Magical Monster Land Reviews

A Mario-like with potential - quite the hidden gem, actually. Developer just released v2.0, after quite some time of hiatus.

It's an early access game that may very well never be completed, and it's very clear while you play that the game is incomplete (only one boss, progressively fewer levels in each stage, power-ups that are only used once, etc), but what's there is a decent retro-style platformer with charm. You run, punch, jump, swim and use a few special abilities to get through a variety of platforming-based levels. Controls are pretty good, although the momentum takes a little bit of getting used to. Each level contains 3 "mystery medals" to be collected, encouraging exploration. Besides those medals, though, the levels are loaded with lots of fun little secrets, usually rewarding you with gems (collect 100 for a 1-up), coins (to be spent on power-ups from a shop), or 1-ups. There are false walls, breakable walls, hidden blocks that make gems appear when hit, ceilings you can walk on... Basically, it's fun to explore every nook and cranny because odds are there's a lot of stuff to find. There are a handful of transformations that mix up the mechanics a bit, but they only show up for one level each. I found them fun to use, so it's a shame we don't have many opportunities to use them. But then, there are very few levels in the whole game, so such is the downside of early access games, i suppose. Cleared levels on the world map are marked in green, but levels cleared having discovered all three mystery medals are marked in gold, encouraging you to be a completionist. I actually really liked how the achievements were implemented. While one achievement is a fairly conventional "Beat the first boss without taking damage", the rest are challenges for specific levels that are significantly more difficult than playing the levels regularly would be. One stage needs to be beat without defeating any enemies, another without collecting any gems. A particularly unique one involves chasing down a flying potion by getting through the level as quickly as possible, and the secret achievement involves discovering a well-hidden nursery rhyme character. Achievements like this add to the game's enjoyment, as they encourage developing strategies and mastering particular mechanics. If the game ever gets more work put into it, I can see other stages getting the special treatment with similar achievements, which would be great. So yeah, while it's a shame that this game might never get finished, I would still recommend it as a short but fun experience, especially if you exhaust everything it has to offer. Get it on special and you'll get one to two hours of entertainment.

This is basically a Super Mario 3 clone with a few gadgets and platforming ideas of its own. I enjoy it a lot. Unless I missed something I think it's only three worlds, but it's a lot of fun if you're looking for a Mario style game for PC. World 3-3 has some tough platforming. I hope it gets expanded upon and I hope they add some bosses.

At the time of writing this review, only 2 areas are available. Long story short - I whole heartedly recommend this game. It's not complete, but it's certainly worth picking up and playing through, and I can only imagine the full game will be even greater. If you've played a few Mario games you'll be pretty familiar with what's going on. Standard platforming, and holding down the attack button to run. However the game has other elements - just like in Ghosts And Goblins you can pick up armour that will tank one hit, and the powerups/weapons won't protect you from a hit (unlike in Mario). The hidden areas are not too hard to find, but not overly easy. The game rewards picking up a powerup later in the level backtracking to destroy obstacles. The ability to buy things from the shop is helpful, especially if you're struggling to find the last medalions. The graphics are fantastic. I can't put my finger on it, but it reminds me of something. My only irk so far is one that I'm not sure is the game's problem or my laptop's. I can't jump when holding Left + Run/Attack. If someone could check out if it's my or the game's problem that'd be swell.

Got this game cheap during a Steam Sale. Love the graphics, that's largely what drew me to it. Takes heavy inspiration from Super Mario World and some other games of the time, like probably Donkey Kong Country. The platforming controls are not as tight as I'd like, but they're not bad. The stages are difficult and can get really frustrating. My main problem with the game was that I'm getting frame skips every few seconds. On most stages it was annoying and sometimes got me killed. On the minecart stage, it killed me dozens of times, perhaps because you're moving faster. It's not a problem with my PC's power, don't know what the problem is. Messed with graphics options, turned on/off scanlines and rounded corner, even tried playing it windowed, the problem persisted. Side note on the options - there are no audio options at all, the music plays whether you like it or not, and you can't change the volume. Not bad for gameplay, but the overall experience is a negative.

