Really, I'm attacking the Darkness.
Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom came out a few years back and I finally bought it when the price was right. I was initially intrigued by the dynamic of the protagonists and the puzzle action/platforming. I wanted to try to breeze through this, then I remember from the past experiences it's never a quick journey with so much to do. Little over 15 hours, that's a big jump over the short as sh*t FPS games I had been playing.
Story goes, Quara'j or something kingdom, was little more than that until a mysterious beast and a traveler were met. Troubled the beast was by the inhabitants of the kingdom, you know, fire and pitchforks until the day he met Tepeu, a traveler with a dream. Tepeu wanted to stop the fighting and squabbling of the kingdoms; he joined with the beast, Majin. Tepeu had a gift of talking to animals and could communicate with Majin. The Majin held enormous power and the kingdoms fell in line and peace came to Q'umarkaj. There I looked it up. Flourishing through generations using Majin as the guardian of the kingdom until a a darkness started to spread destroying the lands. The Majin tried to fight it and failed, shackled in the dungeon of the kingdom, until happened upon by a thief. I really like Majin, think Ludo from Labyrinth, friendly and a little dull. He has little amnesia from his previous life. Fast forward hundred years and the decayed kingdom.
This is an action/platformer. Not many of these left these days, this was like a whole generation of video games ago. Now regulated to XBL titles and games released with little to no fanfare. Maybe Zelda and Mario are the exceptions. Game play is a tag team affair with you as the thief which Majin names you Tepeu, after his old friend. Oh yeah, you can talk to animals too, what a coincidence. Freeing him from his shackle, a spike driven though his arm, you escape the dark castle together. The spike is now your weapon as it holds some power of the Majin. Outside the castle you make the decision to bust back in and attack the darkness emanating from within. Sh*t, the door is locked with some strange ass masks and black ooze.
Let's go action action/platform. Hints are given by some of the saddest voice acted animals, given to you in a 6 year old explanation of what you should do. Laughable. The world is broken up into four areas each with their own environments, forest, desert, volcano, etc, you get the theme. Within these areas are populations of the dark ones. Moving black ooze in a humanoid and animal form which you must defeat. Combat is difficult by yourself and you must use Majin's power to really survive these battles. There is little stealth that Tepeu can do but most fights are up close and personal. Majin slowly gains back the powers he once held and the game becomes more interesting. Together you can perform devastating finish attacks, once the trash is cleaned up you must solve the puzzle of how to move on. Switches, catapults and devious contraptions with each area within the world. Some can't be used right away, as Majin needs to regain his powers to use. Lots of backtracking if you are wanting to fully explore and regain Majin's full strength. Once he does the game does get a little easier with a hulking beast full of destruction. Though not unstoppable.
I don't know what it is about Japanese developers but they make some of the most grotesque bosses. Just plain WTF. You must fight four bosses to unlock the final door and proceed to the final boss. Another WTF. Bayonetta had some of the same sh*t. What is the fascinations about putting WAY TOO MANY BOOBIES on these creatures? Seriously.
Overall Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom is a delightful romp in a far off land. It's a GOOD INU. The story, while serious, is delivered very poorly by talking animals. The cut scenes that really give depth to the legend is really all you needed. Majin is lovable. He starts out as just a dumb oaf, with moss growing on his back, then sprouts of plants, then flowers, then glowing spikes and finally motherf*cking trees, and a bad attitude. Straight bitch ass. Been a long time since my last action/platformer and I enjoyed this one, but it really slowed my goal of busting the backlog. But hey, it's done.
SWS out.
magic missile!
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