Okay, that title is a little all over the place but bear with me on this one.  The Waste Land is representative of all of those titles with a possible bit of 8 Eyes mixed in for good measure- the design combination is very hard to pin down.  Based on T.S. Eliot’s poem, The Waste Land, this game pulls from some of the greats in retro gaming as already mentioned.  The original poem covers all kinds of feelings such as pain, despair, innocence lost and more detailing the life of a misbegotten king named Zyron the third.  Who said games can’t be educational, fun and interesting?

Earlier I mentioned Metroid as a game The Waste Land references, just look at the pictures and video for proof of that.  The art style is in the same vein as Castlevania II (Day/Night cycle with real effects), 8 Eyes (building blocks, backgrounds) and of course those bosses are straight out of Ghouls n Ghosts (see our first issue for more information on this game).  Overall, the levels carry that wide breadth look of a classic Metroid game.

Besides, what other game tasks you with battling a freaking whale from a boat, a giant bee, a humongous slug and what I can only call a horrifying spider and that mysterious fifth creature just salivating at the thought of chomping on your dead, limp, pixelated body?  Sure, Ghouls n Ghosts can satisfy a couple of those boss challenges but the rest?  Those are only known to populate The Waste Land.

The Waste Land by Digital Tribe
Developer: Fledermaus
Platform: Steam
Genre: Metroid style, action, adventure
Available now on Steam

Carl Williams

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