Review of Cuphead

Inspired by 1930's cartoons, Studio MDHR painstakingly created a game that look like it might had come from that era. The visuals are remarkable. You can tell that the team did their research, right down to the color coordination and the lack of color consistency. There's even a grain filter and simulated 24 fps framerate to complete the effect. The traditional cartoon aesthetics of the hand drawn cell animation on a watercolor background or model work was also surreal & absolutely gorgeous. Not only that; but it's really impressive for an independent game like 'Cuphead', to features an orchestra like soundtrack that nearly 3 hours of original jazz, barbershop duo, early Latin big band, and ragtime music. It's just too bad, there is a lot of tracks by composer Kristofer Maddigan that had to cut from the game, due to runtime. Regardless, the Cab Calloway's like night club based behop sound that left in the game, matches well, with the compelling high stakes frenetic redemption story about two anthropomorphic porcelain cups brothers, Cuphead & Mugman having to collect souls, in order to free themselves from the devil's clutches. It's catchy. Additionally, I like how the songs themselves will play differently depending on the circumstances: pausing the game or opening your inventory will muffle the music, using a super move will detune and speed it up, and dying will cause a record like needle scratch followed by the music slowing to a crawl. It has an ominous effect on most gamers' ears. It really does help you feel emerge with what happening on screen, even the single player or co-player gameplay isn't much of a traditional cartoon-like, nostalgia genre piece, run and gun game like 1993's Sega Game 'Zombies Ate My Neighbor'. In truth, 'Cuphead' resemble something more of a cartoon version of 2005's PlayStation game 'Shadow of the Colossus', with its boss rush style of gameplay. After all, the game was originally made that way. Most of the actual Run and Gun gameplay levels, Mausoleum sequences & the hidden 40 coins quest were added late into the development phrase by Microsoft, in order to make the game more fun to play. Because of that, they felt like loose end, glitches side-missions that doesn't really needed to be play to beat the game. Nevertheless, it does help your character get weapon and abilities upgrade at the number of shops, throughout the over world map. So, that's a plus, even if certain things, like being locked into one charm or getting expose by after using a super, could be annoying. Hopefully, those things can be patch, later on. Regardless, those missions are not as challenging as the boss battles. I get that, people do need a breather from the intense action. However, a game like this, shouldn't have parts of it, to soften gamers up. The hard gameplay is one of the main appeal of 'Cuphead'. It supposed to be no cake walk. While, some people might find the lack of checkpoints & health picks up, a turn off; I like it. It's been, a long time, since a video game honestly gave the player, a challenge, rather than holding your hand throughout it. Plus, it's not like the run and gun levels & boss battles are impossible to beat. Victories are quite accessible, once you learn to memorization and avoid the enemies attack patterns, through trial and error, getting use to your vast amount of weapons through swapping, and improving your reflexes, regardless if you're on 'simple' or 'regular' mode. I like how most of the controls aren't poor or broken & the camera angles aren't cripplingly limited in its viewpoint. If you die, it's pretty much, your fault. Trust me, when I say this, you will have to prepare to die multiply times, before having success. It will make you frustrated at times. However, if you do die, your character has infinite lives & maintaining all equipment between deaths, so you can't complain too much. If you're unwilling to take such a lot of losses. You might as well, turn off the game, and play something else. For those, patient & brave enough to continue. With a little bit of luck, you might enjoy the game, a lot more, for putting you, through the ringer. It's satisfying as hell to beat a boss. The gameplay is tough, but fair & tolerable. Plus, there is array of unique bosses, with multiple forms and functions that it's almost worth the price of admission alone just to see all them. Also, you can choice, which boss, you want to fight first and last in the 3 over world maps. So, the pathway to victory is, in your own hands. However, you do have to beat all 5 bosses, before entering, the other two world-maps. Another thing, while, most people don't care about high scores, over survivability. Those willing to put the effort, will be grade high levels, which can unlockable color modes, Easter eggs, & other perks like expert trials. So that's cool. Not only that, but there is plenty to unlock, once you debug the game, such as hidden unused bosses and weapons. Another thing to like, is how the racist depictions of racial minorities is purposely avoided, and for good reason. However, the Christian Communion metaphors is bit overplayed. Regardless, I do like how there is good and bad ending based on whether or not the brothers agree to hand over the soul contracts to the Devil. The story mirrors so much, what the developers, Chad & Jared Moldenhauer had to do in real-life in order to get out of debt with Microsoft. Overall: 'Cuphead' had amazing story & gameplay. I can't wait for the sequel. Until then, enjoy the DLC expansion, "The Delicious Last Course". That's equally as good. In the end, while, there is a few faults with this passive project. It's still definitely worth seeking out. You will get your money's worth. You can bet on that!