At first glance, I was ecstatic about Fox n Forests. This is a 16-bit style side scrolling adventure that screams Sega Genesis or Super Nintendo platformer. This was the generation that started me down the road of gaming. My chance to feel like a kid again. But I was forewarned about this. Fellow Handsome Phantom, Phil Neyman recently wrote about how our “Nostalgia Is Lying To Us“. Remakes and remasters are never how we remember them and we run the risk of major disappointment by attempting to rekindle the past. Well, that was exactly what developer Bonus Level Entertainment was trying to pull off with Fox n Forests. While not a remake or remaster per se, it does pay direct homage to classic titles from the 16-bit era on which so many of us grew up. It succeeds in some respects with a bit of enjoyable platforming and a unique season changing ability. But for the most part, you were right, Phil.
The player assumes the control of a “naughty little fox” named Rick. In Rick’s greedy search for gold, treasures, and seasoned meals, he stumbles upon Patty the Partridge. Patty leads Rick to the Season Tree and they both convince Rick to aid them in their search for the Tree’s four missing pieces of magical bark. The Season Tree had the bark stolen by a mysterious force and needs these pieces to restore time and the proper fluctuation of seasons within the forests. Rick is granted the Power of the Seasons and a Magical Melee Crossbow as he departs on his quest. It all sounds ridiculous as I type it and as you read it – but let’s not forget the story lines that accompanied Sonic the Hedgehog and Asterix & The Great Rescue. This is not why we’re here.
The main tool in Rick’s arsenal of attacks is the Crossbow. It allows Rick to quickly dispatch enemies at range that litter the map. To begin, the Crossbow can be used with a single attack that can take out most baddies with one shot. As you restore the pieces of bark to the Season Tree you’re granted new shots and power ups for your bow. A green power up acts as a spread shot in three directions and can knock out flying enemies or those standing on perches. The red power up fires higher power bolts at a rapid pace. There are more to offer and each shot uses up a bit of your mana, so these can’t be spammed to run through stages. Rick also utilizes a melee attack which you’ll be using more often than you like. The game limits your ability to using the Crossbow only when you have Rick in the standing position. When crouched or jumping, the melee attack is the only option. It looks cool, especially to take out pesky flying bats using a spinning pirouette during mid double jump. But I can’t help but feel like this is a movement limitation simply to create artificial challenge. We’re dealing with a Fox that can double jump but can’t fire a magic crossbow in mid air.
Rick can also employ the use of potions to unleash area attacks that impressively fill the screen and take out several enemies in one shot. These can be used once per level and include element types such as fire, electric, soul, and others. Potions are stored in bottles found in levels and can only be refilled from a hub world known as the Forest Plaza. This hub also houses an Upgrade Booth and an Armory. The Upgrade Booth allows players to trade a combination of coins and hidden collectibles for health and mana upgrades while the Armory has on offer enhanced melee attacks. These hubs offer a way for players to vary their arsenal and abilities but can be mostly ignored. I rarely found a spot in the game where using a potion was the best course of action and the starting mana bar is mostly enough to get you through levels as long as you pay attention to it. Health upgrades are convenient, but with checkpoints found constantly throughout levels, the penalty for death is minuscule.
Fox n Forests’ party piece is the Power of the Seasons. It grants Rick the ability to jump between two seasons within a given stage. The stage has a default season, be it summer, fall or winter and Rick can change to an opposing season at will. When the season is switched, it will drain the mana meter. This is the same previously mentioned meter that is depleted with uses of powered up Crossbow shots, so players will need to balance their uses of power shots and changing seasons. It’s not difficult to forget that you’re in alternate season mode and using up the meter. It’s also not fun standing around waiting it for it to replenish so Rick can progress. Luckily the meter can be refilled with blue gems found scattered throughout stages. These gems are sparse, but seem to appear right when you need them most.
Power of the Seasons is put to extensive use in Fox n Forests. Rick will switch seasons primarily as a means to traverse through levels. This is a fox that cannot swim. Thus, when Rick comes to a body of water, he switches to winter and when the water is frozen and he can easily cross. Rick will also have a hard time clambering over small structures covered in thorny vines. Switch from fall to spring, and the bushes are covered in leaves and absent of spikes. Rick can also use this ability to attack certain enemies. Electric eels will fly out of small ponds and Rick can switch to winter causing the eels to crash to the ice and perish. It comes in handy in a very creative way during one boss fight in particular that I won’t spoil here. Power of the Seasons uses are varied and a unique aspect of the game. It’s exciting to see how the landscape can be transformed when you reach a new area of the forest or encounter an unfamiliar obstacle.
Where Fox n Forests stumbles is in its requirements for progression. Simply clearing stages and beating an area boss aren’t enough. While this will get you a new power shot for the Crossbow, it will not open up new levels to move through. Instead, players must collect enough magic seeds from levels to allow the Season Tree’s seedlings to grow. The first tree requires four seeds, the second requires twelve and so on. It sounds simple enough – each level has five total seeds to collect and this can be done by uncovering hidden or previously inaccessible areas. The trouble is that many of these areas can only be unlocked by using new powered up Crossbow shots to unlock them. Colored targets (green, red and blue) can be found around levels and spawn new platforms or entry ways when hit by the corresponding Crossbow shots. This means the player is required to revisit levels multiple times with new their new Crossbow powers to uncover all of the seeds required. And these aren’t brand new massive areas of a level that are uncovered a la Super Metroid. This is often a tiny hidden cavern with one chest, or a platform passage that lay above the main area you’ve already been through with a couple of extra enemies. Possibly the worst part about all of this is that once you collect any new seeds, you aren’t able to quit out of the level without losing any additional collectibles or coins. Rick has to carry on the entire level to completion. These aren’t short levels. In the first two hours I played the game, I did the entire first and second level three times in search of seeds.
The monotonous repetition absolutely killed any enjoyment I had in the game. The thrill of beating an area boss quickly vanished as I realized it was now time to go back and replay the same levels once again. The addition of collectibles should tease the player into trying to get to them and provide just enough of a hint as to how they can be reached. This makes it so that when that new ability is finally unlocked, the first thing that comes to mind is “I can go back and get that thing now!” and Mega Man did this brilliantly. But Fox n Forests shoves this task down your throat, and forces you to do it so many times that you’ll come to memorize levels for all the wrong reasons.
Recommendation: Fox n Forests did what I wanted it to. It reminded me of what it was like to sit in my room as a kid on my Sega Genesis for hours mastering jumps and attacks as I mashed away my controller in Vectorman or Altered Beast. I remember feeling frustration at those games but that was tied to mounting difficulty and a game over screen. The frustration with Fox n Forests comes from boring repetition and a lazy approach to progression. It’s a shame – there are unique mechanics at play and some pretty fun platforming. The game just doesn’t hold up to keep players around for long.
Fox n Forests releases on Steam on Thursday May 17th, 2018.
Fox n Forests was provided to the reviewer by the publishing company but this fact did not alter the reviewer’s opinion.
Check out our Review Guide to see what we criteria we use to score games.
