After a few convention appearances, Super Alloy Crush has finally landed into player’s hands. Although the game is only partway through production, its demo showcases a lot of potential to be a stand-out in the action platformer genre. Super Alloy Crush gives plenty of polish to its best features, and only shows a few drawbacks so far.
Super Alloy Crush’s Demo is Short but Sweet
Performance issues can often slip under the radar before a game is ready to launch, but Super Alloy Crush was completely bug-free in my experience. I only encountered a single issue of this variety, and ironically enough, it was before I even started playing. My computer’s antivirus tried to swat Super Alloy Crush as it was booting up, but ultimately gave it the go-ahead. Either way, this inoffensive hiccup should be easy enough to resolve. Once I actually managed to get into the game, Super Alloy Crush was a blast from the get-go. Players are treated to a stylish character select screen with two options to pick from. One is an android cat girl that brawls up close, while the other is a human in a full-on mini mech suit that packs all sorts of sci-fi firearms. Naturally, I gave both characters a try.
Muu, the brawler, definitely feels like the model the game was designed around. Muu offers a metric ton of flashy melee attacks that feel incredible to string together, especially when you get a juggle going. Although there may not seem to be a lot of depth to combat at first, there’s still plenty of room to experiment and enjoy yourself while you mow down enemies. Although Muu is more well-suited to the game’s beat-em-up roots, her counterpart, Kelly, manages to match her with his explosive arsenal. Kelly specializes in mid-to-long range combat, which I worried may quickly turn into a stale game of keep away. However, similar to Muu, Kelly simply offers too many different ways to fight to truly become boring. Kelly’s fighting style may be a bit novel, but his Kamen Rider-esque design feels right at home in Super Alloy Crush. Muu admittedly fits even better with the game’s cyber anime aesthetic, although I personally found her jiggle physics to be a bit egregious. Aside from that, the game’s sense of style is absolutely stellar from top to bottom.
After choosing either character, there is a brief tutorial before being launched into the one level available for the demo. I actually discovered that the tutorial can be skipped in its entirety by simply walking left instead of right, the universal direction for “forward” in platformers like this. Playable levels shared a similar approach, with plenty of hidden corners to indulge player curiosity. Admittedly, I wish there were more tangible rewards for seeking out these secrets.
Super Alloy Crush Still Has Room for Improvement
Super Alloy Crush does spare just a few expenses, most of which are hopefully simple enough to spruce up. For one, there’s a story cutscene players have to endure before getting into the game. I only say “endure” because it really does feel way too long. I would personally think this glacial pacing is owed to the cutscene lacking the same kind of flair that the rest of the game boasts. Voice acting would certainly be a tall order, but there are simpler ways to make this section feel more alive. Namely, even a screen shake or any kind of sound effects would go a long way. Super Alloy Crush’s music is great during gameplay, so why not add a dose of that energy here?
I have a bit of a hard time seeing where the game could be going from here, mechanically speaking. Muu and Kelly seem to have pretty complete kits already, and since there’s nowhere to spend any in-game currency in the demo, exploring around levels feels pretty pointless. Moving around is a ton of fun, especially thanks to the dash and double jump, but it feels like the best way to play would be to run right to the boss and ignore everything else. I also take a bit of umbrage with the occasional invisible wall, and the lack of a wall jump, but those are nitpicks. The true problem seems to lie in the enemies’ inability to provide any real challenge. The only exception is in the demo’s featured boss battle, but even the challenge there is mostly thanks to its yellow health bars being very difficult to see against the backdrop of raging fire.
In all fairness, the apparent lack of enemy intelligence may be forgiven since the demo only seems to showcase the opening level. However, that would only make it more disappointing if this trend continues in the finished game. Super Alloy Crush is a ton of fun for the time being, but it needs to show off just a bit more variety and polish if it hopes to have real staying power.
