In fact there’s almost too many variants when it comes to customising your bombs, with options to change simple things like the fuse timer or the trajectory to letting you float after a bomb jump or create a flame along the ground.Ĭhanging the mechanics of the game in such a fundamental way is impressive but inevitably it does make Plague Of Shadows even harder than the already difficult main game. Shovel Knight: Plague Of Shadows (Wii U) – being bad isn’t easyīy picking up the required ingredients you can also mix new potions that create additional effects. That completely changes both the combat and the platforming, as there’s a lot more momentum in the way Plague Knight moves and he doesn’t have a shovel to pogo off of. Naturally, Plague Knight doesn’t use a shovel, but instead a variety of different bombs and potions. By reusing stages from the main story (while often making subtle changes to them) the obvious comparison is getting to play as Luigi after beating a Mario game, although here the change in abilities is much more pronounced. One of the boss battles in the original game is with Plague Knight, but in the expansion Plague Of Shadows you get to control the not-entirely-evil character in his own adventure. In Shovel Knight boss battles are things you actually look forward to as a culmination of the level’s ideas – not a semi-interactive cut scene before the next stage.

They all have their movement patterns to learn, but rather than just shooting a red flashing body part three times each encounter always has a more complex puzzle element. The range and variety of enemies is impressive for any game, retro or otherwise, and there are some particularly good Mega Man-inspired boss battles. Although given how many of these extra items there are it is a shame that the game doesn’t require their specific use a bit more often. With all the gems you dig up you can upgrade your shovel with new abilities, and there’s also a large variety of additional items and weapons – from the essential fireball spell to an actual sword and a cloak of invisibility.

Games for the wii u shovel knight