Turbo Kid REVIEW
Turbo Kid’s story is set in the Badlands, in the late nineties, in a post-apocalyptic setting similar to that familiar to us from the Mad Max series. For this reason, sadness, violence and a lot of sand prevail. Our main character is Turbo Kid, a boy obsessed with comic books and wearing a costume inspired by his idol: Turbo Rider.
As the title is inspired by the movie, which at the same time contains references to the 90’s, the music and artwork are fantastic. The songs were written by the same person who wrote the soundtrack of the movie (Le Matos) and are captivating synthpop songs that fit perfectly with the theme of peace.
The adventure begins in the desert as we are riding a bicycle when suddenly we are attacked by thieves and our transportation, machete and other belongings are stolen. Luckily, we are rescued by a scientist named Naomi and taken to her lab, which is located in the town of New Hope, where there are stores, non-player characters and other items that will help us on our journey.
After familiarizing ourselves with the town a bit, we set out to find what the thieves stole from us and learn more about Paramo and the surrounding areas. All areas are interconnected, but have a few elements that set them apart; from funds to enemies that attack us mercilessly. To eliminate them, we have the Turbo Glove, which is essentially Megaman’s cannon and helps us get through and survive any danger.
The beginning of the game is a bit linear because we lack what we need to get through Paramo and the surrounding areas, but once we find a machete, our BMX and the ability to reload our weapons, then the real adventure begins. From here, Naomi tells us that in order to escape this horrible world, we need 4 power chips, which can be found in the Riding Area, the Junkyard, the sewers, and another unknown area.
Of course each area has a special power that will help us collect all the collectibles, complete secondary missions, and advance faster. These include various guns and ammo for our Turbo Glove, a dashboard, some spikes for our BMX that stick to walls and more. Getting them is extremely satisfying, though sometimes the journey is better than the reward, as some of these boosts are used very little or only for a specific part.
Different parts of Paramo have visual features that make them stand out and we can easily find them, but they also have a lot in common. In every other game, each area has a gimmick that makes us use a particular skill or weapon that we pick up.
Of course, while the number of paths available is always large, the title never tells us where to go. We have some goals written down in our notebook, but we are never told what specific place we should go to, nor is it shown on the map. This forces us to take a lot of mental notes and makes it feel like a very well balanced metroidvania. Besides having the best of the most modern stuff, it also retains the “old school” essence of 90’s games.
Of course, sometimes it’s a bit too abstract. A couple times we had to go around the entire map multiple times because we didn’t know where to go, especially with the last token whose location, as we mentioned, is unknown. After all, part of the magic of metroidvania is precisely in exploring every corner of the map.
One of the biggest strengths of Turbo Kid is the controls. Right from the start, we noticed that the jumping is excellent and very responsive, making it easy to land or get where we want to go. This, along with the skills we learn in the adventure, allows us to move around the map very quickly and creatively.
The best transportation is our BMX because it’s perfect for picking up speed, reaching very far platforms, performing stunts and even defeating bosses. It’s an extremely useful tool, even though it’s a little difficult to use at first.
Another attraction of the game is the battles. Our Turbo Glove is ideal for long-range combat, while the machete is ideal for close-range combat.
Another success that I would like to talk about in Turbo Kid is the wide possibilities of replayability. First of all, we can spend the story with this main character and also with Apple, his best friend. The narrative doesn’t change much, but there are different videos that show us each character’s point of view. Of course, the game tells us that the story of the robot girl is not canonical, but it is still a great opportunity to go through the adventure again.
Each story has a good ending and a bad ending, which are unlocked depending on how long it takes us to get the 4 main tokens and our percentage of items.
Turbo Kid works well in almost all of its sections and fans of the movie, metroidvania and nostalgia will enjoy it from start to finish. It only initially takes us by the hand to take our first steps, but quickly lets go and gives us the decision to play the way we want.
The best part is that it can be played many times, and each experience is unique in its own way. Also, it always feels fresh, fun, interesting and creative, which is why we see some people give up on it just because of how abstract it can be at times. Trust us: seeing at least one of its endings is worth it.
