Super Heavy Sword Review

When a game features bright graphics, dancing trees, cows that can be tipped, and sword-wielding ladies in extravagant dresses, it hurts to ding it with an average score. Alas, that's where we are with Super Heavy Sword. It's a charming platformer that tries its best to bring Super Mario Bros-style action to mobile, but forgets vital components like tight controls and clear visibility.

Super Heavy Sword is a direct sequel to last year's Heavy Sword. Heroes Pike and Princess Lucinda are on a quest to save the King's kidnapped children, and they're well-armed for the job (read: They have swords).

Super Heavy Sword is a 2D platformer, and its inspiration obviously sits with two famous plumber brothers. Interestingly, the original Super Mario Bros. isn't the only Mario game driving Super Heavy Sword's mechanics. There's a hefty dose of Super Mario 64 there too, as is made obvious by the presence of wall-jumping, ground-pounding, and multiple goals squirreled away in a single stage.

Neither Pike nor Lucinda can jump on their foes, however. They need to whack 'em with weapons. Swords are the preferred steel around the kingdom, but players can also get their hands on bows and axes.

Super Heavy Sword's sword-swinging is fun enough. The game's primary problem is the guesswork that goes into moving around. When Pike or Lucinda jump, they practically rocket into the wild blue yonder. The floaty leaps lack a sense of weight, which makes it difficult to pull off moves like those wall-jumps.

Moreover, there are pits everywhere in Super Heavy Sword, and it's rarely clear if a slow, floaty descent is going to end inside of one. Even making a jump from the ground involves guesswork. It's often impossible to tell if a cliff has solid ground below it, or if it simply drops into oblivion.

Most of Super Heavy Sword's levels can be mastered through memorization and loads of patience. It's simply a question of whether the player wants to bother. Super Heavy Sword is a cute game that's stuffed with happy graphics and a bouncy soundtrack. It's ambitious, but ambition doesn't help much if the basics lack polish.