Remember the opening sequence of Captain N: The Game Master, where a portal opens in Kevin’s TV and he’s sucked through it so that he can save the (video) world? No? That’s fair, it’s nearly 30 years old now. But there’s a fair chance that someone over at Slipgate Studios does, because that’s exactly what happens to Rad Rogers at the start of his eponymous video game adventures. What follows is part meta textual exploration of retro videogames and all action-packed platforming romp. Along for ride is Dusty, Rad’s foul-mouthed but good-hearted games console, now sentient and making up for a deteriorating clock speed with experience and a big old heap of attitude. The pair must take on the First World, which comprises seven deadly stages of light-hearted but decidedly hardcore platforming complete with run and gun elements. It’s a decaying world, though, and every now and then Dusty has to go behind the scenes to enter the electrified pixelverse, a dangerous region behind the game world wreaking havoc with space time, to repair the very stuff the First World is built on. All in all, this is straightforward hardcore platforming with a cheeky grin on its face.
