Nubs' Adventure (PC)

Developer:

IMakeGames

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Release Date:

2015

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Systems:

Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android

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Last week on Super Adventures, I played a game with 'Super' in the title and this time fate has given me one with 'Adventure'. Haven't had one of these on my site since, hmm... Squirt's Adventure around this time last year. Fun fact: through absolutely no effort of my own, 'super' and 'adventure(s)' are actually the two most frequent words to show up in video game titles on my site (with 'final' and 'fantasy' right below them). 'Nubs' on the other hand is definitely down near the bottom.

Nubs' Adventure is the latest indie platformer by the guy who created Rico: A Tale of Two Brothers, which I apparently thought was very playable. I mean I can't actually remember playing it (I've gone through about 150 games in the meantime, my poor brain can only store so many platformers in it), but the article I wrote seems positive enough. This time around I'm playing with a Steam key sent to me from the developer so I'll be wearing my 'serious video game reviewer' hat. Well my 'serious quick look' hat anyway, as I'll only be showing off the first hour or two.

(You can click the screenshots to view them at their original resolution if you feel like, but you'll mostly just get chunkier pixels for your trouble.)

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There's the options screen for you. I wasn't expecting to be confronted with a baffling array of graphics sliders, but it'd be nice if it gave me a choice to run in a widescreen window. I mean if a developer intends their game to be experienced in 4:3 then I'm totally fine with that, but every screenshot I've seen of this has been widescreen. I think the thing's just taken a dislike to me.

On the other hand, the game gave me a choice of four save slots to store my current playthrough and that's one better than either Donkey Kong Country or Link to the Past! Games like Resident Evil 5 and Metal Gear Solid V should look upon this with shame and regret their own pitiful lack of player profiles.

Ah there you go. I just resized the window manually by dragging the sides wider. I hope that hasn't broken anything.

The game begins with Marv and Wiley here going on a naked thieving expedition to Nubs’ house. Kinda hoping they've at least got pixel pants on but it's hard to tell. They're like Marv and Harry from 'Home Alone', fond of breaking and entering while the occupants are elsewhere. Unfortunately for them Nubs is actually home right now.

Well unfortunately for Nubs really, as they beat the crap out of our hero and kick him off a cliff. I’m not sure but I think I saw him get eaten by a snake as well. Seriously, it was only there for a moment but something appeared as the screen was fading out.

I cropped this screenshot by the way, to give you a taste of how sharp the graphics are it is when the pixels haven't been shrunk down to a fuzzy mess to fit my tiny website. Whenever you see a shot that's zoomed in like this with pristine edges, I've edited it. Just so you know.


THE LONG WALK BACK HOME.

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Hey, Nubs survived the fall! Good for him.

Nubs is only a small creature with tiny pixel-wide arms and legs, but he’s as well animated as you’d want and he moves around well. No control problems here.

But straight away I've learned that this is the kind of game that doesn't let you jump until it's good and ready to tell you what to press... and then it tells you the wrong button. Well I'm sure the 'C' key is actually a perfectly reasonable jump button but I selected gamepad in the options earlier and in most PC games these days that gives me Xbox button prompts.

Oh hang on, we’re already back to his house! I was expecting that to be more of a hike to be honest.

Unfortunately there’s nothing left of it but a smoking door frame. You'd think Marv and Wiley would've been happy stopping at theft and attempted murder, but they just couldn't resist a bit of arson as well. Or maybe Nubs left the oven on.

At least we’ve found a helpful pixel! I can tell it’s on our side because it’s called ‘Ally’. It’s stronger than it looks as well, as it's able to pick Nubs up by his antenna/single strand of hair and fly him over to the next level.

Hey I got an achievement for finding the smoking remains of... GROUND ZERO? Uh, okay then. Didn't expect a 9/11 reference in a game called Nubs' Adventure but there you go.

I can make it! Or not.

Seems I overestimated how far Nubs can leap in a single bound and he's got no double jump, so I won't be going this way for a while. He can't do wall jumps either; he's a very straightforward platformer hero.

Oh, not quite that straightforward then. Seems he has a vulnerability to solid ground, a rare affliction more common in older platformers. Fall too far and it's instant death.

