The third, and final, winter-themed game Nitrome released to close out 2007, and also apparently one of their most popular games? At least up until 2009? I’m a little surprised at that: frankly, like the quote itself says, I would’ve thought it’d be something a bit more flagship, like Skywire or Final Ninja, as opposed to this, which was… not a game I had much memory of. Even when playing it again, the only things that really came back to me were bits of the music and the visual design of the lizard enemies. Other than that, this was… mostly rather unfamiliar to me, but frankly, playing through it, I can see why it caught on! It very much focuses on Nitrome’s strengths, turning a simple concept (walk on the level to freeze it below you, freeze the whole level to win) and slowly ramping it up and up with enemies and mechanics, making something simple rather complex without taking away from what’s fun in the first place. Not to say there's nothing new, though: in particular, I love the use of dynamic music here, the way the main theme starts to incorporate sleigh bells as you freeze up more and more of the level. It's a neat way of tracking how close you are to beating the level, and while it's certainly not as ambitious as some of the stuff you'd see done later on, it's cute, and a fun new iteration this game brings to Nitrome's repertoire.
The game also manages to sidestep some of the issues present in other Nitrome games, or at least the ones up to this point. While dying takes you back to the beginning of the level, levels themselves are short enough that losing is never a major setback, and nothing in particular ever gets to the level of the stupid endurance tests that plagued games like, say, Twang or Headcase or Dangle. There’s a multiplayer mode, but the game isn’t assuming you’re doing it co-op — all it does is add a fun PVP element where you can compete with player 2 to see who can freeze more of the level — and, unlike previous multiplayer game Square Meal, you’re not kneecapped just because you don’t have a friend over. There are problems, of course: I think the game has way more levels than it needs to (even if I do appreciate how gradual this game’s difficulty curve is), and the final levels in particular are rather rough in how they basically become all about keeping out of enemy sight lines lest they undo vast swaths of your progress, but as a whole, I had fun throughout the game’s runtime. Which is appreciated. After going through a year's worth of… mostly platformers, each mostly plagued with the exact same flaws, seeing this and Snow Drift finally put the work in to try and combat those issues… it’s a nice way to leave off the year that just passed, and a decent promise for the one ahead. And knowing just what Nitrome released in 2008, I’m excited to revisit what’s to come.
The game also manages to sidestep some of the issues present in other Nitrome games, or at least the ones up to this point. While dying takes you back to the beginning of the level, levels themselves are short enough that losing is never a major setback, and nothing in particular ever gets to the level of the stupid endurance tests that plagued games like, say, Twang or Headcase or Dangle. There’s a multiplayer mode, but the game isn’t assuming you’re doing it co-op — all it does is add a fun PVP element where you can compete with player 2 to see who can freeze more of the level — and, unlike previous multiplayer game Square Meal, you’re not kneecapped just because you don’t have a friend over. There are problems, of course: I think the game has way more levels than it needs to (even if I do appreciate how gradual this game’s difficulty curve is), and the final levels in particular are rather rough in how they basically become all about keeping out of enemy sight lines lest they undo vast swaths of your progress, but as a whole, I had fun throughout the game’s runtime. Which is appreciated. After going through a year's worth of… mostly platformers, each mostly plagued with the exact same flaws, seeing this and Snow Drift finally put the work in to try and combat those issues… it’s a nice way to leave off the year that just passed, and a decent promise for the one ahead. And knowing just what Nitrome released in 2008, I’m excited to revisit what’s to come.