Battle Narf Review
Battle Narf is a difficult precision platformer with creative boss fights. It took me around 6h30m to clear.
The world is divided into screens, with a checkpoint usually every four to six screens or so. Outside of screens with boss fights, each screen is "static" in the sense that while there might be moving obstacles and projectile attacks, there's no randomness or variance and the same strategy will work every time. The dynamic of Battle Narf is learning how to complete the early screens in a checkpoint as quickly and consistently as possible to get more attempts at the later screens. Often you'll find a clunky route through a screen at first, and then realize that you can optimize it. It's satisfying to develop and learn these new strategies, and it keeps it from becoming too draining to repeat the early screens.
Every so often you'll encounter a boss. The bosses were the highlight of the game for me, but also where I got the most frustrated. They have funny and surprising attacks with unique concepts. They're also extremely strict and unforgiving, and it's hard to tell if the attacks are always fair and reactable. I don't mind when randomness in action boss fights leans on the unfair side, but I did get exasperated a few times, particularly when fighting the 3rd boss and the final one. Nonetheless, it was satisfying to get better at reading the complex attacks and take the bosses down. The final boss was really cool even if I got a little mad at it.
The game also has a charming aesthetic, with crunchy hand-drawn tiles, cute sprites, and music that I didn't realize was from external sources until a song from Lagoon (SNES) came on. Give Battle Narf a try if you want to play a challenging game.