Super Alloy Crush Preview

Super Alloy Crush is an interesting little title; it’s an action platformer heavily inspired by the likes of Mega Man X. You take the reins of either Muu or Kelly and work alongside a group of Rangers looking for the ultimate treasure: the planet AE-38, along with resolving some personal stories along the way.

Like Mega Man, Super Alloy Crush is a level-based 2D platformer with incredibly fluid movement and combat. Both Kelly and Muu have unique movesets, each fitting a core archetype: Muu focuses on close-range brawling, while Kelly focuses more on ranged utility and damage. I much preferred my time with Muu, as her kit is fluid, fast, and her moves flow together super well, leading to some really cool free-form combos. Kelly feels more limited in that regard; despite his damage seeming to be higher, he generally isn’t as much fun to play.

These kits aren’t set in concrete, though; as you progress through each level, you’ll find more abilities, and can purchase even more with the currency you’ll collect within each stage. These can be changed between levels, and you can change characters between stages too, giving you a nice amount of freedom to curate the experience and keep things fresh. 

The level design is part of where it falls down for me. It’s not bad, it’s just unfortunately unremarkable. The stages flow well, with a number of branching paths for some extra rewards, alongside decently well-signposted secrets. Beyond visuals, though, they play in fundamentally similar ways. It’s bound to happen, but such limited gameplay variety beyond core movesets is notable. The bosses that end each stage are pretty solid, though. Despite being a little too spongey, the more interesting fights have a decent amount to learn, and some fun pattern evolution as the fights progress. 

The characters, dialogue, and story are where I lost interest, unfortunately. A lot of the dialogue feels incredibly stilted and unnatural, and thanks to this, the characters struggle to really find any strong or interesting traits. These writing issues blend into the story too, and it makes the story as a whole difficult to engage with. While it doesn’t seem to be the core driving force, I do wish there was just a little more to be interested in.

Aesthetically though, Super Alloy Crush knocks it out of the park. It’s an all-around delight to both look at and listen to. Despite some characters looking a tad similar, the key cast are all distinct and interesting visually, and the music and sound design are especially exceptional. Sound effects are all very satisfying, and the music does a great job of enhancing the overall experience.

Super Alloy Crush shows great potential. It’s not quite there yet, with the writing being a key point of concern, but each other part of the game is already strong, and with its additional time in Early Access, I can see this title becoming something of a gem.