Cyber Shadow Review

What do you get if you mix two popular 8-bit game franchises, Ninja Gaiden and Mega Man? The awesome 8-bit, 2D platformer Cyber Shadow. Developed by Mechanical Head Studios, and published Yacht Club Games, this game is an amazing combination of the two and it works amazingly well. You play as Shadow, a cybernetic ninja awoken from your regenerative sleep by a little robot informing you that your mission has gotten a lot more urgent. Their mission is to rescue the surviving members of their clan from a world taken over by machines. They don't give you too much information right off the bat, but as you play you will learn the backstory of what happened to Shadow, his clan and what caused the massive explosion that the game opens with.

Deviating from the usual side scrolling, platformer action game, Cyber Shadow gives you unlimited lives to use so you will not get a game over or be forced to use continues. Since there are multiple checkpoints spread throughout the level, you will not be forced to start back at the beginning, just the last checkpoint you passed. The difficulty level is still there, but the frustration you would get from having to start from the beginning again constantly is gone. Instead, you can focus on what you need to do to get through the area that you are currently in. Cyber Shadow teaches you how to play and use your new abilities through its level design, it's a nice and gradual learning curve.

Cyber Shadow has great 8-bit graphics like some of the best games on the original Nintendo. The colours are bright and vibrant, and the story has cinematic movies just like the Ninja Gaiden games were known for. Along with the great visuals you have a great soundtrack that is reminiscent of the Mega Man game soundtracks. No matter how many times I died and had to play a part in the level the music was still super catchy and not boring to listen to. 

The game is split into levels and laid out on a map resembling the levels in Dr. Wily's castle in Mega Man. The game is linear so you are always shown where you are going next, and each of these stages has a boss. Once you defeat the boss you "save'' one of the members of your clan as they are dying. You learn that the enemy has captured them and are syphoning off their powers to fortify their own synthetic army. Before they pass they give you the little bit of power they still have, so like in a Mega Man game you get a new ability to add to your arsenal. Besides abilities, Cyber Shadow will give you a variety of weapons to use your blue meter Spirit Points on like shurikens, charge guns and swag blades (imagine a blade on an elastic cord swinging around). When you first start the game you will only have five points to use for your weapon which doesn’t seem like much, but luckily there are a lot of chests spread throughout the stage with capsules to replenish this and power ups to extend the SP meter along with your HP meter. Once you complete a few stages, L-Gion, your little robot buddy, upgrades the checkpoints so that you have access to Item Synthesis, Automatic Repair and Spirit Recovery. So if you are willing to spend fifty points, you can have your Spirit Points replenished every time you start at that checkpoint. Once you make progress and get to another checkpoint, you will have to spend the fifty again to unlock this. 

Cyber Shadow is on the short side, especially if you are used to playing games like this, but I am totally okay with this. It doesn’t feel like it overstays its welcome or really drags on. I had a lot of fun playing, died and swore a lot, but felt like I was challenged in a good way. It is really nice not having to start over right from the beginning of the level or the even whole game if you run out of continues to use. I felt the controls were really good and intuitive, though I found myself trying to duck to avoid projectiles or hit enemies that were lower than me when you Shadow apparently can’t duck. The game has lots of little tasks and achievements to try to achieve so if you are the completionist type, this will give you more replayability. If you are a fan of retro-platformer action games along the same vein as Ninja Gaiden or Mega Man, this is a title you will want to check out!