The All-Mighty Shovel Knight

I said last time that the first full review that I'd do after my Mega Man piece was on the game that best captures the classic spirit of fun learning in video games, and that game is...the all-mighty Shovel Knight!

Seriously, if you haven't picked up this game, do it now. Stop reading, and go buy it. I don't care who you are, what you like, what systems you have, or don't have. Shovel Knight is a must have for any human being. Why, you ask? Because...

1. It's cheap.
2. Essentially anyone can play it with no new hardware. It's on PC, Mac, Linux, 3DS, Wii U, PS3, XBox One, PS4, PS Vita...it's even on Amazon Fire TV. If anyone here is reading this and doesn't have one of these, it's because the only tech you have is a smart phone or tablet, which isn't likely.
3. They're still releasing content for it. And the new content is free.
4. It's beyond great.

Why is it great? Let me count the ways.

Shovel Knight was funded by Kickstarter, as a project intended to recapture the glory days of 8 bit games. You know, like, Mega Man (in my opinion, the biggest influence on the game)?

It's one thing to promise recapturing the glory days, but Shovel Knight does it absurdly well. So well, in fact, that it actually exceeds all of its influences in quality, a very hard thing to do (I know, big claim, but go play it and tell me I'm not right). The controls are absolutely superb. The game play is challenging, but fair. The visuals are gorgeous in a modern way, but still capture the spirit of Mega Man, Super Mario Bros. 3, Duck Tales, and all of the most beautiful NES games of the era.

The gameplay features a few very small mechanics that can be utilized to clear all of the obstacles in your path. A jump. A standing shovel strike. A jumping shovel bounce (think Duck Tales, or even Link's down+a in the air in Super Smash). And a handful of mostly option items that you can use to reach the secrets of the game.

And all of this, save for the items, becomes clear to you in the first few minutes of playing the game. Watch the first few minutes of this playthrough and see how clearly the game teaches you about all of the mechanics of the game in one enjoyable, beautiful, and rewarding level. Pay close attention at 1:05, where it is clear that the standing slash and jumping that you've learned over the last minute will not suffice for this challenge. The blocks are too low to hit, and there's nothing you can jump over. What's a shovel bearing knight to do? Perhaps you try crouching and slashing. But there is no crouch! So maybe, if I try jumping, and then slashing down, it'll break the blocks? And that's when you discover the core mechanic of the game, the shovel bounce. And we've noticed that after bouncing on the bricks, the bricks break! And that after bouncing on the bricks, we go higher! We also likely notice that when we press the slash button during the bounce animation, Shovel Knight slashes, but stops holding the shovel under him so as to bounce. Now our mind is racing at the possibilities of this new tool. And we find a new task for the bounce in the very next room...

At 1:15, we come to a cliff, and a bubble. Simply slashing the bubble pops it. That doesn't help. And the cliff is too high to reach by simply jumping. So let's try bouncing! There's little risk here, as there are no pits, no enemies, just a spot to practice. As the level goes on, bubbles appear in more risky locations, requiring us to use the skills we learned in this room in more perilous situations.

We learn another application of the bounce at 1:50. We encounter a sleeping dragon guarding the only way forward, who wakes, and sprays bubbles at us. We try slashing the dragon, but the bubbles keep pushing us back. So let's try bouncing on him! Now we find that the bubbles are not a threat in this location, and that we can continuously damage him by staying bouncing on his head. All with very little risk to ourselves. At 5:28, however, we face another, identical dragon, only this time to locale is much riskier. Now those bubbles that were annoying are very dangerous, as they can cause us to fall into pits.

We probably die at some point in this level, leaving behind floating bags, and notice that the gold we've been collecting reduces. We've now learned that dying is bad, but then we get the bags the next time through, and get all of our money back! Dying is simply part of the experience of Shovel Knight, and one that you can recover from, rewarding the iterative style of game play, while attaching some costs to failure.

So the intuitive and iterative learning is rewarding, fun, and you don't even realize that it is happening. The intro stage of Shovel Knight is up there with Mega Man X's as the best of all time, in my opinion. And the levels from there on out are always introducing new wrinkles on ways you can use these simple mechanics to become the Hero.

In addition to the great learning, gameplay, and visuals, the music and sound are simply the best (and the game ships with a code for the soundtrack, so you, like me, can listen to it as you cruise around town!). Jake Kaufman composes the soundtrack, and he did an unbelievable job. Check out this track that you heard in the intro level, which is probably the best in the game. And lest you doubt from where Kaufman derives his influences for this game, check out these two superb guest tracks from none other than Mega Man composer Manami Matsumae.

In short, go get this game. It's a perfect 10/10.

This will be my last full game review for a bit, but I'll be back with a TV show review in short order.

- TRO