Super Alloy Crush by Alloy Mushroom (Early Access Preview)
The shadow cast over action platformers by the Mega Man series is massive. Despite being nearly 40 years old, the Blue Bomber’s adventures across multiple entries and spin-offs remain a standard that practically any 2D game that involves running, jumping, and shooting aspires to.
There’s been no shortage of indie games that try to capture the magic of Capcom‘s classics, and Super Alloy Crush is the latest to step up to the plate with its recent Early Access release. The question is, does it deliver the goods?
Robot Stop
As intergalactic treasure hunters Muu and Kelly, you and your crew have landed on a remote planet in search of an ultimate prize. Standing between you and it? Plenty of angry robots that blow up real nice.
Super Alloy Crush puts its best foot forward in a number of ways. The game’s hyper-stylized 2D graphics (that feel more at home with early 2D PlayStation games than the usual 16-bit homages) and gorgeous anime art are a perpetual treat to look at, especially in motion.
Even more importantly, the game is fun and responsive to play. 2D platformers live and die on the quality of their gameplay more than anything else, and it’s clear the folks at Alloy Mushroom understand this. Jumping, attacking, dashing, exploring, etc. The gang’s all here, and it all feels great.
It’s also a generous game in terms of content. The main game unfolds in a level-by-level format and contains a surprisingly deep upgrade system to boot. However, at a certain point, you even unlock a Rogue-like mode that remixes levels and mechanisms into a completely different experience. You’re practically getting two games in one, and there’s even co-op to boot.
One Robot to Another
It should be obvious by now that Super Alloy Crush delivers the goods in some pretty major ways. However, this also means that its flaws stick out all the more, and it has a few major ones.
First and foremost, the game front-loads the experience with a ton of exposition and story that, frankly, isn’t particularly comprehensible or interesting. The game is a sequel to the developers’ 2022 platformer Super Alloy Ranger, which they seem to assume you’ve already played, given the fact that they do very little to explain who anyone in the cast is or why they’re there.
I’m normally all for an in-medias-res plot drop, but here it leads to a ton of time spent on dialogue that feels like it has no context, and I feel like the game either needs to do a better job of introducing the characters or axe a ton of the plot entirely to help the game flow. Right now, it’s in an awkward middle place.
Also, a key issue I found is that the praise I heaped on the gameplay was largely true while playing as the melee-heavy Muu. Kelly, the game’s ranged fighter, feels extremely underpowered in comparison, and his more methodical play often kills the game’s breakneck pacing. It’s something that I hope the developers address during the Early Access period, because right now I feel like there’s a clearly superior half to the game.
The Verdict:
Super Alloy Crush is very obviously made by people with a massive amount of affection for the genre, and this shines through during its stronger moments. If they can address the issues of plotting and character balance, this has the potential to be a strong entry in a storied genre. Let’s hope this super fighting robot gets the necessary upgrades!
Super Alloy Crush is available via Steam Early Access.
Watch the trailer for Super Alloy Crush below:
