Back in darker times for Nintendo during the lifetime of the Wii U, the eShop was characterized by enormous content droughts where few worthwhile games were popping up between the major first-party releases. This opened plenty of space, however, for previously unknown indies to get a larger share of the spotlight, giving their releases the opportunity to generate a cult following. One of these successes was 13AM Games’ Runbow, a fun competitive platformer that featured a memorable colour-switching mechanic. Now, 13AM has produced its follow up, Double Cross, which drops the multiplayer focus in favour of a single-player platforming experience that pulls from a variety of genres for its inspiration. The final product, however, doesn’t quite live up to expectations, offering up a decent but flawed experience that falls short of greatness.
Double Cross follows the story of Zahra Sinclair, a peppy, Shantae-esque agent working for R.I.F.T. (Regulators of Interdimensional Frontiers and Technology), a sort of governmental organization that maintains order across the multiverse. After another routine day on the job, R.I.F.T. headquarters are attacked by a mysterious terrorist called “Suspect X” and it’s soon after revealed that the attack was orchestrated by somebody within the organization. Not entirely sure who to trust, Zahra sets out on a mission to learn the truth, while also neutralizing the unrest and conflicts in the dimensions she visits.
It’s certainly a fascinating premise and the writing, though often keeping to a lighthearted and humorous tone, can sometimes surprise with the depth that it reaches. At key points in the story, the idealistic Zahra comes to realize that R.I.F.T. isn’t nearly the shining beacon of justice that it’s made out to be, and moral shades of grey are filled in where her enemies are shown to have understandable cause for their actions. These moments do a great job of showing how morality isn’t always as cut-and-dried as we’d like it to be, and while that element of the storytelling is notably strong, the individual characters leave something to be desired.
Zahra herself is an interesting enough character, but the supporting cast is filled with a relatively forgettable lineup of cliché heroes and villains that seldom rise above the obvious functions that they serve in moving the plot forward. Ordinarily, this sort of thing would be more forgivable for a sidescroller, but Double Cross clearly makes an above-average effort in its storytelling, yet it still falls a little short. What’s on offer here is fine, and serves its purpose well enough in providing adequate context for all the action to follow, but it’s unfortunately nothing particularly memorable.
Gameplay could most closely be likened to a Mega Man X game with the combat system of Guacamelee; levels are laid out in a non-linear fashion and allow for a fair bit of exploration, even as they more or less keep you on a single path. Zahra’s signature ability can be found in her ‘Proton Slinger’, a handy tool that functions like a grappling hook which can affix to various points throughout the levels. It takes some getting used to, but the Proton Slinger feels wonderfully organic once you get the hang of slow-motion slingshotting from point to point. It can also be used to snatch certain projectiles out of the air, creating seamless sequences where you can launch Zahra across the screen while dispatching an enemy or two mid-air with dexterous movement.
Unfortunately, the combat that typically accompanies this movement system doesn’t hold up nearly as well. Opting for a close-quarters focused combat style, Double Cross comes off as feeling a bit like a watered-down Guacamelee in how battles play out. Zahra has a series of punches, kicks and rolls that can be chained together to put enemies in the dirt, and each felled foe drops energy orbs that can then be used to fuel a few special moves that bolster Zahra’s offensive capabilities or offer up some on-the-spot healing. All the elements of a solid combat system are in place, but they never quite come together to form something that’s more than the sum of its parts; combat is okay, but the pacing of fights is rarely exciting and encounters pop up a little more often than we’d like.
On the flipside, level design in Double Cross is remarkably strong, with each new stage introducing a new gameplay gimmick or hazard to keep things fresh or interesting. One stage may have you playing around with different forms of bouncy goo while another has you being pulled along by grapple points attached to rails; there’s no predicting what gimmick may come next and even within a level, the developers find ways to surprise you with how that stage’s unique feature can be implemented. Levels are conveniently marked by difficulty, and the curve is exceptionally well judged; usually, the gimmicks introduced in the first three levels of a world are combined in the fourth level, demanding that the player apply everything they’ve learned in a final gauntlet before the boss at the end.
