Midnight Deluxe – Developed by Petite Games and published by Ratalaika Games S.L., Midnight Deluxe is a golf-like 2D platform adventure where you guide Midnight, a little square-shaped fairy, to the exit of deadly stages full of perils. First released for Nintendo Switch and PS4, Midnight Deluxe is a remaster from 2015 Midnight, for Wii U and Steam, with more levels and fully upgraded visuals. The golf-like part comes from how you guide Midnight throughout the stage: you need to aim and shot him towards the hole while listening to lovely piano songs. Ready for some hole-in-ones? There’s no need for a golf club: just follow us into this review!
What is Good?
- Audio: The best aspect of this game, without a doubt, is the magnificent soundtrack: smooth piano compositions dictate the rhythm of this adventure. If you enjoy a good melody while playing, I promise you will be very well-served with this game.
- Visuals: The art of the game is very delightful. The contrast between the light from our fairy friend, the fog and the shadows of the dark surrounding creates a beautiful atmosphere. Even those strange dark and pointy creatures have interesting designs, merging with the scenarios.
- Gameplay: The golf-like gameplay is quite unusual for a platformer, but it created an interesting new look and possibilities. You move Midnight by holding the A button and aiming with your left stick. The more you push the stick, the farther Midnight will be launched when you release the button. The levels start easy and simple, but soon they become challenging and full of traps. All my years practicing with Bazookas in Worms games have been put at good use here. Always aim to finish all levels with minimum movements to get three stars, although finishing them under par is enough to advance. It is a simple but effective way that kept me playing.
- Level Design: As you progress through levels, new elements are progressively added, increasing the difficulty. And trust me: some of these will require a lot of skill, luck or, most of all, retries to be accomplished. Expect buzz saws, lasers, gravity switches and more hazards throughout its 85 levels.
Mixed Feelings
- Duration: Relatively short, with 85 levels that you can complete in about 2 or 3 hours (and 1000G that can be achieved in less, great for achievement hunters or to give a boost in your Gamerscore), the game doesn’t encourages you to complete it (to finish all its levels) after you get the last of its achievements. It’s totally up to you to keep playing it after unlocking all achievements. Or not.
What is Bad?
- No story: “Who is Midnight?” and “what is he looking for?” are some of the questions that stayed after I finished the game. That’s because the game doesn’t have a background story or anything that barely reminds a reason why are you facing all these threats. To save someone? To prove you are the best? I wished the game tells us that.
- Repetitive levels: The final levels are very similar (not to say a copy) of some of the previous ones, but with more gameplay elements increasing their difficulty. I’d prefer new levels instead of reusing ones we’ve already experienced. Especially because you already know how to beat them.
Midnight Deluxe [Score:64/100]
With great art, fantastic music and an interesting gameplay, MidnightDeluxe is an attractive new take on platform genre. It has a calming atmosphere that will end before filling up your rage meter with a challenging gameplay of trial and error. If you enjoy golf games and platform ones, here is a combination you were not expecting for and will have a good time with. A short, but good time.
With a history of gaming that goes from his old man’s Atari 2600 to his Xbox One, Rafael or RAF687, our Brazilian editor, has a love for games as old as he can remember. He has already spent countless hours in many consoles (Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Saturn, PS1, PS2 and Xbox 360) and is always ready for more (as long as his wife is asleep). Raf has been writing for LifeisXbox since 2017, with a passion for games of almost all genres – though we know he has a special place in his heart for RPGs, racing games and anything that includes pixel art. Writing about games has always been a childhood dream to Raf, dream that he has fulfilled reviewing games for you here. You can drop him a message at Twitter, Facebook or Xbox Live at any time.
