SUPER AMAZING WAGON ADVENTURE – Review (PC)
It seems that the games I’m reviewing are following a theme. My last two reviews, Escape Goat and Eldritch, show off all that is lovely in half a dozen pixels per character model. More a limit of talent and budget than stylistic choice, this does seem to be the most obvious marker of an indie game. This week, we continue the trend of pixeltastic indie games with Super Amazing Wagon Adventure!
The United States of America was founded in the spirit of the frontiersman. The brave souls that came to a new land full of hope and determination to cross this new land, as they say, from sea to shining sea. Three such brave souls are Vince, Mike and Rob who, with their trusty wagon, plan to travel the Oregon Trail to the Pacific Ocean.
Sadly, they didn’t get very far. Rob got the mumps and was impaled by a treacherous unicorn a few days into the journey. At the river crossing, our intrepid adventurers took a detour into space and were forced to battle an evil satellite. Returning to Earth and the mighty plains of the mid-west, Vince was gored to death by a rampaging buffalo. Mike continued on alone and in spite the dangers of wolves, crows and rampaging water buffalo it almost looked like he was going to make it. But a narwhal sealed his fate and the wagon sank to the bottom of a river. Attempts two through seven met with similar, yet unique results and it seems that the Pacific Ocean will always be the unreachable dream.
Developed by Sparsevector, a one-man show based in Seattle, Super Amazing Wagon Adventure is a fast-paced, side scrolling shooter that is bizarre and hilariously written. Like the frontiersmen of old who, during the 1800s, were part of the half a million-strong emigration across the United States, your goal is simply to reach the coast of the Pacific. On the way, any number of randomly generated events can occur as you journey from forest to plains to deserts to mountains and beyond. These take the form of little challenges you must endure on your journey. Some are easy, like collect 40 animal skins, but most are damn hard like fending off a screen full of angry pelicans with your trusty pistol.
As you travel along the trail you will pick up a host of fun and interesting weapons from bows to air strikes and everything in-between. On one adventure I found a falcon, which turned out to be even more effective than the alien blaster! These pick ups are also randomly spawned and it is all this randomly generated content that will keep you replaying this admittedly short game over and over again. There is also a Challenge Mode with scenarios unlocked as you find and survive them along your adventure. Your trusty wagon can also be upgraded in a similar way. The wagon choice ranges from a space shuttle version to a fairy tale coach and, my personal favourite, The Glitch, which fires random pixels when you fire the pistol. These bonuses and unlockables add much-needed variety and depth to an otherwise very basic game. You shoot things, you collect animal furs to trade and that’s about it.
In spite the simple storyline, I did find myself getting attached to my adventurers as things go from bad to worse to buffalo-death. Each encounter is prefaced by a short diary extract, which contains some of the best deadpan humour I’ve read in games for a long time. In the highly contested indie market you need to stand out and quality writing like this is a great and inexpensive way to do it.
At just £1.99 on Steam and XBLA, there is no reason why you shouldn’t get this game. Funny, challenging and compelling, Super Amazing Wagon Adventure comes highly recommended.
Pros
- Very funny
- Challenging gameplay
- Loads of replay value
Cons
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