Well at least I got an achievement out of it. And I don’t see any hearts or numbers appearing so I’m going to presume I have infinite lives. Instant restarts too, with no messing around.

I went a little off the obvious path again and this time my jumping was rewarded with a shining emerald! Victory fanfare! Or not.

I’m not sure how to describe the music in this, but it’s kind of melancholy atmospheric… indie platformer music. Nubs’ journey shall be a lonely and thoughtful one I guess.  

The platforming is reminding me a lot of Rico so far, but the graphics are a definite improvement. Sure it's still basic but there's more variety to the tiles and it's lost that Amiga murkiness. Those bright strips of grass make the platforms really pop against the background. Always nice to know what I can land on.

Rico: A Tale of Two Brothers (Android)

I think I prefer Rico's dithered sky though. I mean if you're going to go with a limited palette for the foreground you might as well be consistent when it comes to the background. I'm not a fan of looking at the clouds and mountains through a blur filter either.

You could argue that sticking a good fuzzy TV emulation filter over the top would be a good alternative and more authentically retro, and I don’t necessarily disagree, but I like sharp pixels too!

It’s kind of weird though seeing the low-res pixel flowers swaying in the breeze like this though.


SOON.

It’s Wiley again, this time with a boomerang. Nubs dodges it coming at him, but doesn’t think to duck out of the way for it's return flight.

Wiley’s a bit confused how Nubs is even alive after that drop considering we’re in a game with falling damage, but Nubs is saying nothing. Possibly because he’s out cold.

SUDDENLY GIANT SANDWORM! That's gotten rid of Wiley for a bit and made him drop his weapon. My boomerang now.

Hey I was right, Nubs really was eaten by a snake monster straight out of Terraria during the intro! Or rescued I guess.

With boomerang in hand Nubs continued his trek east and got his dumb-ass crushed by a giant slab of black stone that I didn't even see. Instant death. I guess Nubs really doesn't have any hit points.

But now I know that the white glowing puddles are checkpoints. If Nubs should encounter another large block of stone as it's slamming down upon his fragile head, he'll just reappear here and carry on.

Hey I've got a map!

Seems there's two exits to this current area, but nothing to make one look like a better choice than the other. I'll just head towards whichever one the level sends me heading towards.


SOME PLATFORMING LATER.

Just doing some platforming right now. Jumping between bits of grass, activating squeaky lifts, leaping across spike pits. General platforming activities. But there's not a whole lot of collectables around in this game I've noticed; I'm not following an arcing line of coins over every chasm or hunting for 40 shiny things to get the door open. Which is good as I hate hunting for the last shiny thing on a stage.

Getting a bit tired of the music though to be honest.


SOME MORE PLATFORMING LATER.

Hey it's a kind fairy! Or a tricky manipulative lying fairy, it's hard to tell right now.

Lily here needs some fairy dust to magically build Nubs a new house and unfortunately that dust can only be found in gems. Or so she claims. She sure is sparkling bright for someone low on magic dust, and I don't see any wings keeping her in the air.

But I guess Nubs has no choice but to trust her.


THE QUEST FOR 10 GEMS.

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Wow, a pressure plate connected to a door by underground wires; I'm getting those Terraria flashback again. There's a floating white box in there and I'm thinking there's fairy dust inside.

Hmm, I’ll need a weight to hold this down as the door slams shut the second I take my little pixel boot off it. There's some kind of animal standing on it too but he's too light, though maybe I can lure something heavier over.

That is the worst looking pixelled TARDIS I've ever seen.

Hang on, I've just realised something. That white box thing I saw behind the switch door, that's not a gem for the fairy, it's a piece of the key I need to activate this thing! There's two boxes lit already and two left to find. But what does the monolith actually do?

Oh, it blocks my path, well that's pretty simple. But if I can't get past the monolith, how am I supposed to find a weight to push onto the pressure plate to open the door to get the third white box piece I need to make the monolith go away and let me get past?

I'm so incredibly stuck... hang on, where does that platform on the left go?


SOME JUMPING LATER.

Oh there you go. Should've known there'd be something heavy up above the pressure plate I could knock down onto it. Sucks to be the guy who spent all that time dragging it up here though.


LATER, BEYOND THE MONOLITH.

