{"id":59758,"date":"2018-11-03T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-11-03T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2018\/11\/preview_battle_princess_madelyn_effortlessly_steps_into_sir_arthurs_boots"},"modified":"2018-11-03T16:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-11-03T16:00:00","slug":"preview-battle-princess-madelyn-effortlessly-steps-into-sir-arthurs-boots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2018\/11\/03\/preview-battle-princess-madelyn-effortlessly-steps-into-sir-arthurs-boots\/","title":{"rendered":"Preview: Battle Princess Madelyn Effortlessly Steps Into Sir Arthur&#8217;s Boots"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/2779353d6b392\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/2779353d6b392\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<aside class=\"picture strip\">\n<div class=\"img\"><a title=\"Shot14\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/2779353d6b392\/shot14.original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/2779353d6b392\/shot14.900x.jpg\" alt=\"Shot14\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>It\u2019s been well documented by the team at Causal Bit Games that <strong><a class=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/battle_princess_madelyn\">Battle Princess Madelyn<\/a><\/strong> is both a love letter and spiritual sequel to Capcom\u2019s <strong>Ghouls \u2018n Ghosts<\/strong> series. As for the rest of the title, the inspiration comes directly from the mind of a child who happens to be one of the creator\u2019s daughters. As you might have read in our <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2017\/03\/feature_how_battle_princess_madelyn_is_fulfilling_one_little_girls_dream_of_starring_in_ghouls_n_ghosts\">March 2017 interview<\/a> with Causal Bit\u2019s Creative Director Christopher Obritsch, it\u2019s his daughter \u2013 who also stars as the heroine in the game \u2013 that has helped select the locations, levels and even devised full-blown battle plans for a number of boss fights. It\u2019s essentially the imagination of a child directly translated into a playable video game experience. So how\u2019s it shaping up? It\u2019s quite promising based on our early playtest \u2013 adding just the right amount of nostalgia to the mix while expanding on plenty of original concepts.<\/p>\n<p>Taking control of the young knight in training (aided by her ghostly pup named Fritzy), your task is to save your family (and kingdom) from an evil wizard. If you weren\u2019t already aware, this is actually a universe set within a story being told by Madelyn&#8217;s Grandfather, while he sits at her bedside. After a lovely retro-style animation sequence sets the scene, the game warps Madelyn from her bed to this fantasy world on the brink of collapse.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture strip\">\n<div class=\"img\"><a title=\"Shot5\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/84802b881da27\/shot5.original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/84802b881da27\/shot5.900x.jpg\" alt=\"Shot5\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>As welcoming as it might look from a visual standpoint, if you have a lapse in focus you\u2019ll likely be punished \u2013 much like you would in an older game of this variety. This applies to both the platforming and combat aspects of gameplay. The enemies are \u2013 for the most part \u2013 utterly relentless, and that includes the many oversized bosses. When you\u2019re not taking down a variety of dangerous, ghoulish and undead creatures, you\u2019ll likely be threading the needle between multiple projectiles whilst making a jump across a platform or two. Every challenge you successfully overcome manages to provide a good sense of accomplishment and should satisfy even the most hardened of platform veterans. Even the earlier sections of this game will help you dismiss any concerns you had about the overall difficulty.<\/p>\n<p>In terms of how this game builds upon the foundations of Capcom\u2019s classic series, much effort has gone into advancing beyond the arcade-like conventions. At the beginning, it seems as simple as just moving forward but then, not long after this, you\u2019re told to turn around and go back. It doesn\u2019t <em>completely<\/em> throw linear design out the door, but there\u2019s a certain sense of freedom as you work your way through multiple interconnected levels. There are even multiple routes that can be taken to access different areas of a level and eventually you can teleport around the map \u2013 making tasks like fetch quests assigned by villagers less time-consuming. If the challenges become too much, Madelyn can recruit a companion to fight by her side. There are also different tiers of armour, offering Madelyn more protection in certain scenarios. Then there\u2019s the toy room, where you gather unique items from far and wide. As you can appreciate, there&#8217;s more depth here than you might initially expect.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"gallery\">\n<div class=\"col\"><a title=\"Shot8\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/519b87a390d9f\/shot8.original.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/519b87a390d9f\/shot8.445x245.jpg\" width=\"445\" height=\"245\" alt=\"Shot8\" \/><\/a><a title=\"Shot13\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/c86e93df0574d\/shot13.original.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/c86e93df0574d\/shot13.445x245.jpg\" width=\"445\" height=\"245\" alt=\"Shot13\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"col\"><a title=\"Shot7\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/a8a669c3243ac\/shot7.original.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/a8a669c3243ac\/shot7.445x245.jpg\" width=\"445\" height=\"245\" alt=\"Shot7\" \/><\/a><a title=\"Shot10\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/7c457eadbb3fa\/shot10.original.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/7c457eadbb3fa\/shot10.445x245.jpg\" width=\"445\" height=\"245\" alt=\"Shot10\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>When it comes to a title such as this, controls are of utmost importance. While we played a PC version of the game with an Xbox One controller, we\u2019re still pleased to report the controls were responsive in the most frantic of moments and could rarely be blamed when something went wrong; any mistimed jumps are on the player alone. Madelyn also has the ability to perform impressive feats such as being able to double-jump to access different areas in a level \u2013 another reference to Capcom&#8217;s legendary series.<\/p>\n<p>With these responsive controls, the environments are able to push your platforming skills to the limit with steep hills, levitating platforms and even vine-hopping. There are a lot of platform challenges to overcome in-between all the monster slaying, so expect to die again and again until you get it right. The bosses add to this challenge, mostly due to the amount of damage they can take. The patterns aren\u2019t necessarily the most difficult to memorise; it\u2019s just a matter of repeating certain movements until enough damage has been dealt. Once you\u2019ve developed a rhythm, there&#8217;s a real art to it.<\/p>\n<p>Battle Princess Madelyn is everything you would want a game like this to be. It expands on the core idea fans know and love and continues to honour the source material at the same time. It\u2019s absolutely nailed the minor details that more often than not make or break small but ambitious games like this. The platforming has a good sense of flow to it and the controls are responsive when required. Even in the most frustrating moments, you\u2019ll be enjoying the &#8216;classic&#8217; level of challenge on offer \u2013 which proves how enjoyable it is.<\/p>\n<p>Keep an eye out for our full review when the game hits Switch soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s been well documented by the team at Causal Bit Games that Battle Princess Madelyn is both a love letter and spiritual sequel to Capcom\u2019s Ghouls \u2018n Ghosts series. As for the rest of the title, the inspiration comes directly from the mind of a child who happens to be one of the creator\u2019s daughters. [&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-59758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59758","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=59758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59758\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}