Retro Review - Osman/Cannon Dancer
Strider is one of the most emblematic games of its genre and a few months ago I reviewed its spectacular sequel, which takes the elements of the first video game and improves them, not only graphically, but also in mechanics and although I have not yet made the respective review of the first Strider, today I want to talk about another game that has certain elements of this little saga. It is quite common, after a video game or something specific product is popular, "clones" appear, that is to say a product, in this case a video game, that tries to create something based on that popular video game in order to take advantage of the fame of that product to sell, this is quite common and although many times it could be considered as "clone games", they can also simply be tributes and/or references and inspirations towards that product or video game, so the video game I will talk about today is very inspired by the Strider saga.
Osman, or Cannon Dancer as he is known in Japan, takes us to a world several years in the future, almost at the end of the 21st century, this futuristic world is being controlled entirely by an authoritarian government, with corrupt politicians who only do things for their own benefit. However, Abdullah the Slaver appears on the scene, a woman who is beginning to cause havoc and terrorist acts around the world, in order to destabilize world power, so that she and her group of villains can steal total control of the planet and its forces. Because of this Osman is hired, who due to his excellent physical skills in fighting and killing, has been assigned the mission of killing everyone who is causing imbalances in the world. As you will see, although it is the typical story in which we have to save the world, the argument of this video game is a little more "mature" due to the ways in which the world that has created Osman's universe is handled, a dark future, controlled by capitalism and corruption... not so far from reality.
Graphically this game is spectacular, with a sample of bright and even psychedelic colors, which makes each scenario a retro wonder. In the scenarios we can see lots of details that adorn every place we go, so there will always be something to see, even the smallest detail. Because we are in a world located at the end of the 21st century, we will see elements related to that future, therefore, Osman has certain characteristics of the cyberpunk style, from machines, buildings, ships, flying cars and that along with the excellent and striking color palette, makes a visually outstanding combination.
The variety of scenarios is also quite large and are related to the final bosses of each stage, so these scenarios will have decorations or even color palettes that are related to the final boss we are going to fight. The character designs, despite not having great detail, because the sprites are not so large, look good and fit very well with the environment and the setting of this game, although we can find enemies or final bosses, whose sizes are larger than others, so in these larger enemies can be noticed a better quality in detail, as the variety of enemies is quite decent.
As expected, being a game of the genre platforms and action, and especially because it is inspired and as is considered a "spiritual sequel" to Strider, it is logical that in terms of movements and animations these are full of agility and speed, a very important aspect in this game, and is that the animations and movement in general in this game is quite satisfactory.
The music in Osman/Cannon Dancer is quite accurate, with a set of really good melodies and that due to that futuristic aesthetic, we can find melodies related to that aspect. However, as far as melodies are concerned, due to the fact that we can also find Arabic elements, some of the melodies in this set are composed with that style so characteristic of that country. But usually it is a soundtrack full of fast rhythms, perfect for moments of action and high speed.
Osman or also known as Cannon Dancer was developed by the group of people in charge of creating the mythical Strider. So even the creator of Strider considers it a "spiritual sequel", because the mechanics could be said to be practically the same. Osman is an action and platform game in which we must advance through a series of scenarios with great skill and speed, defeating all enemies who want to attack us. Movement and speed are very important in this game, since the difficulty curve is quite high, it is not as easy as you might think, we must have a good control over our character and know how to attack and dodge when necessary.
In general terms the controls are quite easy, very intuitive and simple, but despite the simplicity of its controls, Osman is quite a challenge to our skills. We will be able to obtain powerups that will help us in our mission, from powerups to increase our life capacity, other items that heal our character's life and others that make our protagonist attack more efficiently, all these items and powerups are of great help and importance so that we can advance more easily.
Knowing how to move is of great importance when we want to advance between the scenarios, as well as knowing when to jump is the right thing, moving at high speed, jumping and holding on to the walls are the 3 things we are going to do the most, so it is quite important that we know how to do it correctly, since the least mistake is death for our character and in this game we are going to die many times.
Osman/Cannon Dancer is really a jewel of video games totally underrated, an excellent game, not only visually, but also in mechanics, which despite being simple, is due to its great difficulty and its high level of re-playability, makes it a very addictive and entertaining title.
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