The game's mostly been about leaping gaps so far, but gravity isn't the only threat out here. There's also spiky purple turtles roaming my grassy ledges and to touch one means instant death.

But see that red targeting marker around the turtle on the right? That's my boomerang sense letting me know who's going to feel the pain when I let it fly. I don't even need to stop jumping around and face the right direction, it automatically homes in on whoever's closest and my sole involvement in the process is to press the button to authorise the air strike.

There's no XP gained for killing enemies though and they never drop anything, so if they're not my way I might as well just leave them alone. They just pick themselves up and carry on after a few seconds anyway.


SOON.

I like the way the music gets a bit muffled when I'm underwater, that's a nice touch.

Also good news, I’ve found a gem for the fairy! Bad news, Nubs can drown, very quickly. I can see him turning bluer and bluer the longer he's down here.

I have a plan though! I can't speed up his ascent, but I can certainly get to the bottom quicker if jump in from a higher place. And look, a convenient pipe on the right leading back out again! Or I can just wait a second or two to drown and respawn.

Another area, another monolith blocking my path. Only this time it requires six of these dots before it'll get out my way and I can't even reach this one. Nope, jumping on turtles doesn't help, especially before I've stunned them with the boomerang.

I'll have to come back to it later.

This puzzle makes no sense either! There's a glowing circle up here, a door down there, and nothing I can do about it on either end. I'd try throwing the boomerang at it, it's worked to turn on a switch before, but I can't throw it without a target on screen, and it's not being targeted.
 
Okay I can't go forward, I can’t get back to the previous area, there’s no way to load a previous save game, there's no teleporters around... I can't believe I'm completely stuck already! How embarrassing is this?

I'm going to have to take my 'serious video game reviewer' hat back off again. And eat it.

Oh, the ball's a switch I can activate with a button press? I guess the fact that it glows when I'm up close should've been the clue. But... why does it look like a ball instead of a switch then?

Here's another visual problem the game has: the switch cables look a lot like the ropes I can slide down. It hasn't happened yet, but I'm worried I'm going to leap for one thinking it'll slow Nubs' fall and watch as he sails right through it and breaks his neck on the ground below. He actually ragdolls on death by the way, which is weird for a such a spritely fellow.

Well this is all working out great. I got the door open, but it turns out that the passage leads to a dead end and a glowing rock.

Yeah yeah I know, glowing things can be activated by pressing the button, I've learned that lesson.

Whoa, activating the rock summoned the friendly earth worm and put me in direct control!

The graboid stalls and falls down when he reaches open air but I can steer him through the ground and the background rock by pressing left or right. He's called 'Brute' by the way (I know that because I read the press kit). With Brute's ability to sail through the ground I can collect all the white boxes I need to get the monolith out of Nubs' way and permanently smash a few turtles while I'm at it. Though I have to be careful not to hit the turtle's spikes as that seems to hurt him. I'm thinking that the red line running down his tail is his health bar, though I'm not eager to test the theory.

In addition to the sandworm I can also summon a bee by activating one of these hives. It comes over and lets me fly Nubs around the screen, so it's a bit like a jetpack except not as interesting. Plus I have to fly it back home when I'm done.

Hang on, I remember the guy turning up at the start as well. So my friend Ally was a bee the whole time huh?


SOON.

Well if it isn't my old nemesis Wiley again. He wants his boomerang back and I'm more than willing to send it his way, except he's got that shield protecting him from my attacks. Seems like I've reached my first...

BOSS _BATTLE!

NUBS VS. WILEY

No not the ground, throw it at Wiley, WILEY!

It hasn't taken us long to get a routine going. He waits a few seconds and then charges at me, then I leap over his head and throw my boomerang at him. Or at the floor in this case. I should probably try turning to face him before I throw it next time.

I managed to get Nubs killed once which restarted the fight (with the minimum of messing around) but other than that this battle was quick and easy. Plus it was nice to have a brief respite from the music. I mean I don't hate the soundtrack, it's just that a song can only loop so many times before you'd rather listen to a chorus of tone deaf wolves howling and scraping a chalkboard with their claws.


LATER.

With Wiley defeated the game has pretty much continued on as normal; he didn't drop a shield I can use to open new routes or anything.

