Freddy Farmer is the latest new, retro arcade release by Flynn’s Arcade. Without question, this is Flynn’s most ambitious and deepest title to date, but it comes at an unfortunate cost (or could possibly be an oversight).
Freddy is a simple farmer minding his own business when a dragon suddenly kidnaps his daughter. To get her back, he needs to concoct a potion by gathering ingredients in the correct order. From the plot to the gameplay, the presentation is outfitted with quality spritework. Even the opening menu screen, where Freddy is tending his land, is built directly into the narrative demonstrating the high production values from a dev team that cares. On top of that, it looks like it was plucked from a dingy arcade in the late 80s, just like all the other Flynn’s Arcade releases. The Catcade intro is also beautifully done but I wish there was a way to skip it as it is a little long.
In terms of gameplay, there is definitely some classic Donkey Kong inspiration happening here. Besides running, Freddy’s only other verb comes from his limited jump which puts a strong emphasis on timing. Each world is composed of a handful of stages and the goal is to gather all the ingredients and throw them in the pot to finish the level, avoiding enemies and hazards along the way. However, each run places the ingredients in new locations and will require large amounts of backtracking most of the time. For example, the first stage is essentially shaped like an upside down “U” with each of the five ingredients scattered throughout. The first ingredient might be at the top of the screen. The second might be by the spawn point. The first will then probably be on the exact other side of the map and you might need to jump over the fourth ingredient along the way. Sure, you can collect the ingredients out of order, but then you don’t get a high score and will need to replay the stage until perfection. Also, it can be a little difficult to spot the collectable ingredients. One time, I mistakenly grabbed an item and spent time looking for it in the stage only to realize I accidently grabbed it, annoyingly ruining my streak. I wish they had a glow effect or something.
Composed over several worlds built with a handful of stages in each means this is the most robust retro-style arcade title Flynn’s Arcade has published to date. Unfortunately, it not only requires perfection, it also requires an interrupted time dedication. You see, there is no option to save your progress. Sure, you can back out to the main menu from the pause screen but there is no save option whatsoever. Veteran players might be able to clear a level in two minutes but multiply that by five worlds and a good handful of stages in each, you might be able to clear the game in an hour if you play perfectly without restarts. While I understand this game is posed to be a new arcade game, not having a save feature will basically make the game unclearable for most. Making matters worse, all stages must be perfected in order. Meaning, if one ingredient is missed on level four of five, you need to replay the entire world starting at level one to have another attempt; you cannot just replay specific stages at will. In other words, the brutal demand for perfection will only appeal to the most dedicated of players. Which is a shame because there are unlockable mini games, tons of extra content, and built-in Achievements as a reward for playing well, features most players will probably never unlock due to the steep demand of perfection.
Also, for those that play well, uploading high scores to the leaderboard requires the player to scan a QR code at game over. Why aren’t scores just auto-uploaded? Further, there is no option to view the high score at will. The only way to access the scoreboard is to play a match and die, making this feature pointless at best.
It pains me to say this because there is so much passion in this low-cost download, but without a save feature, Freddy Farmer is borderline unplayable. However, I am playing this title pre-release so maybe this basic feature will be added by the time it officially goes live. If a save feature was added, this has potential to be the best game Flynn’s Arcade has published to date. But demanding the player play such a challenging game with nothing but perfection for hours at a time simply isn’t feasible even if it is trying to mimic an arcade experience.
SCORE: 5/10
Reminds Me Of: Cash Cow DX
Also Play: Donut Dodo
Don’t Forget About: Goliath Depot
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
X/Twitter: @ZackGaz
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