Curse of the Crescent Isle

Overview

Curse of the Crescent Isle is an 8-bit style action platformer, incredibly similar to such games as DuckTales and Super Mario Bros. 2. The game was released on December 5, 2010 for the Xbox Live Indie Game marketplace for 80 Microsoft points (the equivalent of $1.00) by its sole developer, AdamTheOtaku (or Adam Mowrey). Upon its initial release, the game was panned for its many bugs and poor control, but after a patch it was more well-received.

In 2015, a new version titled "Curse of the Crescent Isle DX" was put on Steam Greenlight. Another version for the PS Vita is also in the works as of April of 2015.

Story

The plot of the game naturally revolves around a curse on one Crescent Isle. The player takes control of the king of Crescent Isle, and must break the four curses before freeing his island from its curse.

Gameplay

Curse of the Crescent Isle is a traditional side-scrolling platformer. The player can jump, run, and pick up enemies. While the ability to run and jump allows the player character to jump farther, it is only used occasionally throughout the entirety of the game. Conversely, the ability to pick up enemies is used extensively.

Picking up an enemy allows the player to then use that enemy's ability. For example, an enemy shaped like a screw, when picked up, allows the player to jump on breakable blocks with the screw. Some enemies have no abilities, and can merely be used as a thrown projectile, while other enemies have entire levels or sections of levels surrounding their abilities (one of the later levels revolves around an antigravity enemy).

At the end of each level, the player faces a boss, typically requiring the usage of a certain enemy's ability. After defeating a boss, the player removes one of the four curses, which must be removed in order to reach the final boss. After completion of a level, the player is dumped back into the hub world. Here, the player can talk with non-player characters living in the town. Entering the same door that the player exited from will take them to the next level.

With the release of the first patch, a password system was implemented into the game. Through this system, four letter passwords can be used to load any portion of any level.