Retro Review - Astal

Once again we are facing a fairly conventional platform game, but what differentiates it from other games of the same genre is its graphics, which I consider to be quite good, flashy and colorful, but in general terms it is not a game that innovates in practically nothing with respect to its mechanics and gameplay, but it is still very worth playing.

Today's Retro Review is about: Astal.

The story of this game, although in general terms it is the classic where we must save someone, has a small background that makes it quite interesting and peculiar. At the beginning of the game we are introduced to the world of Quartalia, which is a world where magic is found in every corner, this magical and fantasy world was created by a goddess named Antowas, which in addition to creating this wonderful world created through two jewels created Leda, whose purpose in this new world is that things in this place are kept alive and using the second jewel created the protagonist of this game: Astal, he has the purpose of taking care of Leda at all costs.

After having created this world and its two inhabitants, the goddess took a well-deserved rest, with which the main villain of this game, Jerado, took this opportunity to take over the entire planet and to fulfill his goal, Jerado created Geist, a powerful warrior who was assigned the mission of kidnapping Leda, a mission that was accomplished with great ease, confining Leda to the bottom of the ocean. This act completely infuriated Astal, whose mission was to protect her. Astal went in search of Leda, but with the fury he had caused a total disaster to the planet Quartalia, due to the action of Astal, the goddess who was asleep, woke up and seeing the chaos and destruction caused by one of his creations, confined him in a prison. And with the chaos resolved, the goddess Antowas, went back to sleep because again she had completely spent her strength, this opportunity was again taken advantage of by Jerado and Geist, who not having the goddess and Astal as obstacles, took over the entire planet, spreading destruction and terror to their surroundings. Now Astal must escape from his prison, save Leda and save his planet Quartalia. As I said, this game is the classic "save the princess" story but with some very interesting and peculiar elements.

Graphically it is an outstanding game, a game where color is part of the personality and charisma that transmits this game. Its scenarios, are totally unique, varied and very well decorated, many of them with elements that look like handmade drawings, Astal is an extremely beautiful game in its graphic, artistic and visual section. Many of the scenarios are worthy of being from another world, in most elements such as "crystal" are the main protagonist and decorate the entire environment very well. It is a game entirely in 2D but with certain elements and effects that make some things look in 3D, although they are only visual tricks, but still looks spectacular.

One aspect that also highlights this game are its backgrounds, as they have many details and gives a lot of depth to the scenarios in which we find ourselves. Many of the scenarios could easily be a wallpaper that you could put on your PC. The character designs are unique, our main protagonist has a very particular design, original and that makes him look quite "tough", an aspect that fits very well with the personality of Astal. Our enemies are very varied, with crazy designs, strange in some cases, but very original and unique. Astal is a 10/10 game in terms of graphics, it is simply spectacular.

The music in this game is correct and accurate according to the scenario in which we find ourselves, with different rhythms and musical tones, Astal has a soundtrack that fits very well with each place we go. In general terms Astal has a more than decent soundtrack, most of its melodies are very good and although not all are in a high quality, as some of these melodies can be considered as "regular", despite this small detail all other elements complement each other very well in much of the game. It has digital voices that are pretty good, they are nothing spectacular but it is an addition that gives personality to this game.

After an anime-style introduction, which despite having aged a bit with the passing of time, is undoubtedly a little gem that maintains its great charisma, we enter into this new adventure. As I mentioned before, Astal is a very conventional platform game, in which we must advance through side-scrolling scenarios, while overcoming obstacles using our best jumping skills and great agility, in addition to defeating the enemies that we have on our way.

To defeat our enemies Astal will be able to jump over them, hit them, hold them and throw them through the air making them crash against the ground or against other enemies, blowing air against them or holding objects on the stage and use them as projectiles, plus just starting the story we will have the help of a bird that will serve as support, This is quite useful, but also quite basic, since this is the only thing that Astal offers us in terms of gameplay, very simple, very basic, but also very intuitive and extremely easy to learn, but still, despite its simplicity, it is a very entertaining game and worth playing.

It is a game that is not long, has a relatively short duration, which perhaps in 1 hour we can complete it, plus it is a fairly linear game and does not offer other elements such as exploration or other elements that add playable value, however, it is a game that knows how to shine by itself despite this "simplicity".

Astal is an excellent game, graphically beautiful but simple in terms of mechanics and gameplay in general, but very worth playing, it's entertaining and graphically it's a marvel.