Coffee Crisis
Toted a “neo-rogue brawler” by the developers at Mega Cat Studios, Coffee Crisis is a side-scrolling title falling under the beat’em up genre with a heavy emphasis on video game and music retrospective. Originally releasing to be compatible for the Sega Genesis and Mega Drive, this game has recently been ported to Switch, and was reportedly idealized when the developers met the owners of the Black Forge Coffee House during a fundraiser for the University of Pittsburgh Medial Center (UPMC) Children’s Hospital. The story’s focus is on that of Nick and Ashley, two mentioned baristas of the Black Forge Coffee House who must halt their work to interrupt a malicious alien race known as the Smurglians from taking Earth. Before beginning, I feel I must iterate that I received this title as a code from the developers on the Nintendo Switch, and have played both in single player and multiplayer modes without the native modifiers currently active for the Switch.
Here are just a few reasons to start bashing:
Story - Spoilers aside, the title opens with a race of aliens known as the Smurglians invading Earth’s cited coffee-centric bistro-based on the location of the same name in Pittsburgh- andasking the game’s barista protagonists, Nick and Ashley, about the location of the world’s metal. The invaders possess the indigenous population resulting in enemy designs ranging from the stated alien race to elderly women utilizing a walker for both maneuvering and attacking the player. Coffee Crisis presents these story segments through cutscenes between gameplay sections which aide in comprehending the adventure’s progression. It is quite endearing to witness a title not drive a plot with too much earnest, and merely enjoy the prospect of classic video gaming retrospective rather than soak in over-complexity; it is an uncomplicated story portrayed through direct means.
Gameplay - The boasted topic of discussion, Coffee Crisis utilizes a side-scrolling third-person perspective while players dispatch parties of aliens or possessed humans by assaulting them with Nick’s bag of beans or Ashley’s glass. There are two primary Joycon buttons appropriated for combat: ‘R’ is the characters’ primary attack which can be held down for a charged strike, while ‘L’ functions as a special maneuver that depletes health upon use. Enemies can be grabbed and thrown in several ways, and various weapons such as a pipe may appear on the ground for player use. Combat feels satisfying and truly made me reminisce on video games I frequented in my youth while facing diverse hordes with standard static offense patterns made ever-more-challenging by the inclusion of a multitude of enemies on the screen. The inclusion of the post-level button-mashing bonus minigame is gratifying as it is an ‘earned reward’ if the token is found during the prior level, with compensation for completion being extra lives and returned health. From my experiences, Coffee Crisis has a satisfying difficulty that can see you enter a stage with eight lives only to lose them by the final boss on Normal difficulty alone; it challenges the seasoned veteran with brutal enemy mobs, bosses, and scenarios with a fair tone that demands respect.
Retrospective - As stated in the introduction, Coffee Crisis was developed initially for Sega Genesis and Mega Drive systems, and can even be purchased in the model plastic cartridge form for use on said systems; though some may not view this as appealing-having personally grown up with a Sega Genesis-I believe the idea to be novel to say the least while being well worth mentioning. Nostalgia reigns as references to classic video gaming culture such as Sega’s rivaled catchphrase, “Sega does what Nintendon’t,” are cleverly woven into dialogue segments and aesthetic choices for the environment and characters. Coffee Crisis does not utilize a save game function, and instead relies on a password system accessed from the main menu as representative classics had also done. This title simply does retrospective right.
TL:DR - Coffee Crisis is an difficult yet gratifying challenge for those seasoned by classic brawlers from the 1980s an1990s. This title presents an uncomplicated tale of two baristas saving the world with weighty strikes on an alien race in a tone basking in its retrospective contemporaries. I recommend this title to those that enjoy or have enjoyed beat‘em up games. Thanks for reading.
Do you feel this review helped in any way? Feel free to visit my Curator Page at Spearpoint Reviews.
Originally posted on December 12, 2018.
Here are just a few reasons to start bashing:
Story - Spoilers aside, the title opens with a race of aliens known as the Smurglians invading Earth’s cited coffee-centric bistro-based on the location of the same name in Pittsburgh- andasking the game’s barista protagonists, Nick and Ashley, about the location of the world’s metal. The invaders possess the indigenous population resulting in enemy designs ranging from the stated alien race to elderly women utilizing a walker for both maneuvering and attacking the player. Coffee Crisis presents these story segments through cutscenes between gameplay sections which aide in comprehending the adventure’s progression. It is quite endearing to witness a title not drive a plot with too much earnest, and merely enjoy the prospect of classic video gaming retrospective rather than soak in over-complexity; it is an uncomplicated story portrayed through direct means.
Gameplay - The boasted topic of discussion, Coffee Crisis utilizes a side-scrolling third-person perspective while players dispatch parties of aliens or possessed humans by assaulting them with Nick’s bag of beans or Ashley’s glass. There are two primary Joycon buttons appropriated for combat: ‘R’ is the characters’ primary attack which can be held down for a charged strike, while ‘L’ functions as a special maneuver that depletes health upon use. Enemies can be grabbed and thrown in several ways, and various weapons such as a pipe may appear on the ground for player use. Combat feels satisfying and truly made me reminisce on video games I frequented in my youth while facing diverse hordes with standard static offense patterns made ever-more-challenging by the inclusion of a multitude of enemies on the screen. The inclusion of the post-level button-mashing bonus minigame is gratifying as it is an ‘earned reward’ if the token is found during the prior level, with compensation for completion being extra lives and returned health. From my experiences, Coffee Crisis has a satisfying difficulty that can see you enter a stage with eight lives only to lose them by the final boss on Normal difficulty alone; it challenges the seasoned veteran with brutal enemy mobs, bosses, and scenarios with a fair tone that demands respect.
Retrospective - As stated in the introduction, Coffee Crisis was developed initially for Sega Genesis and Mega Drive systems, and can even be purchased in the model plastic cartridge form for use on said systems; though some may not view this as appealing-having personally grown up with a Sega Genesis-I believe the idea to be novel to say the least while being well worth mentioning. Nostalgia reigns as references to classic video gaming culture such as Sega’s rivaled catchphrase, “Sega does what Nintendon’t,” are cleverly woven into dialogue segments and aesthetic choices for the environment and characters. Coffee Crisis does not utilize a save game function, and instead relies on a password system accessed from the main menu as representative classics had also done. This title simply does retrospective right.
TL:DR - Coffee Crisis is an difficult yet gratifying challenge for those seasoned by classic brawlers from the 1980s an1990s. This title presents an uncomplicated tale of two baristas saving the world with weighty strikes on an alien race in a tone basking in its retrospective contemporaries. I recommend this title to those that enjoy or have enjoyed beat‘em up games. Thanks for reading.
Do you feel this review helped in any way? Feel free to visit my Curator Page at Spearpoint Reviews.
Originally posted on December 12, 2018.
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