A good side-scrolling beat ‘em up is hard to come by these days. We were given Castle Crashers, Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game and Charlie Murder. Now in 2018, Fully Illustrated has given us Wulverblade, a self-described “…visceral, cinematic, side-scrolling beat-em-up.” Does this bloody, yet educational, side-scroller live up to its own hype? Or does it slip on its own bloody footprints and fall onto its face?
What is Wulverblade you ask? Wulverblade happens to be is a visceral, cinematic, side scrolling beatem-up. Wulverblade skips any tutorials and thrusts you into bloody battles. Set in 120AD, you take control as one of three different characters from a tribe in Brittania. The characters range from your basic, “slow and powerful” to “fast and a little weak”. While the move-set of all the characters remain the same, it is how you use them that will determine your success or demise in Wulverblade.
Hack, slash, jump, block and downward-thrust your way through hordes of Roman soldiers. When it comes to the controls and button presses they happen to be incredibly responsive. Players can attempt to button mash their way through the hordes of enemies but they will have a hard time keeping up. Wulverblade takes the old beat ‘em up formula and adds a layer of welcome complexity. Forcing players to block incoming attacks as well as keeping an eye on screen for ranged attacks. There are some fantastic little gems in the combat. Arms and heads get chopped off and can be used as projectiles, larger weapons are dropped and can be picked up and used for a limited amount of time.
There are also two powerful attacks that came into play. The first is a “rage” mode where players get an attack bonus as well as a speed and defense bonus. The rage meter builds as players progress through levels so it can be used multiple times if a player times it right. The second attack is a one time use: players can call on wolves to come and attack all the enemies currently on stream. This is a great attack to use when you feel overwhelmed by the number of enemies coming at you. These additions to the classic style of arcade beat ‘em ups keeps things fresh and fun as you progress through the land.
Visually Wulverblade is stunning. The animations of the player characters, backgrounds and enemies are fluid and crisp. What makes Wulverblade stand out from other games of this genre is its educational pieces. At times in the game players can watch glorious hi-res videos of real-life locations that the game is based on. It’s like taking a mini-vacation in the middle of bloodshed.
The sound design in this game is where Wulverblade really shines. For a normal arcade style game of this caliber, you can get away with your run of the mill speaker systems. For Wulverblade, you will want to put on those headphones so you can hear every little sound detail the game has to offer. The team behind the game went to remains of old Roman Forts and nearby streams to capture not only the sounds but the feel and spirit of the locations where these battles were fought.
Offering a classic arcade mode, and a story mode, Wulverblade has a little something for gamers of all types. Add in the educational bits as well as incredible sound design and you have a wonderful game wrapped up in a nice neat, bloody package.