I did find my way into the clouds though and met Hank, who's found his path blocked by some of those red mines from Rico. He's an NPC so he can't actually ever move but I bet I could jump through them. Maybe. It'd be nice if they'd put a bloody checkpoint nearby though, just in case I don't... oh hang on I see it there on the right. Well that's subtle.

I've met a few friendly NPCs like Hank along the way, though I never get more than a line or so out of them. Seems that people in the game are colour coded, with the helpful peaceful folks painted white and the mean violent thieves tinted brown, so I can always tell the content of their character by the colour of their skin. I suppose the developer had to do something to make the tiny pixelled antagonists look recognisable at a glance, as the fairy's the only one who gets to wear an outfit.

Third try, woo.

To be honest, the jumping mechanics are so solid that I’m more surprised I didn't get it on the first attempt. Nubs' a nimble little hero for sure and I always have the screen space to see what's coming.

But here's my first major complaint about the game: hitting the first mine makes you ragdoll, but you don’t bounce between all the others in a huge chain explosion! Disappointing.


A COUPLE OF AREAS LATER.

I’ve found another beamer, my third teleporter so far! Not much point beaming back to the fairy though as I've only found 6 gems.

It doesn't look like I can head any further right without a key or a rune, so this is the end of the road. But there's plenty of exits I haven't explored along the way I came, so I guess I'll just replay the game in reverse and see if I can find out how to get to them this time. With the sound muted.


EVENTUALLY.

Hey, I've found a yellow gem! I had to go on an expedition to switch on the water pipe so I could fire myself up here, but the gem is in the bank now, giving me a total of... whoa, 15 gems? I only needed 10!

I get the feeling I could find more of these things if I kept hunting, but I'd rather go see this fairy already and get myself a new house (and hopefully a new character upgrade.)

She used 10 gems of fairy dust to... summon a bit of rubble and some foundations. I already had that much left over from the old house! Maybe I'll go back there instead so I'll at least have a door frame to lean on.

Do I get a new skill at least? A new item? A key? A rune? A grappling hook? Nope?

Well I think this is a good place to bring this article to its conclusion then.


CONCLUSION

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At first glance Nubs' Adventure looks like it belongs to the 'tiny white pixel man indie platformer' genre along with games like Knytt, Fez, Cave Story, Jet Set Willy and Rico, and that's mostly because it does. I admit that doesn't narrow the gameplay down all that much though, I just feel like listing games sometimes.

Nubs' Adventure is basically about going through every inch of the places you know how to get into to find ways into the places you don't. I wouldn't compare what I've seen to something like Metroid though, as I've been unlocking paths with keys rather than upgrading my character's ability to get around. I definitely wouldn't compare it to Super Meat Boy or Shovel Knight either as it's been a pretty laid back experience for me. There's some skill involved with dodging enemy attacks and getting the timing right on jumps, but there's been no time limits, no massive consequences for failure and no pressure.

Okay I occasionally ran into evil wasps that would fire stingers at me while I was dangling helpless above a chasm, but I've played a lot of Terraria so I'm used to that. In fact I get the feeling that the developer might have been playing a bit of Terraria too with some of the things I've ran into, though any similarities are purely superficial.

Speaking of superficial, the story has been pretty light so far and there's been no hint that the monoliths and other things scattered around are part of any mystery or mythology. It's an 'exploratory platformer' but the only things I've really discovered have been more platforms (and gems).

I'd be lying if I said I was entirely won over by its simple retro charm, I prefer having a clearer idea of where I need to head next, but I gave Rico my 'isn't crap' award so I suppose I'd be wildly inconsistent if I didn't give this one too.

You can add Nubs' Adventure to your library today by visiting its Steam page and handing over money!
And you can find links to the mobile versions at the official Nubs' Adventure website (money also required).

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Remember when I mentioned that 'super' and 'adventure(s)' are the two most frequent words to show up in titles? Well if you're curious (and why wouldn't you be), here's the all-time top 10:

1. Super - 31
2. Adventure(s) - 27
3. Star - 23
4. Fantasy - 17
5. Final - 16
6. Man - 16
7. Batman - 15
8. World - 14
9. Wars - 13
10. Mario/Park - tied at 12
...
1346. Nubs - 1

PS. leave feedback and comments.