Indie Nuggets #7

Adventures of a Radish (2016)
By: Sorceress Game Lab Genre: Platform Players: 1 Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Featured Version: PC
Also Available For: Nothing

I'm always liked seeing fruits and vegetables in games. Usually they are just pick-ups for bonus points or a power-up of some sort, but how many games actually let you play as a fruit or vegetable? I can't think of too many but Adventures of a Radish is definitely one such game! I can't remember how I first discovered it now but it's another one that has lain dormant in my 'games to review' folder for many years of men. Actually, that's not strictly true - I have played it on and off but the review has clearly not been forthcoming. Upon returning to it for this post I realised it doesn't seem to have a backstory, so I guess you're just... a sentient radish. I'm not complaining, of course - there are undoubtedly worse things to be - but some games require stories or objectives to provide motivation to play them.

But nope, it appears you are just a radish, travelling presumably by choice through a world which takes the form of a scrolling platformy one made up of seven worlds - The Forest, The Icy Lands, The Desert, The Beach, The Jungle, Candy Land, and Cloud World which are each divided into three stages and a boss fight. Aside from the change in each world's theme, though, all the normal stages play pretty much identically. In the absence of that story, the only objective is seemingly to move from left to right until you reach the end of the stage. There is a half-way marker (see screenshot above) but they aren't all that long anyway, and play in what most would probably call a Super Mario style. Which means, if you weren't able to guess, lots of floaty and/or twirly platforms, gaps to jump, stuff to collect (fruits instead of coins), and the only means of dispatching an enemy is by jumping on it!

It's not especially original then, but it's a tried and trusted approach for sure, and I suppose a fairly easy one to implement too. It was made using good old Unity and is a pretty simple example in most ways. The graphics are small, basic, and there isn't much animation, nor much in the way of backgrounds, but the sprites are cute, the stages look appealing, and the whole thing is mostly bright and colourful. The music is nice too, and the controls are responsive (including a handy double-jump). It's a pretty easy game but it's still enjoyable to play through. I had a lot of fun hopping around its stages, making pixel-perfect jumps and landing on an enemy's head from the other side of the screen! I'm not sure how often you'd return to it once you'd finished it, but for the price (which is anything you want), it's a great little game. It loses a point for its ease but regains it for casting you a radish!

RKS Score: 7/10

Special Note: If you fancy grabbing a copy of this pleasant platformer, there's a link to buy it here on a 'name your own price' type deal, which is jolly nice of Ms. Sorceress. Be sure to give her a respectable amount if you like the look of the game! :)