Game EXP: Midnight: Deluxe (NS)

Disclaimer: I received Midnight: Deluxe free of charge from IndieGamerChick (who is not employed by either Petite Games or Ratalaika Games) with no expectation other than to play and talk about the game.  "Talk" was not a promise or expected promise of a good or positive review, only to talk about my personal experience playing the game.

Today we are having a special Game EXP article because of 2018 IndieXmas run by IndieGamerChick over at her site.  During IndieXmas2018, game codes are handed out (free of charge) to help spread word of mouth (good or bad) about indie games released on all systems far and wide, except maybe the Jaguar and N-Gage.  So, this Game EXP article is looking at Midnight: Deluxe on the Nintendo Switch, although it is also available on other systems, but I am going to exclusively talk about it on the Switch.

The first thing that struck me about M:D, was that the game was described as being a golf-type game where you slingshot your illuminated block (whose name is Midnight) through a puzzle-type screen towards the goal.  My first thought was, "Okay, so golf meets Angry Birds, I can do this."  Then it took me a couple of minutes to figure out the control scheme, even though the opening level has on screen text about how to fire/shoot.  Since I still had Angry Birds in mind, I thought that you had to pull back and fire to send Midnight flying.  A couple of minutes later, I realized that you do not pull back, but instead point in the direction you want to go.  After feeling frustrated at not being able to play what seemed like a rather simplistic game for a minute, I felt a bit like an idiot.

With the Switch version of the game, developers Petite Games added touch screen functionality, which I thought was a brilliant move that makes the Switch version feel all the more exclusive.  However, after the first level, I instinctively used the attached Joy-Cons and not the swiping motion on the touch screen.  There were times that I did try to use the touch screen controls, but with the frequency that I needed to restart a stage (upon deciding that I shot myself into a bad situation, or just generally tried to improve the number of shots I took each level), I did not see any other option but to hit the X button.

And I hit that X button a lot, especially in that first screen shot, which is from the 3rd level in the game.  And the biggest distracting thing about having to constantly hit the X button and restarting a stage, was that the music in the background would start a new song.  I do not know if this was meant as a deterrent from manually restarting, but even when Midnight died (overshooting off-screen in certain stages, falling/flying into buzz saws, landing on spiked fences, or being hit by serrated spinning sword blade-things) the music would change.  This problem for me, and even Conklederp commented on the abruptness of the change, was that there might have been upwards of 10 songs, which all sounded very calming and serene, but when stages last maybe 10 seconds when completed accurately, only hearing 1.5 seconds of a song before restarting to then hear a new song for 2.5 seconds got a little weary on my brain-ears.

In the end, I do not know how much time I spent playing (due to the Switch not presenting that until after a certain amount of days past), but by the end of Level 46 of 70 stages complete (having 51.47% of the game completed), I felt like I was reaching a Super Meat Boy level of difficulty that I do not know if I was ready for.  On most of the levels, I did replay them in order to get two stars or higher (fewer launches means more stars, you know, like golf), mainly because I felt like achieving only one star was only skirting by and only putting the bare minimum into the game.  And after 46 levels, I felt like I had genuinely played the game and that the remaining 19 levels would have felt like a slog.  Maybe there was more innovation after that 51st level, but it started to feel like all of the levels after 50 (the one I played) were there to pad out the game.  

I might come back at a later date and finish those remaining 24 levels, but for now, I have played  through 65.7% of the levels in Midnight: Deluxe earning 78.8% of the stars, which is not too bad after one night of game play.  And most importantly, it was a fun game.  Now Petite Games just needs to fix the issue with the music and I would have no major complaints.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
I Saw the Danger, Yet I Walked