To add in some much welcome replayability, each stage is also littered with ‘Upgradium’ fragments that act as the main driver of character progression. These little rocks are almost always hidden in secret side-caves or at the end of a particularly difficult platforming section that’s separate from the main path; you’re almost sure to miss several of these in your first run through each level, encouraging you to go back and scour every corner. Upon completing a level, all Upgradium is dumped into Zahra’s upgrade path, with each new level gaining her a new skill or combat ability. When you get back to R.I.F.T. headquarters or to one of the many generous checkpoints scattered throughout the level, you can then choose to equip any three of the skills on offer, giving Zahra a range of potential ‘builds’ to run with. One ability helps her recover health faster, while another bolsters her energy reserves for special moves; though we would’ve liked to have seen a little more depth in the skills being offered, there’s still enough here to allow for plenty of mix and matching.
Though there’s potential in this idea, the skills system is sadly undermined by the weak combat mechanics; it’s neat that you can spec Zahra according to your playstyle, but the relative easiness and monotony of combat makes the differences in builds feel marginal. This, in turn, makes the overall character progression lose its allure; unlocking new upgrades by levelling up isn’t very exciting when you’re not feeling a noticeable bump in power or ability. The more we experimented with this whole RPG-lite system, the more it seemed like Double Cross would’ve been a much stronger game had it focused on pure platforming; these combat and skill systems are okay, but they don’t really add much to the experience and feel a bit out of place.
Speaking of 'out of place', there’s a rather forgettable investigation system underlying your progress through all the levels that feels tacked on and hinders one’s active enjoyment of the game. Upon completing most levels, Zahra will find some sort of item or document that offers up a clue about Suspect X and whatever conflict is happening locally in that dimension. That object you find must then be shown to one of the support characters back at headquarters to trigger a conversation that expands more on the item; after you’ve done this three or four times, the case file is complete and you unlock the boss level for that world.
It’s a cool idea that has some potential, but the implementation feels half-hearted and the concept is rather awkward in an action platformer. Considering there aren’t very many characters at headquarters to begin with, completing a case file usually becomes a simple game of trial and error where you show the item to characters that you think might have something to say until you finally find the right one; it doesn’t feel very rewarding, and it just gums up progression. For context, imagine if you defeated all the Robot Masters in a Mega Man game, but before you could take on Wily, you had to go to the lab and solve an easy but tedious puzzle segment centred around several dialogues with Roll, Auto, and Dr. Light. It’s a concept that could potentially be interesting if it had been fleshed out more as a side mode or as a separate game, but it feels jarring and ill-fitting in a title that clearly isn’t focused on that slower, more methodical pace.
Presentation is another aspect that disappoints somewhat, landing squarely in the realm of “good enough, but not great”. Though 13AM deserves credit for trying something other than the pixel style that so many indies are enamoured with these days, the existing art style could have used a bit of a tune-up. Though characters are strongly drawn, animations are choppy and environments feel lifeless and uninspired; we can’t think of any moment that Double Cross wowed us with its visual flair or sense of style. Like much of the rest of the game, the art style isn't terribly memorable; even if it doesn’t do anything that looks outright bad, there isn’t much here that sticks out in one’s mind. The same goes for the soundtrack, which consists of a rather bland, '80s-sounding sci-fi inspired set of tunes that adequately match the action, but without making much of an impression.
It bears mentioning, too, that we noticed some particularly rough performance issues, bugs and general blemishes that make Double Cross feel a bit sloppy. We ran into several instances (docked and undocked) where the framerate stuttered considerably, even when the action on screen didn’t seem to justify such a noticeable drop. There were a few instances, too, where we found ourselves trapped in a wall or some other level geometry and had to back out of a stage altogether to escape. It’s little problems and things like this, none of which are too significant on their own, that come together to make Double Cross feel rough around the edges.
Conclusion
We’d be lying if we said that Double Cross wasn’t disappointing; after the raucously enjoyable platforming offered up by Runbow, this is an underwhelming follow up that never manages to hit the same highs. Though Double Cross has an interesting premise and some exceptionally well-designed levels, it’s weighed down by a series of ho-hum gameplay elements that aren’t adequately fleshed out and give the overall experience something of an identity crisis. We’d give Double Cross a light recommendation for those of you that have enjoyed the likes of Mega Man 11 or Shantae: Half-Genie Hero; this is still an enjoyable side-scrolling adventure with some genuinely thrilling moments, but don't expect it to live long in your memory after you've finished it.
Comments 32
Oh... looks like I'm skipping out this time.
Yeah, the gameplay didn't look remarkable to me. Too bad, as I like the look of the game otherwise.
If we're talking Switch Mega Man clones, I had a ton of fun with 20XX.
