Retro games have a big fanbase, so of course there are people who want to make new games in the style of older ones. Enter Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan, the fourth game in a series actually that the developer Collectorvision has made. The previous games were made for multiple retro systems, and it is nice to see the series on modern platforms. To give a brief summary of what to expect, Sydney Hunter is the Indiana Jones platformer series we always wanted but never received. A spiritual adaptation of that classic, there is plenty to love here for fans of those films. Sydney Hunter must recover the missing pieces of the Maya Haag calendar scattered throughout the areas within a Maya pyramid.
There are traps to avoid, enemies to attack with whips and other weapons, and great music to listen to. Over the course of the levels, you will have to collect gems in order to buy new items, but also collect Skulls to keep unlocking more areas. In this way, the game plays like a collectathon, and you will even be going back to older levels to explore new areas once you gain additional power ups. There is a nice sense of polish here, even if it isnt perfect, and fans of classic NES and SNES games will have a blast as they play this.
It is not perfect though, as the difficulty spikes heavily as you go on, and this can throw you off. Add to this, finding the aforementioned skulls can be difficult if you do not know where to look. These two factors can lead to a lot of frustration and you die repeatedly and search through the levels. This is not even mentioning how tough some of the bosses can be, and it feels like the devs could have spent a bit more time balancing the difficulty,
All this being said though, I really did like Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan. It has a great sense of self awareness, witty writing and mostly intelligent level design. It may not be a perfect game, but it manages to capture the best ideas of classic games. I do recommend this, even if I acknowldge that the game has some flaws.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided