Headlander Reviews
Headlander is a unexpected but pleasant title that has rekindled my interest in 2D side-scrollers. The title is both familiar and wholly unique, and the main mechanic of Headlanding is entertaining and intuitive. A sleek and stylistic design matched with an incredible attention to detail more than make up for any frustrations with the game’s combat or puzzles.
Headlander doesn’t rise above the genre in every respect, but it honors it and enhances it through clever gameplay and inventive new mechanics. It succeeds because it adds a wonderful new spin to the action-adventure side-scroller while maintaining a distinct aesthetic and personality. It’s quirky and fun with a big dose of silly humor. Fans of the genre shouldn’t miss it.
By narrowing their focus, Double Fine have crafted probably their most cohesive and mechanically sound game to date, one that takes its gimmicky concept and executes it to perfection.
"yet another game that strengthens the standing of Double Fine as pioneers in eccentricity, one of the few developers respectfully willing to pay attention to their bizarre ideas"
Headlander isn’t a lost cause, yet Double Fine should have done a couple more reinventions on the drawing board before they let this one loose. The main idea is intriguing and might convince some dedicated players to go all the way through, but to anyone else it will be a drag with some laughter, but mostly tedium.
Headlander continues to demonstrate that simplicity isn’t necessarily a bad thing with its upgrade system. While most games in the genre have you picking up dozens of different powers to get to new areas, Headlander only has a few, making many areas accessible early and eliminating the need for lots of backtracking.
Headlander is one of my favorite games of the year. It is beautiful, plays fluidly, has an interesting story, rewards exploration and is just plain fun.
Headlander is a lightweight Metroidvania. Aim problems are annoying at some points, but they do not take away the fun, and the main mechanics of owning the bodies with the helmet generate as many intense battles as moderately well-thought-out puzzles. Although the story itself is not the main highlight of the title, it certainly was a joy to experience because of the comical dialogues of the characters that interact with the protagonist. Going through rooms such as the "High Five Lounge" or "Rings of UrAnus" translate the light spirit of this adventure with incredible ''retro-futuristic'' visuals.
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