I remember playing Strider on the NES. It was a fun game that looked great but was frustratingly difficult. I also remember a lot of backtracking, heinous tubes, and an impossible jump inside a pyramid. I had high hopes for Moon Diver, the new co-op title developed by one of the creative minds behind Strider, Koichi Yotsui. With 22 years to improve on the original, I was eager to see how the gameplay had developed. As an awesome bonus, I could take three friends along for the ride.
Players are given four ninjas, or Moon Divers, to choose from. Their names are Seyfert, Hitori, Tolby, and Ourion, but you can call them Red Guy, Blue Guy, Yellow Guy, and Green Guy. One or two of them are, in fact, female, but it doesn't really matter. Each character has the same weapon swinging attack, speed, and jumping ability.
Where the Moon Divers differ from each other is how their powers progress through leveling up and their initial special abilities, called "MoonSault Combinations," or MC's. All four characters have the same three stats, Hit Points, Magic Points and Attack Power, but each character progresses through these stats at a different rate. For example, Red Guy earns HP and MP more quickly, while Green Guy earns Attack Power at a faster rate, etc. Players can choose where to spend skill points, but you get more skills for your points if you assign them to a character's strengths.
It's like Strider, only better.
The gameplay is incredibly fluid. Characters are very easy to control. Double jumps and wall crawling can be performed effortlessly. Players can flip between hanging or standing on most platforms with a simple up or down flick of the analog stick. These flip moves, as well as the double jumps, actually register as attacks, so players are constantly dealing damage with their character. Ducking, on the other hand, is performed by the left shoulder button, but if you're ducking, you're doing it wrong. The Moon Divers are whirling death dispensers. Use them appropriately.
Now someone come over here and walk into our Blue Beam of Beat Down.
Players are able to use any MoonSault Combo they find. MC's have many effects, including damaging, freezing, or blinding enemies. Others can buff or heal friends. Gold Orbs representing new MC's can be found throughout the nooks and crannies of the levels. Up to four special abilities can be equipped at the beginning of a stage. Each MC is selected by pushing a direction on the d-pad, and then executed with the circle button. Most of the MC's have multiplayer versions that you can find later in the game, and they are truly impressive to behold.
Mr. Glamour Shots here is responsible for all the maniacal mechanical shenanigans.
The story of Moon Diver could be summarized as "Move right, kill stuff, don't die." There are some anime stills with ridiculous lines such as, "All flights of fancy turn to reality," and "Beautiful. Worthless Humans. Kill them all." I'll admit, these are the opening lines. I skipped or forgot the cinematics after those gems. The twelve stages are titled thing like: "Day of Destruction," "Closed Paradise," and "Hades Opens." You will not be getting your literary fix from this game.
As a single player experience, Moon Diver begins to get difficult around the third stage. If you chain kill 50 enemies, you HP and MP are restored. Some enemy attacks sap your hit points quickly. If you die in a solo run, it's back to the stage select screen for you. The levels aren't too long, but it's frustrating to have to trek back through an entire stage just to be taken out by some boss's instant death attack. But you didn't come here for a single player review, did you?
Co-op is most definitely where it's at. Moon Diver is a much more enjoyable experience with a few friends. The game supports online co-op as well as local co-op. Unfortunately, it's either one or the other. You can't couch co-op with a friend and play with a couple of other pals across town. You can, however, play with four local players on a system. This is how Moon Diver was meant to be played. (Four players with supported voice chat is also good.)
Boss fights are a chore in single player, cake in co-op.
Whenever experience points and loot is involved, the first thing players want to know is, "Who gets what?" I'll break it down for you. In an online game, story progress only goes to the host player. So if you play Stage Eight online, but have only made it to Stage Three in your own game, you'll still only be able to select Stages One, Two, and Three in your game when your online session is over. Joining players keep whatever experience they earn, along with whatever MoonSault Combinations they pick up. Yes, it is a mad dash between players to pick up the little golden orbs that represent new MC's. It seems that some MC's are in fixed locations, while others only appear when certain requirements are met. If a player already has a particular MC, they can still pick it up. Don't be a jerk by double dipping.
