You’ve trained for years to be the leanest, meanest and quickest master of your craft the world has ever seen. Days and nights of endless training have become your life. The word “quit” isn’t in you vocabulary. Perfection is all you strive for, it’s what keeps you going. Though you’re ready for anything, there’s no war to fight, no battle to be won, no enemy to destroy…but man is this place filthy. Grab your broom, janitor, it’s time to get this place clean. You duty lies with the DustForce.
You’ve trained for years to be the leanest, meanest and quickest master of your craft the world has ever seen. Days and nights of endless training have become your life. The word “quit” isn’t in you vocabulary. Perfection is all you strive for, it’s what keeps you going. Though you’re ready for anything, there’s no war to fight, no battle to be won, no enemy to destroy…but man is this place filthy. Grab your broom, janitor, it’s time to get this place clean. You duty lies with the DustForce.
DustForce is a 2D platformer in the vein of Super Meat Boy. You’ll run and jump your way around numerous short levels to rid the area of its dirt and grime in the quickest and most efficient manner possible. While there are multiple paths to get this done, there’s only one that will lead you to getting the “S” rating for both completion (getting all the dirt cleaned up) and finesse (don’t make any mistakes). When you achieve the “S” rating for both you’ll be awarded a key to unlock another level, as most of the levels are locked away at the start. DustForce demands perfection.
Even though the Super Meat Boy comparison is warranted, a huge difference between the two games is that DustForce has a much more chill vibe to it. The looping music is very soothing and provides the perfect backdrop to your ninja janitor’s quest for clean. The cell shaded visuals are beautiful and silky smooth, with animations reminiscent of classic Warner Bros. cartoons. The relaxing vibe helps with the moments when you’ve restarted the same level for the fiftieth time and you’ve messed up that one jump…again.
Before you buy DustForce you’ll definitely want to have a controller handy. The default keyboard controls just don’t provide the precision you’ll need for maneuvering your character. Though it’s not obvious, all the controls can be remapped easily in the options. It’s really the way it’s meant to be played. The tutorial level is great for teaching the basics of how to interact with the world, but it doesn’t really tell you how to get around the world that leads you to the individual levels. It took me a little too much time to realize just how much of the world you could explore, and that it would lead you to the other themed areas and available levels. Though I’m never a huge fan of too much hand-holding, a little nudge in that direction would have been nice.
If you’re like me and you love the repetitive challenge of doing the same little thing over and over again until you get it absolutely perfect, you’ll find a lot to love in DustForce. The leaderboards and available video replays will keep you constantly in search of taking off the nanoseconds here and there, and local multiplayer is available for those who want to test their skills against some friends. The very minor problems in the previous paragraph should in no way stop you from picking up this little indie gem.
