Review: Cuphead

Cuphead is finally out after what felt like years of waiting and anticipating, and after that small gameplay clip many E3’s ago, does the game live up to the hype?

What is Cuphead?

Cuphead is a side-scrolling shooter in the style of Contra and Ghost n’ Goblins made by the people at Studio MDHR. It’s in been in production since 2010, with a very infamous snippet of it shown at the 2014 E3 conference that drew insane amounts of interest and buzz despite only being a few seconds long. After a very minor backlash when it was promised to only be a boss rush style game, the developers pushed back release to add more “substantial” pieces to the game in the form of run and gun levels.

What’s the story?

The story is incredibly straight forward, with it being completely outlined when you first load the game in a form of a very jaunty, 1930’s style song. Two mugs, Cuphead and his pal Mugman, decide to gamble in The Devil’s casino, unaware that the house always wins. After losing their souls to the The Devil they strike a bargain with him, in order to keep their souls, they must defeat and collect the soul contracts of the various bosses around Inkwell Isle. With Mugman in tow if you do two player, Cuphead sets off to travel through the three different sections of Inkwell Isle to defeat the debtors and collect their contracts. Outside of the main storyline, there are a few scattered NPCs around the Isle who will share tips on how to play or more cryptic secrets of the game. Outside that however, there aren’t any side quests or missions to do which doesn’t necessarily detriment the game, but does keep it feeling a little one note. Although with that said, it’s pretty clear to piece together that the main reason these bosses are in debt with The Devil is because he tricked them. There is also an ending that reinforces that theory so it does feel like a complete story.

How does it look and sound?

Visuals and sound design are this game’s bread and butter. The game is inspired by 1930’s cartoons and every single detail, from the film grain, to the scratchy audio, to the minor glove color inconsistencies, is loving designed and implemented. The fact that most, if not all of the game is hand drawn, really shows the dedication that the guys at MDHR put into the game and its obvious in every single screen. Each boss is uniquely designed and span different genres, from a three headed dragon in the clouds, to a queen bee in her hive, to an actress in a play. They have different forms depending on how much damage they take, which can also have an effect on the arena you are currently fighting them on. The visuals also change significantly between bosses, with some of them going full live action at times, and I found myself staring at all the detail in the background while the boss ate away at my health. Audio wise, the game soundtrack is full of jaunty music reminiscent of Betty Boop and old Mickey Mouse cartoons. The announcer at the beginning of each boss encounter is pulled straight of a an old timey racetrack, and never fails to hype you up as you take a crack at the same boss for the 30th time. The weapon sounds and enemy actions have such a rich sound to them that it was possible to predict attacks from sound alone. One song in particular I want to point out is the song that plays when you meet a character called King Dice. His song is akin to a Disney villain song because it’s so nefariously concise and catchy, you’ll end up with it stuck in your head for days after hearing it(think Be Prepared from The Lion King or Poor Unfortunate Souls from The Little Mermaid).

Does it play well?

The controls for the game are incredibly responsive and every movement or jump feels weighty and snappy. The default control layout is horrible however, but luckily you can change every single button to your liking. The game mechanics are very simple jump, dodge, move and shoot, and combining them effectively feels very good while in combat. There are power-ups that change the way you fire your weapon or dodge, for example a charge shot that compromises rapid firing for more damage or a teleport-like dodge that makes dodging easier but slightly less predictable. The enemies never feel like they behave unnaturally or  erratically, once you figure out a boss pattern, its all about recognizing it and working a strategy as oppose to complete randomness, which is very appreciated in a game where a boss can have more than three forms.

 

Sounds like you have more to say about it.

When this game came out and all the hype died down, there was a lot of talk about the game being “too difficult” and how it was bad because of it. I just wanted to talk about the difficulty and how it shouldn’t affect your decision in playing it. Cuphead is a tough game, in the same vein as Alien Hominid and Ghost n’ Goblins. It’s a game that punishes recklessness and impatience with death and restarts, and it takes certain finesse to be extremely good at it. This game, in my experience, is in no way unfair to it’s player, as in there was never a death I experienced that was due to poor design. I will say that it can get overwhelming at times, a good example being a pirate ship boss with a lot of moving parts that you have to keep track of. However, that example is more indicative of how much on the screen you can keep track of, as oppose to some randomized mechanic. Once you see all the possible forms a boss can take, there are never any completely hidden things it can do. For example, if you’re fighting the flower boss it wont just randomly get up and start walking around if it’s never done that before. I also saw the comparison to Dark Souls being made and as an unabashed, Dark Souls fan, the comparison couldn’t be more inaccurate. Dark Souls is a game that offers no explanation for anything it does, it drops you into an unknown world to figure everything out yourself, the bosses can be both mechanically frustrating(Artorias) and unfairly broken(Centipede Demon), and sometimes figuring out boss patterns can mean nothing when it doesn’t even do the things it’s suppose to do(Kalameet). Cuphead starts you off by teaching you the basic movesets, and throwing you arguably easy first bosses so you can get your feet wet. In it’s defense however, Dark Souls is a game that gets easier the more you learn about it, as with any game really, and punishes lack of patience and brashness with swift and uncaring death, similar to any run and gun. Personally, I wrote off Dark Souls for it’s difficulty and it took me a long time after it’s release to play it and it instantly became one of my favorite series of all time. My point is, don’t write off a game for it’s difficulty, unless the game is broken to the point of unplayability then give it a shot, you’ll never know what you might end up enjoying.

How good is that King Dice song though?

It’s so good. Sooooooooo good.