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Indie India-based game developer Zatun Games has released its first game titled The Legend of Vraz, created using Microsoft’s XNA development software.
Jumping Ahead
You play as Vraz, a prince who wants to marry the princess. To do so, you must complete five tasks to prove your worth while also trying to avoid the minions of your rival. Naturally, there is an evil character who serves as an adviser to the princess’s father and has plans of his own to marry the princess. It’s a very simple and straightforward story but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
The soundtrack is near perfect for the game, following the cultural influence of the game’s origin. It’s also very lighthearted, like much of the Mario Bros music.
One of the great things about Vraz is how simple it is to play while remaining adaptable. It has the controls of your standard platformer, allowing for play using either mouse and keyboard, just a mouse or just a keyboard. Regardless of the control method, it remains fairly smooth and intuitive. It’s surprising since some computer games have incredibly clumsy controls regardless of the options (Alone in the Dark 5 comes to mind).
Vraz is also challenging in a fun way, finding the middle ground in terms of difficulty and bringing back a lot of memories of Super Mario Bros and Prince of Persia.
Falling Behind
The problem with Vraz is that it is sometimes too similar to the its inspirations. The gameplay and motifs are straight out of the earliest Mario and Prince of Persia games. Even with the general adaptability of control schemes, Vraz has gameplay mechanics that don’t try anything new. Then again, that may be nitpicking because this is an indie company’s first release. Familiar mechanics rather than the pain of developing new versus potentially disastrous mechanics ultimately works to the company’s advantage.
The story, even though it is strong and simple, seems like a Mario or Prince of Persia game mixed with Aladdin.
As great as the soundtrack is, I will say this. A bit more variation in the music would do very well. Yet again, that’s just more nitpicking.
What’s the Deal?
Overall, there is a lot of good to Legend of Vraz. Most of the negative elements are small details that can easily be ignored. Granted, Vraz would be better if it was more unique, though it is certainly not a copy-and-paste product.
If you’re a lover of the old school NES Mario days, the game will prove its own worth very quickly. Vraz is worth a try.
Site [The Legend of Vraz]
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