ThE game you are looking at here is top drawer quality it has the best elements of the best games with a careful attention to the implementation. Magical Monster Land just feels VERY good and thats all there is to it! 10/10 platformer

It unashamedly wears the influences from Mario and and the Donkey Kong series on it's sleeve and mechanically it feels like a balance of the two. You get a little more running speed and more height on the jump, which - combined with the springs and jumps populating the world - give it a speedy flow, distinguishing it from the aforementioned titles. When you can't buy Mario or DK on Steam, emulating Mario and DK is not the worst thing. This is the closest experience I've found to it, and that put that put a smile on my face. The game encourages lots of exploration with hidden walls and doors, and is quite rewarding when you find them. Music is perhaps the only thing that lacks a little. It's not bad, but when the game stands up to Mario and DK mechanically, the music can feel lacking. All in all if this had 10x more content it could be my favourite 2D platformer on steam. Mechanics are fluid, level design and power-ups are awesome. As it stands it's a solid and polished experience reminiscent of old classic platforming titles, it just need more content.

UPDATE: The dev has abandoned this game, so I basically spent my money for a demo. Such a shame. DON'T BUY THIS. Great platformer with lots of moments of nostalgia. Grab it while it's still only 2 bucks.

Update: This game appears to have been abandoned by the devs. While it is still quite cheap, its incredibly short (unfinished) and there are plenty of 2-D platformers you could play that are much higher quality, more creative, and are far more complete. Magical Monster Land has the solid foundations to be a good casual Platformer, albeit a bit generic. Only two worlds (only the first is finished) are available at this time, running about an hour of playtime realistically. With that in mind, its hard to say where the game will go from here. There is a massive amount of work ahead for the single developer to complete and flesh out the five-world goal. The game is similar to the SNES era Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario 2-D platformers. Although as of now the game plays more casual version of those. The weapon power ups do trivialize the enemies to a large extent, the strength of the playable character is vastly different without them. Keep in mind these earlier worlds are intended to easy. It's hard to say how the difficult curve will develop. Notably, the first boss is a step up in difficulty compared to everything else in the game and is welcome challenge. I’m happy to say the game works great with a Xbox-360 gamepad and I had zero problems getting it to work, and the controls can be rebound as desired. I’m excited to see how this game develops.

[b]Magical Monster Land[/b] is about as good as a casual platformer can get. In terms of mechanics it does not do anything new, but what it does is very polished. It's somewhat similar to games like Super Mario, Mr.Nutz or Alex Kidd - fun but not very difficult. According to the store page we only have 8 stages which is only a small chunk from the planned content. You can beat this current Early Access in less than one hour, but overall quality makes it easy to recommend. The controls are perfect in my opinion, and the game has a lot of secrets. Even this version already has a minigame and a mine riding level, so it looks very promising. The game also has a classic top-down level select, shops and hidden medals. Stores have several items that can make the game easier if you find it too difficult. Right now it is hard to tell how much variety will be in the final release, but I am optimistic based on what I see so far. As far as I can tell the continues are unlimited, and frankly the developer clearly did not want the game to be punishing. Each level has a fun level design, good platforming elements and many well placed secrets. Everything in this title comes together perfectly, it's clearly made by someone that appreciates casual retro games and the design behind them. [h1] Pros: [/h1] + good controls / smooth movement + can rebind controller and keyboard + CRT effect + nice animation + lots of secrets + fair difficulty [h1] Cons: [/h1] - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ [b] Early Access State: (updated on 16/Oct/2018) [/b] So far this casual platformer is perfect in terms of gameplay, despite lacking most of its content. For $2 I am very happy to participate in this Early Access regardless of what may happen. If the developer finish all 5 maps, very good deal for anything under $10 (based on quality). It seems to me that most players are not looking for this kind of game anymore, but if you love those simple platformers from the past, it is definitely worth it. [code]For more hidden gems: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]