Finding and freeing him in each level allows players to access the game’s final area and see the good ending illustration at the end. Balzac is extremely helpful during the game’s two shooter levels, but is a hapless captive for the rest of the game. The other thing to be on the lookout for is Serena’s wayward friend, Balzac. The number of upgrades is also higher than the number of times one as the opportunity to purchase them, meaning players can change the feel of the game depending on whether they want to prioritize more firepower or better defense. Some of the levels are actually fairly straight forward, and poking around trying to find both the coin and shop in each one (along with fighting more enemies to earn enough points to actually by the upgrades) adds a light exploration element to the game reminiscent of Turrican and other side-scrollers in the 80s and early 90s but often missing from the nostalgic modern games they inspire.
#Ultionus a tale of petty revenge mega upgrade#
Each upgrade can either allow Serena to take extra damage or drastically improve her laser gun. These can be found in shops that have to be unlocked by finding a coin hidden somewhere in four of the game’s levels. Serena also has a few tricks up her sleeve via some upgrades that can be purchased throughout the game. Fortunately, like in older Castlevania games players can attack while in mid-air, and then immediately again after touching the ground, making it possible to cut through some of the game’s more durable enemies without losing much momentum or getting overwhelmed. An easy difficulty mode is available that fixes this and makes the game more fun, though it also gives the player infinite lives. The slow rate of fire combined with even the weakest enemies taking two hits to defeat on the game’s default difficulty can make the game a bit tedious to play. Not unusual for a computer game from the mid 80s, but it can be frustrating in a game like Ultionus which features more enemies on the screen to deal with at a given time as well as a very slow rate of fire for Serena’s laser pistol.
The biggest of these is that Serena cannot move and shoot at the same time. Ultionus also has enough effort put into its level design to make Phantis completely obsolete, though it still carries over some of that game’s flaws.
In making Serena the protagonist and removing the kidnapping completely, however, Bado has found a good compromise between homaging the aesthetics of the era in which games like Game Over were made while discarding some of the dumber elements of their presentation. While Game Over II‘s cover features the first game’s formerly captive princess as its new heroine, in the game itself she is changed to resemble a generic guy in a spacesuit to match the original Game Over. If something seems oddly familiar to about Ultionus and Phantis even to players who have never heard of the latter, it’s because outside of Spain Phantis was renamed and marketed as the sequel to a mediocre Dinamic shooter named Game Over. Unfortunately, said troll is a powerful and foppish warlord known as the Star Prince, meaning lots of resistance for Serena S as she attacks this hostile world. In Ultionus, however, A Petty Tale of Revenge is a suitable subtitle, as Serena’s attack is inspired not by loyalty or romance, but by an internet troll. Phantis‘s protagonist single handedly assaults a dangerous planet to exact revenge and rescue her captive boyfriend. The game’s heroine, Serena S, is also inspired by Phantis‘s female heroine, but her motivations have changed. Bado has worked as a pixel artist for several years, most prominently with GameLoft and WayForward. It’s vibrant, with a good variety of detail and unique backgrounds, thanks to long time artist Andrew Bado. However, while still a short game, it’s significantly larger than Phantis‘s abbreviated adventure.
Those who have played the original game will find the design of the main character along with many of the game’s enemies and scenarios to be very familiar.
Ultionus: A Petty Tale of Revenge looks like a typical attempt at a retro platformer at a glance, but it actually began life as a direct remake of the old Spanish Dinamic computer game Phantis.
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