We will browse through a few platform video games that could keep your attention, some of whom were chosen as the best in the genre, most of them are relatively newer games, but that truly doesn’t matter when it comes to platform video games, because even the oldest “platformers” are played to date, such as the Super Mario games that are out of competition with how good they are and that is why they won’t be a topic of this article. We will focus on the best and most playable titles, with a hope that they may spark your interest.
Ori and the Blind Forest
This is one of the best aesthetically worked on games, with a distinguished art style that very much reminds of the anime cartoons from Studio Ghibli from which best known are the titles Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. The pleasant music in the game and the atmosphere along with the characters will give you and emotional feel of empathy with the characters and the adventure of the game will fully take you over with one of the main topics that is in sub context which is ecology that’s why the fantasy setting happens in a forest with forest spirits and well-meaning creatures from myths. The game is good for developing ecological awareness.
Of course the gameplay itself is fun and thrilling as you explore all kinds of scenery and solve puzzles by jumping and fighting with energy waves, jumping on enemies heads and changing direction in mid air. The sequel of this game Ori and the Will of the Wisps is with even more epic-art but also a lot of stacked up action than the first game. This experience has not been seen in platform games up to date and in a whole offers a lot of fun.
Mark of the Ninja Remastered
We continue in Japanese style, but this time with a game for more mature audiences, because of the violence in the game. Mark of the Ninja Remastered is on the best platform games on the subject of ninjas lately, but of course we need to mention the Shinobi games as a basis of games with ninjas although they are from “another era” of platform games-this time the topic is about one of the best stealth games, where with enough skill you can hide in different places and to “incapacitate” the enemies- this time in a fairly brutal manner with or without the use of your sword. Whether you will hide in hallways, big boxes or you’ll be hanging from rooftops, or you will sneak up with climbing-the choice is yours. You can also throw objects that would distract the attention of the guards or will divert gods that have caught your scent in another direction. There are alot of innovative ways of dispatching enemies and the animations are very well done, but in the Remastered version they look even better. The game is fairly dark but you can tell apart the contours enough to see anything that should be visible.
Considering the story in it the ninja has special tattoos that give him his power but that can also drive him insane, there is a girl-ninja helping him in the game and the cutscenes in the game remind of the style of the Batman the Animated Series. The game is not simple, you should learn mechanics and to give great attention to the tutorials because the game requires patience, timing and reflexes. If you are looking for a stealth game that would pose a challenge this game is the right choice.
Trine
In the game Trine you play 3 characters at once and you change through them with the 1,2,3 buttons, the featured characters are a girl-thief, a Knight and a Wizard. At the very beginning of the game the three of them touch an object of power and are stuck when they touch it, according to the story it is an object of power that joins souls that was used before by a great hero but this time it joins the souls of the three characters. You can control one character at a time but you can switch through all three at any time. You change the characters for different situations and solving puzzles- that most often reward you with experience potions. For example the girl-thief has a bow and arrows and can fight at range or to use her arrow with a rope to hang on to hanging objects or high ledges, the knight is mostly used for battle and he can also block arrows and hits with his shield, the wizard can move objects with his mind and trough telekinesis he can push and move big objects as well. In the game there is a narrator voice over that is telling the story, it’s interesting that for the Wizard the narrator says that he doesn’t know a lot about magic, and that he couldn’t do the simplest of spells like casting a fireball, but he liked to chase women. This is a reference for the wizard Rincewind from the series of the novels Discworld from Terry Pratchett, because there the character of Rincewind is a wizard that doesn’t know magic. The wizard in the game can also put up boxes and ramps from thin air and he is the best of solving puzzles with interesting physics, but you also have to use the other characters in between. The game also has a multiplayer co-op where three players can play at once and in that it reminds of one of the oldest Blizzard games named The Lost Vikings. Trine graphics are the top of the line and the puzzles and the backgrounds are great and the game itself has several sequels.