In local co-op things are a little different. Since the PS3 only allows one player to sign in at a time, everything goes to Player One. For example: Player One plays as Red Guy and Player Two is Blue Guy. They both level up to level 10. Player Two is actually Player One's Blue Guy. If Player One comes back solo, he will have a leveled up Red and Blue Moon Diver. If Player Two signs in later, she will have jack crap. So any local players are just leveling up the host player's roster of Moon Divers. I don't know if this will be different on the Xbox 360 version of the game, since each player can sign in to a Gamertag. If it is, I'll update accordingly.
Just four cool ninjas hanging out in a stairwell, doing ninja stuff.
This may not be a big deal for some players, but for people looking to have their own roster of characters, it could dictate on which system they decide to purchase the game. It should be noted that you can reset a character's data in the main menu. This is a RESET, not a respec, which means it erases all the character's experience points and MC's.
Four Moon Divers are nigh invincible for the first half of the game. Droves of enemies fall at your slashing blades. Bosses shudder from your onslaught of MoonSault Combos. Players can heal and revive each other. When one player is incapacitated, they are bound by chains. Other players can hack at these bonds to free their downed comrade. If they are not cut free in a set amount of time they are removed from the game and have to wait ten seconds to respawn. All four characters have to die to get the old game over screen.
As good as the game is with friends, it becomes a manic mess with strangers. Even in online play, characters are forced onto one shared screen. The camera usually focuses on the most advanced Moon Diver, so slower players are left behind rather easily. Luckily, the game is incredibly forgiving for missing jumps. Players won't fall to their death. They just take a small amount of damage and are either warped to the other players, or given an opportunity to climb out of whatever hole they've found themselves in. This can leave slower players watching a "P2" with an arrow indicating their position for much of the platforming levels, and some internet players are speed demons. You can even have all four players use Blue Guy, but then it's just a clustersmurf.
The second time you see a cut scene you'll say to yourself, "Just frickin' heal me!" By the 347th time, you'll be legally insane.
The MoonSault Combo system is a double edged sword. More powerful MC's can use multiple players for an even more powerful effect. You initiate these by holding the circle button. An indicator icon will appear next to the other players, showing that you are trying to do a combo. As soon as they hit their own circle button the combo is executed. Some moves require all four players to participate for massive effects. Sadly, The MoonSault Combinations themselves can become a hindrance in co-op. Many of the MC's have little cut scenes that stop the action. If one player is spamming a cut scene MC, it really pulls you out of the game.
If you can see the lasers, you're already dead.
As I previously stated, four Moon Divers are a force of nature for the first half of the game. Then around stage six, the lasers show up. There are a few lasers in earlier levels, but these only hint at the world of pain you are about to experience. These blue lasers suck up hit points like something something Charlie Sheen, something something cocaine. You can try to rescue your friends, which of course puts you in the path of the very laser that just killed the hell out of them. The beams blast through platforms. There is no hiding. If you're playing the game single player you may as well just turn it off.
You are going to die. You can freeze the lazers, you can blind them, but there's alway more. What's over there? Lasers. What's around that corner? Corner lasers. What's for lunch? A laser sandwic. What if I just run through the level? Forget about it buddy. The designer of this game had a fever, and the only prescription was more laser. You could say the difficulty ramps up, if you call the 90 degree angle where the floor meets a wall a ramp. I'm sure the game is beatable, but so is a puppy, and I don't condone that.
If you are still on the fence, check out the above launch trailer. Yep, the music sounds like the opening of the Blade movie through out the game. The first half of Moon Diver is a blast with some friends, either locally or online. The game is still fun with strangers, as long as everyone is talking. Mute strangers won't do you much good, but are a shade better than going it alone. Eventually, Moon Diver follows too closely in its predecessor's footsteps. A prohibitive level of difficulty will turn off all but the most dedicated players. Sure, you could grind out levels and power up your character, but there's just too many other great games out there. If you are an action platformer fan who likes a good challenge, and have some like-minded friends, this may be the game for you. As you can see from the screenshots and the video, the game looks great. It plays better. It's just a matter of how much punishment you are willing to take.
Moon Diver is available now on the PSN for $14.99. It should be out later this month on the Xbox LIVE Arcade for 1200 MSP.