6/10 should be "Meh" on NL instead of "Not Bad"
There's too many great games in this genre on Switch to spend time with merely okay ones. It's the reason I regret buying Xeodrifter and I will not buy this one, regardless of how cute the main character is.
Unfortunate. But I like platformers, especially those that go through the trouble of designing a female lead, so this will remain on my wishlist until it inevitably goes on sale. Might be a fun time for $10 or so.
@the8thark
Not sure if you're trying to troll, throwing a fit, or both.
Also, assuming it's the second option, I would recommend at least try offering some information to back up your claims about which games you believe are superior or inferior.
Sure, Mighty Gunvolt Burst is a fine game, from my experience. Better than Mega Man 11? Guess that boils down to opinion, rather than fact. 20XX? I don't know, because I haven't played it. I'm going to assume it's fun as lots of people tell me is.
One more thing: Perhaps go and play this game, and then come back to comment whether or not the review "is bogus." To me, it seems like a decent review. Personally, I might try the game sooner or later, and maybe it's potentially a "seven" or a "five", but you just seem to be a bit of a negative nancy to me.
Shame. I was looking forward to this one.
@__dave
"Better than Mega Man 11? Guess that boils down to opinion, rather than fact."
Not so. It's actually fact. MM11 is still an alright game but it's not as great some people claim it is. Easily 6 or 7/10 at the most for MM11. MM11 gets much of what makes a MM game so very wrong. I wrote up a decent piece about MM11 on one of the Digital Foundry videos as a comment. I think I'll copy and paste that here so you can see the facts.
I did disagree with DIgital Foundry's assessment of the game. The game from a tech standpoint is amazing, DF got that right. But as a game DF were totally wrong.
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I've played Mega Man 11 quite a bit now - Switch port. I believe the game is NOT a masterpiece at all. Taking the graphics out of the equation as the Switch port does a few of the jaggies, as expected. I'll explain in point form why I think MM11 is not a master piece.
I am saying John has a different opinion to me on this. Differing opinions are ok though, nothing wrong with that. I just want to share where his and my opinions differ.
1. Level design.
The game is teach by showing and not telling as John correctly says. However this takes the Battletoads NES and MM1 aproach and not the later MM games approach. By this I mean sure the levels get progressively harder and slowly more and more complex, however the punishment for making a mistake is most often instant death. Apart from the end stage boss robots, I found none of the game difficulties any different. A mistake equals instant death. Taking damage doesn't matter in itself in the main parts of the stage. The huge knockback from each hit often results in instant death.
This is not a me sucking at the game problem, I've beaten it now a few times. The issue is not once ever did I even come close to dying in a stage due to lack of health. Of cause the harder difficulty boss robots kicked my ass till I got good at them, but the stages themselves yeah. This ends up with the player just zerging the levels, getting as far as they can. Dying and then using the new information to get a little farther. Games like MM2, MM3 and MMX 1-4 did this but the puhishment was often just you lost level progress by being knocked off a ledge or just accumulating too much damage in the level so you died. I feel that's a better way to do it.
The level design in MM11 is a good concept that is poorly executed.
2. Enemy design.
Many of the enemies here feel like they are ripped straight out MM1. Just given a paint job but functionally the same. The whole idea of less enemies on screen but getting hit by them or their projectiles often leads you into spikes or a pit is there. Sure this was good for the 1980's and MM1. But we're in 2018 now surely Capcom can do better. Heck, even MM2 did this better. The early MMX games did this really well also. Hits cost you level progress not death and too many hit killed you. So you did not lose a life between every attempt at a part of the stage.
3. The dual weapon system.
The whole super power or super slow mode thing. For the casual player it feels many of the segments in the stages are designed with the super slow in mind. Sub bosses that create tiny gaps to stand in, in random places that you need heaps of practice to beat or just cheese with super slow. I do feel the better solution there is to widen the gaps a little, not use the super slow so you push the player to get better and better at the sub bosses. This does mean I am saying the super slow is compensating for poor sub boss design.
For the main boss robots I think the same is true, it's better to get the player to learn the boss patterns through lower difficulties and move up when the player gets better. The only difference would be higher difficulties equals more dagame taken. Essentially giving the player less hits before they die each time.
The super power on the other hand is good in theory but a simple sharging of the special weapons accomplishes the same thing and adds in a better and easier to manage risk/reward system. Want a powered up shot? You have to charge it and thus lose the ability to shoot while it's charging. Simple and works every time. Having to remember to turn on super power for the charged up shots is just annoying. Sure it's doable, just not as elegant. It makes the boss battles flow a litttle less well as you're looking for a point where you can spam a few powered up shots or just ignore it all together and just use standard shots.
