{"id":100018,"date":"2019-09-11T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-11T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/sydney_hunter_and_the_curse_of_the_mayan"},"modified":"2019-09-11T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-11T17:00:00","slug":"review-sydney-hunter-and-the-curse-of-the-mayan-indiana-jones-in-all-but-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2019\/09\/11\/review-sydney-hunter-and-the-curse-of-the-mayan-indiana-jones-in-all-but-name\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Sydney Hunter And The Curse Of The Mayan &#8211; Indiana Jones In All But Name"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/0787be7532a27\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/0787be7532a27\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<aside class=\"picture embed pictures\" id=\"screenshots\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/99009\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/99009\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan Review - Screenshot 1 of 7\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Given the sheer rate at which the Switch\u2019s eShop is expanding on a weekly basis, it almost seems inevitable that an <strong>Indiana Jones<\/strong> game will eventually make its way to owners. Until then, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/sydney_hunter_and_the_curse_of_the_mayan\">Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan<\/a><\/strong> is about as close as we\u2019re going to get \u2013 but that\u2019s okay because this retro-inspired 2D platformer is actually darn good fun.<\/p>\n<p>From publisher\/developer Collectorvision, Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan is actually the <em>fourth<\/em> entry in the series \u2013 though you certainly don\u2019t need to have played the previous games to appreciate this latest title. You play as the titular Sydney Hunter, who finds himself trapped in a Maya pyramid and must collect the seven missing pieces of the Maya Haag calendar scattered throughout the temples.<\/p>\n<p>Armed with a whip, you\u2019ll come face to face with everything from scorpions and snakes to fire breathing skeletons, all the while avoiding the usual traps you\u2019d normally associate with ancient tombs. Graphically, it\u2019s competent enough and certainly won\u2019t impress those fatigued with retro games, but the gameplay is an impressive mix of mechanics from past classics, like the addictive gem collecting from <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/wiiu\/shovel_knight\">Shovel Knight<\/a><\/strong>, and even the disappearing blocks from <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nes\/mega_man_3\">Mega Man 3<\/a><\/strong>. In terms of pure looks, we were also reminded of the classic Core Design platformer <strong>Rick Dangerous<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>None of it <em>quite<\/em> meshes together as effortlessly as the games from which it takes influence, and there are some minor frustrations to take note of. Primarily, unlocking new levels requires a set number of crystal skulls which are hidden among stone blocks \u2013 these can be quite tricky to find on your first visit, so you\u2019ll likely need to replay levels two, or maybe even three times to unlock enough to progress further, which can prove irritating after a while.<\/p>\n<p>There are also steep difficulty spikes that more casual players will struggle with, particularly with some of the more formidable boss fights \u2013 some of which specialise in one-hit kill attacks that can be tough to avoid. Nevertheless, Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan is a decent platformer that more than justifies its asking price with impressive longevity and smooth, compelling gameplay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Given the sheer rate at which the Switch\u2019s eShop is expanding on a weekly basis, it almost seems inevitable that an Indiana Jones game will eventually make its way to owners. Until then, Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan is about as close as we\u2019re going to get \u2013 but that\u2019s okay because [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100018\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}