Garlic
by Mikhail
Jul 10, 2023 |
1
Votes |
91
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0
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10
rate
Genres:
Arcade , Adventure , PlatformerGraphics:
2DLabels:
Adventure , Platformer , RetroPlatforms:
Publishers:
Ratalaika Games Garlic is a retro-style action platformer where you endeavor to climb the Sacred Tower to have the Cyber Goddess grant your wish. Use strategy and fast reflexes to move past obstacles and complete countless levels full of brutal challenges. Avoid traps, flaming arms, and floating enemies. Play Now Similar Games Played
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Summary
Back in the day, most of the games were platformers. This was due to the early and notable successes of games like Super Mario Brothers and Super Mario World, along with SEGA’s Sonic. These franchises paved the way for countless other games to make their mark in the video game industry. Such examples include Celeste, Super Meat Boy, Ori, and Ubisoft’s Rayman Legends.
A new up-and-comer on the Nintendo Switch, Garlic, hopes to bring its name to the podium alongside the titles mentioned earlier. Delivered to us by Ratalaika Games, it is essentially a retro-style platformer where you play as the titular title, who isn’t a bulb of garlic but an onion head with limbs. Jokes aside, it delivers an experience you would expect from games of the genre: exciting, fast-paced, and highly challenging gameplay with numerous levels of fun and rather tight challenges akin to its peers.
So, should you help our vegetable-headed protagonist in his quest or otherwise? Let’s check out what it has to offer:
Plotline
Garlic’s story doesn’t tell a compelling tale, yet it establishes the story’s foundation well enough. Basically, Garlic is on a quest to climb atop the Sacred Tower to meet the Cyber Goddess with the goal of having her grant his wish. As the player, you’ll help Garlic out by aiding him in evading traps and speeding past numerous obstacles along the way,
Gameplay
In a nutshell, Garlic is what you’d expect from a retro-style platformer. However, unlike most of the relatively easy titles in the genre, you could consider it a tight experience akin to Celeste. Though challenging, it isn’t bone-crushingly difficult, unlike Celeste. In a way, it is more accessible, making it a viable entryway for people who want to try tight platformers.
Garlic’s movement is crisp and fast-paced, though there were instances wherein I overshot my mark several times. Though you could attribute this to my lackluster skill level, the movement can feel slightly inconsistent initially. However, once you get over the “feeling out stages,” you can quickly move around the levels with precision. Speaking of which, the game will give you a quick tutorial about jumping, dashing, and other ways to move as you progress. A[part from which you can also wall hop/climb, which is necessary when you’re trying to navigate across vertically-moving platforms in certain levels.
One of the best things about Garlic is the countless variety of challenges it delivers to players. I’ve played Celeste, and it’s safe to say the strategic elements, reflexes, and the thinking required to plan out your moves are comparable to it. This isn’t easy to say since Celeste is highly touted as one of the best indie games ever. You need to put in much thought before executing a move. Thankfully, you aren’t penalized heavily if you fail - there are no limited lives, nor will you lose anything. The worst it does is bring you back to the most recent checkpoint; yes, plenty of these little flags are scattered across levels.
That aside, the traps, obstacles, and challenges you’ll have to get past in Garlic range from spiked traps on top of platforms, rotating flaming poles you’ll need to time perfectly to get away from, and jumping fireballs. You can overcome certain obstacles in many ways, but your options are limited in some ways. In addition, some enemies flit around and will attempt to take you out, while at the end of some levels, you’ll encounter relatively large bosses. Thankfully, you can beat them by either jumping or dashing towards them.
Community
Garlic is a fully single-player experience - it has no online capability whatsoever.
Graphics/Sound
Garlic is a retro-style experience that shows the moment you boot the game up. The whole game looks like a port of an NES platformer, just with smoother art and graphics. There are some instances wherein retro Japanese-style art pops up, which is quite surprising, yet works well with the game’s aesthetic. In addition, the music slaps - it’s what you would usually hear in old platformers and classic arcade titles back in the day.
Finally, the game runs with zero issues on the Nintendo Switch, even during high-octane moments when the screen is full of moving obstacles.
Conclusion
Overall, Garlic is an excellent retro experience and is highly recommended for anyone looking for an excellent and challenging arcade platformer to dive into. It delivers a highly-strategic and fast-paced experience akin to some of the top games in the genre and does not fail to give you a challenge yet isn’t too hard. Ratalaika has something special here, and it would be a disservice not to give it a shot.
Garlic Blog
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