Overall the dual weapon system is not needed at all in the game and hold the game back from better enemy design choices.
4. Level Aesthetics
The whole theme of each stage is all over the shop. The enemies, stage itself and music don't match up into one choesive unit. I believe this also involves the level design to an extent. It feels Capcom here just tried to make stages that fit the set on enemies they ahd already created instead of making unitque enemies that fit the theme of the stage.
Some examples of level aesthetics done well?
Bubble Man - MM2. You have a boss all about bubbles, ie water. The stage is fulled with waterfalls and a water section. Also all the enemies are appropriately themed. Frogs, prawns, jellyfish, hermit crabs etc etc. Even the music feels slighty like something assiciated with water. It's amazing how well that was done considering the poor soundchip tech the NES had.
5. Music
The music here is average at best. It does not go well with the aesthetic each stage is trying to portray. Secondly, they are way too complicated. FInally they don't have the verse and chorus sturcture that the better older MM tracks had. The older better tracks had a main part fo the track as well as hook or chorus, a little but that gave excitment while playing and prevented the track from sounding too repetative. None of this exists in MM11.
I will say this issue is not unique to MM9. The MM music on the whole had been getting worse as the years have gone by. It seems that once the limits on sound chip technology were gone Capcom just did what they wanted. Back in the day you had to prioritise good musical composition over sound tech because better sound tech didn't exist. Now the sound tech exists to make all sorts of wacky compositions. This does not mean you chould make them for MM games. The tracks should be simple, catchy, fit the theme of the stage and just be really fun to listen too. This was achieved on the NES, SNES and PS1 (to an extent). Capcom clearly didn't use the older games for musical inspiration. I think they should have.
My Overall Conclusions
MM11 to me feels like it's MM1.5 with a paint job and HD textures/models. I am refering to the NES game here. Many of the design issues that first game had are present in MM11. What Capcom should have done was look to MM2 and MM3 and made MM11 similar to those. I don't know what the fascination with MM1 is. MM1 is a game of it's time. Ok for the 1980's but that's it. MM2 improved the whole concept in so many ways. Most of what classic MM is, is based on things that originated in MM2.
MM11 is not a bad game at all. it's good, worth getting. It's just that, good. Not in anyway a masterpiece, apart from getting every port to be a smooth 60fps. That is improessive.
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@ExoticSquidy32
Don't discount a game just because you have read one review (here) of it. I've liked games NL have reviewed poorly and hated games NL have reviewed great. Not often but it has happened.
We need to remember that the reviews are opinions. Often their opinion of a game is vastly different from our own.
@the8thark you stole that last bit from @ElectricGhost
@VHSGLITCH
Please quote @ElectricGhost exact words so we can all see what you think I stole. I wrote it all on my own, but if it just happens to be similar to his, I'll admit that. Many ideas people have are often though up prior by others and giving a shout out to the other person is the right thing to do.
However only if that did happen. So please do provide a link what @ElectricGhost said so we can see exactly what he said. Provide the evidence to back up your claim.
@the8thark
I like your "article". I believe your points are true. Especially regarding the music. It actually applies for a lot of other game franchises as well. Don't get me started on Final Fantasy.
I did like Mega Man 1 very much though. I'm not sure if it's just because it was my first. Might be. But that yellow devil dude stands out as something special. The feel of accomplishment when taking out a boss, for some reason felt greater for me in that first game.
@Aneira
Some people like MM1 more than MM2, some like MM2 more. Personal preference I think. I think for the time MM1 was a good game. My first was actually MM3. However I do like MM2 and MM3 just as much.
I must say all of the different versions of the Yellow Devil still kick my ass in every Mega Man game. Most times I just get good and tank the hits. War of attrition and with the right special weapon I most of the time just come out on top. I think because it's so hard, actually beeating it feels so great.
The only other boss I found just a tough is the first (I think) Wiley castle boss in Mega Man and Bass. The one where you have to beat the boss while jumping from single square platform to single square platform. Easily the hardest boss in that game.
