most challenging platforming the game has to offer, as each has a large amount of the collectible diamonds hidden throughout with a number of jumps that require nothing short of perfection to complete. While these cosmetic changes to the character are not important to the experience since they don’t add any additional perks or abilities, it’s fun to change up the character’s appearance with the large number of options featured.

It’s important to note that you can play the title in co-op or in a short dual mode, which allows you to battle in random levels featuring enemies and traps. While the duel mode is a nice diversion, it does not have the staying power that the campaign does. Additionally, the game zooms out significantly when playing co-op, so it can be a bit harder to determine what exactly is going in some situations, but the game does allow for up to 4 players. While I don’t see any major motion pictures or Saturday morning cartoon series being based off of Little Triangle, it is a fun venture that anyone seeking something new in the platforming genre won’t regret.

8 out of 10

Pros

• Fun Throwback to 90’s Platforming
• Unique Characters
• Loads of Secrets and Unlockables

Cons

• Difficulty Spike Hits Super Hard
• Some Unfair Boss Mechanics

Little Triangle was developed by CottonGame and published by Dreamoji. It was released on X1 February 7, 2018 for $14.99. The game was provided to us for review on Xbox One. If you’d like to see more of Little Triangle, check out the official site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

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