RetroSouls' world-rotating platformer 8-Bit Night (formally known as 8-Bit Story and MegaRunner before that) has finally been released on the PC... But hang on, something about this game feels very familiar, doesn't it? That's right - regular RGCD readers will recognise that 8-Bit Night is essentially an enhanced PC conversion of Alter Ego, a game that the same developer (and later Shiru) released for the ZX Spectrum and NES to pretty much universal acclaim.
8-Bit Night is a game built around a simple, yet previously unused mechanic. On a base level it's a standard retro platform romp (which is where I imagine the 8-Bit of the title comes in) - your little man must collect all the glowing 'pixels' on each level whilst avoiding spikes, nasties and falling to your death. Same old, same old. However, the special trick here is the addition of a ghost character whose position and movements mirror yours on the opposite side of the horizontal (or vertical) axis across the centre of each level. Pressing the action key or button flips the world and swaps your position with the ghost - enabling you to reach areas (and pixels) that were previously inaccessible. Also, some pixels can only be collected by your ghost character, whereas others are limited to one particular axis, resulting in some top quality puzzle solving fun.
Thankfully, the core game-play of Alter Ego has survived the massive injection of extra Bits. Visually, the first thing you'll notice is that the game is now rendered in 3D and that instead of swapping your sprite with the phantom across the horizontal or vertical axis, the whole level itself rotates. It's a trip. Secondly, there's a load of new features that have been bolted on to the original formula, including mines, pickaxes and tons of additional hazards and enemies; all of which are gradually introduced and increased in complexity over the game's 50 levels. There's a lot of variety for such a deceptively simple game concept, and despite the early levels being perhaps a little too basic, the difficulty really ramps up near the end with a combination of ninja-like reflexes and a logical mind required to win.
