![]() It has chorus lines of flying enemies you must bounce off of to bridge chasms, enemies that materialize from nothing and creep toward you like magnetized cottonwood seeds, enemies that morph into bigger enemies and subject you to a multitude of withering attacks. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and why shouldn't it? Here's a nigh-Platonic realization of an 8-bit side-scroller, with platforms that spit fire or crumble at your touch, platforms that elevate endlessly, platforms that rocket across the room and leave you plummeting like Wile E. You've played this sort of game before it's just been a while. ![]() You almost inevitably fail, yet you revel in it, even after the dozenth attempt. Playing Shovel Knight, released today on PC, Mac, Linux, Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, is like chopping wood, only here the cords are split-second choices you make every microsecond. Training for a marathon or rolling through Oscar Peterson’s finger-tangling jazz exercises on my piano is kids' stuff compared to mastering this maddening, brilliant, heartless, utterly gorgeous throwback to the platform games of yore. I tell myself, "Just one more try," but who am I kidding? I could do this all night, partly because of how well it controls: Shovel Knight is a game that handles like a brick that handles like a Maserati. I want to call it quits, throw in the towel, chuck the gamepad at the towel. ![]() It's taunting me like a carnival barker, like a cheap prize dangling at the end of an arcade claw crane.
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