Last month Cuphead was released and I could not wait to play it. I had originally seen a trailer for it back in 2015, and what really got me excited was that it looked like an old cartoon from 30's but instead of just watching it I could be part of it. The game was created by Studio MDHR. The company is run by brothers Chad & Jared Moldenhauer. It is worth noting a few things about Studio MDHR; this is their first game, the game took less than 20 people to create and in less than 2 weeks of it being released over a million copies sold. That in my eyes is pretty damn impressive.
One of my favorite sweets growing up were Blackjacks and Fruit Salads - for those of you who have not tried them they are chewy sweets with lots of sugar in them. One tastes like aniseed & stains your mouth & teeth black, the other taste fruity and...well that's it. While there are many other sweets I like more, eating them now reminds me of my childhood which brings back happy memories. Playing Cuphead I found myself asking, was this a nice memory of my childhood or a bad one like when I used to work in a local shop and cut off a chunk of my finger on the first day?
Story
The story is simple and a little scary - it has one very clear message: 'don't make a deal with the devil'. Also, don't gamble. Cuphead & Mugman love to play dice at the casino, and one day they are doing so well that they make a deal with the devil - you can imagine how that goes down. Naturally, not wanting to lose their souls they plead with the devil to spare them - he agrees if they are willing to collect the souls of some other debtors. Without hesitation, they set off on their journey to collect some souls.
I liked the simplicity of the story and the moral lessons that were in it. There is really something to be said for un-convoluted storylines - don't get me wrong I love a well layered story but sometimes simplicity is key, as this game proves.
Visuals
The game is visually stunning, it is a hand-drawn masterpiece and I can truly understand why it took so long for the game to be released. Everything looks so good in it; from the mini-map, that reminded me of Super Marioland 2 Six Golden Coins on Gameboy (which I may get my hands on again next week), to the random characters you can talk to in the world, to the bosses themselves. It is hard to pick favorites but the three most visually impressive enemies were:
- Cagney Carnation (see above), who has a Marioesque look & feel to him
- Captain Brineybeard who is able to command warriors of the sea to attack you including an octopus, shark & an army of dogfish
- The Wraith Train which is just a lot of fun & perfect for Halloween.
Visually speaking it is almost impossible to flaw it, with one minor exception, - occasionally the foreground covers important parts of the screen which adds a challenge which is unneeded and can be a little frustrating.
Music
The music in the game has a distinctly Big Band sound. This works really well especially considering the popularity of that genre in the 1930's. The Canadian composer, percussionist & drummer Kristofer Maddigan is behind the game's musical score. He has played with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, The Thunder-Bay Symphony along with a number of other groups. His own band is called Lazerblade, I listened to the album Message to Earth which has a hugely varied sound & covers many genres including; electronica, dance, jazz & rock.
The score is just shy of three hours & I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it. I thought it was a nice touch that they released the entire score on 4 LPs, although if you do want to purchase it you will have to part with over €100. A really solid score with some great pieces of music, my favorites included; 'Introduction', 'Forest Follies', 'Die House', 'Treetop Trouble', 'Floral Fury', 'Aviary Action', 'Inkwell Isle 1 (Piano)', 'Inkwell Isle 3' (ah yeah) & 'Fiery Frolic'.
Gameplay
Time to look at the gameplay; the good, the bad & the ugly. Cuphead is an old school run & gun game that borrows from games such as Metal Slug, Contra & Gunstar Heroes. As with any run & gun game, your weapons and abilities are the key to guaranteeing success. I won't go through all of them, I will just mention some of my personal favorites which include:
- The peashooter which is better than it sounds, chaser which is exactly what it sounds like
- The smoke bomb which allows you to dash without taking damage & there is
- A cool superbeam that you can shoot from your head which does a ton of damage
The game is basically continuous boss fights, which may sound like a complaint but it isn't. In fact, I got so into the boss fights so much that the small side levels felt like a distraction from my next debt collection. The bosses in this game can be tough - really tough, but if you can learn their pattern and choose the right weapons you will triumph. My favorites bosses in terms of gameplay were:
- Wally Warbles, a cuckoo clock with a real bird it who is pretty tough
- The Wraith Train, exactly what it sounds like filled with plenty of ghouls and ghosts
- Cagney Carnation, one of the most terrifying plants I have ever seen (see GIF above)
- Captain Brineybeard, a pirate with the abilities of Aqua-man and an angry ship
- Grim Matchstick, a firebreathing pain that makes three heads much worse than one
- Sally Stageplay, which just felt like sheer endurance by the end of it
- Dr. Khal's Robot that was, well, really annoying
Of course, I would have to add Mr. Dice as you have to run a gauntlet of mini-bosses trying to keep all your health to take him on & beat his pain in the ass card walking move. Until the last two bosses, I thought the game was tough but fair but Mr. Dice really took a bit of joy out of the game for me.
There are few more minor things I liked and didn't like. Two things I really liked were the random encounters with other characters including your ancestor and I thought it was funny the way Cuphead pulls up his pants at the start of each fight. The minor thing was the aforementioned extra challenge created by obscured foregrounds - especially when taking on Mr. Dice I found this to be the case a few times.
Something really bad happened when I played the final boss. First time I refused to hand him the contracts and decided to fight him. I got killed a few times and decided to change my weapons and abilities before trying again but I decided to do one thing different this time. I thought "how about I give him the contracts", I did, no boss battle and the credits roll. Naturally, I loaded up the game to try the other ending, I was put outside the casino and Mr. Dice was not beaten and none of the bosses I had fought from the beginning showed as completed and as an added bonus all my weapons were gone but they did leave me with one coin. Based on what I have read online this should not have happened.
Overall the gameplay was good, the challenge of Mr. Dice and losing all my progress after selecting the bad ending really soured me. While I could go back through & try it all over again I just don't have it in me right now but who knows what the future might bring.
Final Thoughts
After 20 plus hours how did I feel? Mostly happy, it was interesting and for the most part it was fun, there were some great designs and some really good music. It would have been better if I had not been screwed at the end losing all my progress if Mr. Dice had not been so annoying and parry was a little more reliable. Complaints aside there were lots of good times, because of that, the visuals and the music I am going to give this one 4 out of 5.
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