One of my favourite bosses ever is the Dragon in the castle Stage 1 of MM2. Not particularly hard. It can be easily beaten with the quick boomerrang or charged up heat man shots. I just think it's a fitting end to a very well done stage. That stage music doesn't really go with the stage though but . . . as a piece of music on it's own it's just so good that this doesn't matter. If you are not theming your music to fit with the stage, the piece has to be outright amazing. That done on a NES 3 sound/voice chipset? Nothing short of amazing musical composition there.
I do have to say MM1 is satisfying to beat. Even if it is one of the harder MM games to beat. Capcom has not worked out the 8 boss routine by then or maybe they didn't have the tech at the time to put 8 base robot stages in? I don't know.
Well, that's a shame. I thought that grapple system looked fun and that seems to be one of the few bright spots. I can't quite get why this keeps getting compared to Mega Man, though. You don't shoot, there aren't multiple weapons or taking boss weapons that lead to decisions about the order of levels. You can't switch weapons. Maybe it was the marketing?
The most disappointing part is that the investigation stuff didn't land, at least for this reviewer.
Seems like this one needed some more iteration on the combat, reworking the investigation, and just finding the fun.
Still sounds like a decent game, but maybe later when there are not so many alternatives that are so highly rated.
(It actually is a big step up in scope from Runbow and maybe a good step towards something better. I hope 13AM Games makes enough to continue to improve as a studio)
@the8thark
MM1 was a game I rented from a video store often. My first Mega Man game purchased with my own cash (yeah right, it was given to me) was actually MM2. I do like it more. MM3 was also great. I never got to play the 4+5+6 until a decade or two later when I found them on ebay. Still have them all today. I caress them from time to time like Gollum would have.
I was torn when I first saw this game as there things I like, like the Mega Man/Shantae inspiration, but then I just couldn't dig the presentation oddly. The investigation idea seemed okay enough but I dunno. I got so I take a look at my backlog and do my own comparisons, and if I can't find a more compelling or better done game in my backlog, I will add a game to it-- But this game just isn't it for me (I'd play Iconoclasts or 20XX faster, and the former now has a physical release coming).
@aaronsullivan It's the kind of game that could potentially result in an incredible sequel; all the pieces are there, they just don't really come together in a meaningful way.
shame that it got a 6. but, i do plan on getting it still though.
With Mega Man 11 being a thing I really have to ask "why this?"
Ahhh shame had high hopes of this one
Man i was actually going to get this. But January was packed for me so i held off. Glad i did
Something about the idea of an interdimensional cop that handles combat with punches and kicks rather than a laser gun or energy sword or some other futuristic weapon just feels odd to me. All the more so as this game's aesthetic overall really looks very "cartoon future" to me.
Oddly enough, it was the "from the makers of Runbow" rather than the 6/10 that'll cause me to pass on this one. I really wanted to like Runbow but it just wasn't meant to be. Not even close.
This sounds like a pretty good game to me. All of the negatives mentioned are only minor issues to me. The gameplay sounds to me like a pretty fun beat 'em up mixed with the acrobatics of "Ristar." What's not to like about that? Add to future Wishlist...
It looked kind of interesting. I'll have to check it out some more. Since I don't have lots of hours, or tons of financial resources to dedicate to games, I'm very picky about what games I get. But remember, my enjoyment, is not the same as others'.
@Capt_N I think you have every right to be picky. In this day and age of digital distribution and lowered barriers to making games, there's more quality content out there per week than we've ever seen in industry history. Mediocre doesn't cut it anymore; there's not enough time to even play all the great stuff, let alone the okay or 'not bad' stuff.
@SwitchVogel: "there's not enough time to even play all the great stuff, let alone the okay or 'not bad' stuff."
Whoever wrote this clearly has never play MegaMan before this game doesn’t feel anything like any MegaMan game. I have this game and I really enjoy it. I see a lot of people here basing their opinions on this game on one guys opinion? You can’t let a game review ruin the game. one person doesn’t like it there for everyone else to follow?
@VHSGLITCH Hey man, no need for personal attacks. Plus if @the8thark did steal @ElectricGhost's comment which I doubt, he would have say anything about it. But since @ElectricGhost has been inactive since December 15, 2018 and judging by your profile pic, I have reasons to believe you're ElectricGhost's new alt.
@Alantor28 I’m not Electric Ghost. 😂
@VHSGLITCH Well, you act like him and attack others for having a different opinion, plus before you changed your avatar, ElectricGhost has a edited avatar of Sakari's head on Thanos, so yeah, no use trying to lie.
That one girl looks like the girl mc in Mega Man ZX
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