Have you ever missed out on a game that you wanted to play because you had forgotten that it even existed? That’s what happened to me with the Noitu Love series. Lucky for me steam has reminded me that these games exist.
If you had been paying attention to the indie section of the steam shop you would probably have noticed that Noitu Love 2: Devolution was released within the past couple of weeks. But it had been out for much longer on the personal site of it’s creator Jaokim Sandberg.
They’re wrecking your home! Quick, jump out the window!
The game starts off from the beginning with action and keeps the pace going. Everything about the game gives you a feeling of power. The controls, the sound effects, and the graphical intensity each make you feel as though you’re actually doing some damage. Your ability to fly across the screen and kick a robot in the face before unloading a combo on it makes you feel as though you’re actually getting something accomplished.
Get to Escape from da choppa
The music selection is varied with each song evoking memories of games past. From intense action to an ethereal feeling, each piece seems beautiful in such a way that you may find yourself simply sitting at your desk with the BGM test playing while you do other things.
I think this guy is out to get you.
The boss battles are intense, humorous and require a bit of strategy. The first one you come across is giant boat with tank treads piloted by a pirate that isn’t going to go down without a fight. He’ll try to run you over, lob enemies at you and fire huge cannons in your direction. But it gets worse, at least half the screen is taken up by the boss and 99% of the boat’s hull is impervious to your attacks. Doing damage while dodging the onslaught of attacks and on coming enemies is far more difficult than it sounds and the hardest part of the game by far are the bosses.
WHAT THE EVER LOVING CRAP IS THAT THING?
But no game is without any drawbacks, not even this one. This games main failing is its controls or more specifically, its lack of being able to change them in any way. The game handles well for the control scheme that’s forced upon you but all the while when playing it you feel as though if it were controller based rather than mouse and keyboard you would be doing a far better job at kicking vast piles of robotic buttocks. It’s just the kind of game where you would feel far more comfortable playing it if you had some say in the way you controlled your character, if for no other reason than to make your attacks flow more smoothly.
As game with such intense action, beautifully composed music that also does everything to give you the feeling that you’re really punching in robotic skulls, Noitu Love 2 is more than worth the five dollars it costs to pick it up on steam and I highly recommend getting it.
If you’d like to see some of the other games that Joakim Sandberg has worked on I suggest taking a look at his site and maybe picking up a few of his other games.
