Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider Reviews
Check out Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider Review Scores from trusted Critics below. With 22 reviews on CriticDB, Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider has a score of:
Moonrider’s ability to master the pacing and placement of level design from the period provides a platform to build a modern classic experience. It should come as no surprise that this is exactly what Moonrider offers. Developer JoyMasher has a rich pedigree in crafting modern retro with masterclasses like Blazing Chrome and Odaluss: The Dark Call. Every little aspect of their work feels like it has been wrapped with meticulous attention. Moonrider’s basic combat flows into the zippy movement, which in turn washes between the foes and hazards the player faces. It’s all so perfectly done.
Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is a fantastic game. It reminds you of how those old SNES and Genesis games were, enhanced with plenty of quality of life elements. If all your side scrolling melee retro games got together, and created a game in the lab of a maniacal government, it would be this. If you love retro 16-bit action games, you won't regret this. Cyber ninja vanish.
Not every game needs to reinvent the wheel in order to make a great impact. I’m thrilled that you think this particular title is a bold new take on deck-building, plant life simulation, and erotic exercises, but I’m seriously looking for a way to just lock in and turn off my brain today. It’s been a hell of a time at work, the world seems dreadfully unstable, and the idea of needing to get eyeballs deep in lore, mechanics, and nuance in order to play a god damn game is unsettlingly depl...
I can’t recommend the game to everyone, and maybe not even to most people. But I think it’s commendable in what it’s trying to do. And if you, like me, have fond memories of picking up games you knew nothing about based on weird art and a love of cyborg ninjas on motorcycles for no reason… this is the modern descendant of those, and it’s having a good go at it.
Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is a side-scrolling action platformer channeling the golden age of classic 16-bit action games in a refined, full-throttle quest for revenge.
Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider conjures the spirit of the golden age of 16-bit gaming. Everything from the graphics to the soundtrack perfectly recreates the essence of early '90s gaming, while the gameplay mechanics feel contemporary enough where it hits the sweet spot in blending modern with classic. The most important element that Moonrider recreated is making a modern 16-bit game that is just as fun and exciting as the titles that inspired it were back in their heyday. Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is a retro-inspired title that shows just how fun a trip to a dystopian future can be.
Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider isn’t content to just imitate the 16-bit masters, it is coming for their crowns.
If this story feels a little similar - a cybernetic soldier travelling around the world defeating evil 'robot masters' if you will - then the structure of Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider will come as no surprise. The player is able to choose from five levels in any order, much like the best from a Mega Man game, defeating the fellow super soldier at the end of the stage and gaining their signature weapon. Meanwhile, much like the Mega Man X games, there are secret upgrades to be found among the stages that the player can find, such as regenerating special weapon power or the ever-useful double jump.
Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is great in a lot of ways. Even if it stays almost too close to the Mega Man X formula, it still utilizes it well. The visuals and music are definite highlights that put this game apart, but it also just feels satisfying to play. The ride is over all-too-soon, but I’m happy to have taken it. It was another good challenge and we cut up tons of machines, fascists, and fascist machines along the way. More than that, I’d love to see some speedruns of this game because it looks ripe for excellent players to learn and master. If you want a decent action platformer to kick 2023 off with, you can’t go wrong with Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider.
Retro platformers are not hard to come by. I count myself among the group of video game players who welcome efforts from small development teams that play to our nostalgia for an era where playing video games meant tuning to channel 3. Some are fantastic, some are too hard to be enjoyable, but most land somewhere in the middle. Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider won’t go down in history as one of the greats that both embraces the past and modernizes the action, but I would place it closer to the fantastic side of the scale, even if it doesn’t quite make it all the way.
Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider has a lot of heart and very strong level design, but it's weakened by a low level of challenge.
While short and inconsistent in challenge, Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is a fun throwback to late 90s Japanese cyberpunk spectacle.
That’s going to be subjective, though. Even if it’s not going to be renting space in my mind, Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is a tight retro-inspired action game that I have very few gripes about. JoyMasher has already proven themselves with some solid titles, and Moonrider continues that trend. It doesn’t re-write the script for the games that inspired it, but it does a great job getting the mood across. If you enjoyed their previous titles, you can expect the same talent on display here. JoyMasher has stayed away from sequels so far, but if Moonrider got back on its bike, I’d happily scooch up behind it.
If you're in the mood for an enjoyable action-packed 16-bit campaign then Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is here to scratch your itch.
Rather than being a game for people who miss the old school ninja platformers of yesteryear, Moonrider feels more like a game made for the people who miss the idea of them. The game borrows liberally from its inspirations and combines them into a game that looks and plays the part just fine. It just doesn’t push itself or the player on a level that will fully satisfy people who still regularly enjoy the games it takes from.
We tell you, it’s a good game! It’s not average! It might have some problems here and there, but you must admit it is a “Good” game
Overall, Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is a stellar homage to 16-bit action platformers of the 1990s. Every detail in the game successfully recreates the feeling of playing an SNES side-scroller that demands high levels of concentration and technical skill. Aside from a few boss fights, the gameplay feels quick, fast, and exciting, despite being intentionally dated mechanically. The fact that this game intentionally limits itself to an imitation of older games might bother some players, and while more effort could have gone into expanding certain areas of the game, Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider stands on its pitch-perfect aesthetic and gameplay design and will most certainly appeal to die-hard fans of old school action games.
Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is a quick and powerful hit of retro action platformer nostalgia.
While there’s certainly nothing really off putting about Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider, it ultimately feels pretty derivative. It does an admirable job of conjuring up feelings and impressions of the 16-bit era, but it fails to push the envelope in any meaningful way. There’s no doubt that it’s a decent way to spend a couple hours as far as action-platformers go, and fans of the genre–particularly the retro-focused kind–will get a kick out of something so clearly paying homage. For my money, though, I’d have liked to see a few twists and a bit more risk taking with such a well-worn…
What do you get when you take elements from classic 2D platformers such as Ninja Gaiden (NES version), Mega Man, and several others? You get Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider, an action platform that's also a speedrunning game; that's what you get. JoyMasher's and The Arcade Crew's previous retro arcade game, Blazing…
Ninja hurdles.Some people, uncomfortable with their current surroundings, say they were born in the wrong decade. Well, Danilo Dias [...]
There’s nothing mind-blowing about Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider. And it perhaps doesn’t quite feel as tight or rewarding to play as JoyMasher’s previous game, the fantastic Blazing Chrome. But it’s a solid take on the classic action platformer, and is bound to entertain those who were around during the genre’s heyday, as well as newcomers keen on some challenging action.