Shio Demo

Jumping over obstacles and navigating tough levels are the most important elements in platformers, and sometimes they are actually the only elements. However, even if the whole point of a platformer is to be as simple as possible, it’s still important for it to be challenging, otherwise the constant jumping gets a bit too repetitive and annoying.

Shio is a 2D platformer in which you play the role of a mysterious warrior as he tries to make his way across all sorts of annoying environments full of traps. There are not many original elements along the way, so if you are a fan of the genre you have probably seen it all before somewhere else. On the other hand, the overall experience is fairly polished and enjoyable, and the graphics are nice as well.

The whole thing takes place in an oriental setting, although the story is far from important in the grand scheme of things, even if there’s a fair bit of mystery regarding the main character. However, the most important element is the difficulty level, because it takes quite a bit of concentration to navigate the tricky levels and keep up with the fast pace of the game.

The mechanics get tougher as you manage to advance, but don’t expect anything out of the ordinary in this regard. Even so, the fact that you have to react quicker and quicker to various traps keeps you busy, not to mention the fact that most of the time you have to keep performing long and precise jumps in order to stay alive. The slightest mistake usually sends you straight into a sea of deadly spikes, so it’s certainly a challenging experience.

As for the graphics, the environments get a tad repetitive after a while, but the colorful artwork is very calming and enjoyable, even if there’s not much variety in the backgrounds. The animations are nice as well, not to mention the neat oriental style that decorates everything around you. Even the music is in tune with the atmosphere, which is always good news.

Shio is obviously not a jewel of the genre, given the fact that it doesn’t bring any new elements to the table, but at least it’s fun and challenging. It also features nice graphics and very polished and responsive controls.