Legend of Vraz

Platformers are definitely not as popular as they once were, but there are still plenty of examples out there that manage to get in front of triple-A games, due to original mechanics, or an impressive story. However, it is quite clear that most of them take after the classics, even if they coat everything into a new-age look and a veil of post-processing effects.

Legend of Vraz is not ashamed of its roots and it certainly does not try to hide them, since it is quite obvious that it took inspiration from classics like Prince of Persia and Super Mario. Hence, although the core mechanics and even the end goal might be extremely similar, the experience is what matters and there is plenty of content to enjoy, as well as great number of interesting levels to visit and beat.

The background story explains that you happen to be an Indian prince by the name of Vraz, who wants to marry the love of his life, Avi. Avi is also a princess, but her father wants to make sure that you are capable of taking care of her before accepting your marriage proposal. Thus, he sends you on a series of tasks, some of which are quite dangerous, even if they are meant to assert your skills and teach you a lesson or two.

Gameplay-wise, everything goes as you might expect from a title of this type, with you trying to navigate the intricate levels, avoiding the traps and killing everything that stands in front of you. The prince can use a bow to deal with his enemies, although there are plenty of power-ups that can be picked up along the way in order to enhance your abilities and easily dispatch with the smaller mobs.

Things are also good when it comes to the visual presentation of the game, since the graphics are quite gorgeous and well done. The environments might be two-dimensional and hand-drawn, but you can definitely see that a lot of effort went into their creation. Each level is different from the one before it and there are a lot of interesting locations to visit over the course of the campaign.

In the end, Legend of Vraz successfully manages to replicate the atmosphere of classic video games from the previous generation, while also keeping it rooted in the 21st century. The levels are quite fun and challenging, which should keep you playing until the very end of the story.