Voodoo Vince: Remastered is the high definition transposition of the original Voodoo Vince which back in 2003 was released for Xbox. But what is 13 years after all for a witty voodoo doll? Let's find out later.
Voodoo Vince, both in its original incarnation and in the latter remastered in high definition, is a classic platform based purely on the charisma of the protagonist and his characteristics as a voodoo doll. Vince's motivation, as well as the engine of the entire game, is extremely simple and linear: in fact, the little doll, during his adventure, will move between the streets of New Orleans and the depths of the Louisiana bayou in search of his mistress. Madam Charmaine. Vince, even if somewhat unlikely, will thus find himself in the role of the hero and will have to leave to rescue his guardian angel, kidnapped by his rival as funny as he is inept (which speaks volumes about the fact that he is managed to kidnap her). In the course of our game Vince, 30 cm of fabric, spikes and determination will use his powers to get the better of the enemies of the moment that the bad guy will put him on the road. But what are these powers?
Well Vince, not betraying her nature as a voodoo doll, he is able to take the pain he goes through (good luck not having pain receptors, huh?) and redirect it on his enemies. Defeating your opponents will allow you to fill a special bar (perhaps a little too quickly) which will then give you the opportunity to trigger one of his "special techniques". Thanks to these, some kind of disaster will fall on you and then affect the surrounding enemies. It is extremely interesting to see how many of them are directly inspired by cartoon classics we all grew up with.
Between one invoice and another, however, Vince will still be able to use his "mighty" punches and a spinning top attack; in this way he will be able to injure his enemies and obtain colored marbles from them, which will be used to charge his voodoo bar and to restore his life.
Like any self-respecting platformer, The world of Voodoo Vince: Remasterd is full of collectibles to collect: starting from the Zombie Dust to be found in the levels (every 100 pieces of the latter the maximum life of Vince will increase by one) up to the complete refills for his Mojo. Levels will often need to solve environmental puzzles to continue in the story, we will then find ourselves moving the most disparate objects in specific places. Vince will sometimes find himself unable to jump or act as usual while, on other occasions, he will gain some decidedly original movement skills. Fortunately, as a magical doll, good Vince is immune to any damage from a non-magical source (even to stay in line with his core feature).
All of what has been said so far applies to both the original and the remastered version and, likewise, this could easily be a review back in 2003. But 13 years is not a blink of an eye and how does Voodoo Vince: Remastered perform in 2017?
The game has unfortunately not aged well, the restyle to the textures is not bad, but it does not allow you to shake off the age it has. The aesthetic factor, however, is quite functional to the type of game and therefore does not negatively impact the title itself. The sound sector is well cared for and mixes with a good Jazz result and motifs more in line with the voodoo theme, often arranging them wisely. Comparing this title with the platformers of the time we can say that Voodoo Vince: Remastered has an average longevity that settles around 10 hours of play; these will be divided into four macro blocks which each correspond to a different location.
However, it must be said that many may ask themselves why buy and play Voodoo Vince: Remastered when many more modern titles follow his same game philosophy, but with much more refined gameplay.
Unfortunately this is a problem that many remastered titles bring with them: the visual rendering can be good and Vince's irreverence practically timeless, but in a video game all this is subordinated to a higher authority ... The gameplay, master criterion in the videogame arts . The platform side of the game is affected by all that series of problems that the genre has learned to overcome over the years: little control over where you jump, little understanding of how feasible a jump is and, last but not least, the harsh consequences of when something is wrong (in fact, in some stages, missing a jump means practically rebuilding the level all over again).
It is problems that can be easily overcome by someone who has lived through the golden age of platformers and who plays this title knowing that it is a remastered game from 13 years ago, but it turns out extremely frustrating for someone who enters Voodoo Vince without a proper background. Player forewarned, forearmed.
Modus Operandi: Voodoo Vince: Remastered was played in its PC version until its completion, which took approximately 9 hours.
