Xeodrifter builds on Renegade Kid’s Mutant Mudds to create a gritty, streamlined, miniature Metroid-like adventure. And it does so very well.
Miniature is the key word to set expectations. The game has four small planets to hop between, a meagre variety of enemies with basic behaviour, and the same boss fight repeated several times with a new wrinkle or attack pattern each time. As a compact experience that takes just a few hours, it’s perfect!
In classic Metroid style, you get new abilities (swimming, dashing, background/foreground swap, rocket jump, etc.) which open up exploration of the sidescrolling worlds. Health is scarce until you find the hidden blorps to extend it, and making a run for the next checkpoint is a real challenge of careful play.
The standout feature is the gun customisation; other kinds of blorps give you a gun point, which you can invest into changing how your shot behaves: faster, more powerful, different arc. Tapping the attributes up or down is a satisfying way to immediately change things up for the situation.
Gun toggles, background hopping, and the ever-present minimaps on the lower screen are all A-class features that highlight why this game is perfect and definitive on the 3DS, even though it’s available elsewhere. Its use of the dual screens is highly functional and no-frills, but still one of the best implementations I’ve seen to take advantage of them. And if you’re into stereoscopic 3D then swapping Z-layers fits the feature to a T, as it did in Mutant Mudds.
This really is a choice Metroid-esque game. At its budget price it’s easy to get on board with the brevity; and really, with today’s hectice modern lifestyles I welcome a short, contained experience.
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