Game Review: Kickback Slug: Cosmic Courier

By Al

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC

Kickback Slug: Cosmic Courier​ is a physics-based avoidance platformer that recently released on the Nintendo Switch, following an earlier release on Steam. It takes the physics part of its gameplay very seriously, and it’s probably this fact that also makes it quite the difficult game at times. Thankfully it's a very silly one too. We'll get to all that in due course, but we need to get this intro out the way first. It's time to see if you have what it takes to become an interstellar delivery person for a little company called LOL, or if you even want to be. Let's get right into it!

Not the Poo Pop!

Just DO IT!

It's a normal workday in space and our hero Slippy the Slug, who is accompanied by his partner McFly, are out delivering parcels for Lunar Orbital Logistics, or LOL. Things seem to be going rather normal until they find themselves crash-landing on an uncharted planet. Our duo survive the crash, but the parcels they were carrying have scattered all over the unknown planet's surface. The AI LOL representative that apparently accompanies all LOL employees wants you to complete your jobs despite the newly-apparent dangers, but McFly suggests you just try to find a way off the planet. Slippy chooses to go the middle ground, and agrees to pick up whatever packages he can as they make their way towards an eventual escape. Escaping is easier said than done, and they must use everything at their disposal to get back into the cold embrace of space. Everything in this case includes the weapons you'd think space delivery people would never need. While Slippy can use these weapons for defense, they're mainly going to be used as a means of propulsion, as slugs aren't exactly known for their speed and range of motion. Thus begins a unique space adventure where you take on the role of a delivery slug. There isn't much more to the story than this, but seeing this it probably more than is really needed considering the gameplay and scope of the game.

Be sure to do this!

Here are some package content examples.

Slippy's adventures on the uncharted planet take him across its five regions (jungle, ice, mines, lava, and space) with each having their own hazards and gameplay mechanics to deal with. The five areas all have nine standard levels, and a boss encounter. The regular levels all follow the same pattern, you find the switch that opens the exit portal, hit it, and then get to the portal without dying. Along the way you can grab the stray package each level has, or even try for a timed challenge which is triggered by shooting the hourglass item at the start of the level. These are both optional/additional goals, and neither are necessary to complete the game. I actually pretty much avoided the timed level mechanic after the first few levels, as I found it near impossible most of the time. The levels themselves are all rather short, but some of them will see you die time and time again in order to complete them. Thankfully you respawn fast, so you don't have to worry about much downtime in between the action. This keeps things moving fast, and that's good since speed is sort of the name of the game here.

You'd think boss battles would be harder to explain than the normal levels, but they actually are pretty straightforward. Throughout the levels you'll encounter various enemies, and there are only a few that Slippy's gun will actually damage. This changes when you encounter bosses, as your gun actually serves as both your means of movement (more on that in a bit), as well as your means of damage. Sometimes a boss’s stage will have other ways to damage them, but the gun will usually be your first line of defense. Each boss has some sort of weak point you must hit, and they all have a rather large life bar. Your goal is to keep at it until they eventually die. If you die in the process you can restart, and thankfully most of the damage you've done to the boss is kept intact. This is important as boss patterns get more difficult as the battle goes on, and Slippy can only take one hit before he goes down. That's pretty much it when it comes to boss battles, and it's worth mentioning that while the fifth and final world does end in a boss encounter, there isn't a BIG boss that sort of rules above the entire game.

I hated these so much.

"Feed me Seymour, feed me now!"

Kickback Slug's core gameplay revolves around movement, and its control scheme is hard to describe; it does center on kickback though, so you can at least say it's true to its name. Slippy actually can't move around on his own, instead he relies on his weapons to move him in the opposite direction he's firing in. The A Button fires his main gun, and this moves you in jerky, jumpy increments away from the direction you're firing. It's not a perfect movement though, as you'll slowly drift towards or away from the direction depending on several factors like the amount of blasts you've made. Pressing the B Button has Slippy fart, and this allows you to travel in a steady speed in the direction you're currently going in. You can use this to get through narrow areas without touching the walls, but you can't adjust your angle without more shooting, so it's best to use this only in very specific scenarios. The Y Button fires a bigger shot that propels you quickly in the opposite direction you fired in. There are times when you'll have to use this to get past certain obstacles, but it's very unpredictable, and can just as often lead to your death. Also, even though it looks like a powerful blast, this weapon doesn't damage any enemies from what I could tell. The directional buttons are used only to move your gun arm in various directions, and you can actually turn on a laser sight for your blaster that shows you exactly where your shots are going in the options. I don't know if using this is considered "cheating" or not, but I never once regretted turning the option on once I realized that option existed. It takes a lot of time to get used to firing AWAY from the direction you want to go in, but you'll eventually get the hang of it, and the game is pretty forgiving when it comes to mistakes.

Of course there's a fire level.

This ice levels are very maze-like

There's a big thing I want to discuss when it comes to Kickback Slug, and that's its difficulty. Or better yet, it's uneven difficulty. I nearly gave up on the game in the first Jungle area because I was getting tired of doing the same ridiculously hard sections over and over again. This area features spikes on the walls, enemies that like to knock you around, spinning gears you have to navigate through, and spinning gears that also have spikes that kill you. I don't know if it's just me, but I found these levels to be the hardest in the entire game. Even the boss was one of the most unforgiving, and I only was able to beat him due to most of the damage being carried over between lives. It was also this world that made me gave up on ever trying the timed challenges again, as they were just adding to my general frustration. This area even has the only package I was never able to get, the one from Stage Nine, even though I tried for a literal hour to do so at one point. The thing is that the game's difficulty becomes far more manageable after this section. I don't know if those levels trained me for the worst, but I found that I was breezing through most of the game after that. Even when later levels would get me stuck, it usually only took a handful of tries to complete them. Later levels feature water areas you can't shoot in, enemies that can kill you directly, literal dynamite, instant death spikes and traps, switches that open up locked rooms, and generally just more maze-like levels. Despite all these new gameplay mechanics that you'd think would ramp up the difficulty, nothing ever compared to those Jungle levels. It's my opinion that the game's difficulty is almost exclusively front-loaded, and I can't figure out why the developers would go this route.

The packages are always in bad areas.

I love the end level quips.

Now one of my favorite aspects of the game is the humor, the graphics, and the animations themselves. These might sound like two or three different topics to cover, but I'm going to discuss them all together for reasons I hope become obvious. Kickback Slug is a really funny game, with the humor coming straight from the toilet. I knew I was in for a good time when McFly talked about dropping his Poo Pop in the opening cutscene. This game also has vibes of classic retro games like Earthworm Jim or Boogerman, but with far wilder jokes. The end of level quips, and the banter between Slippy, McFly, and the LOL representative, really made the game for me. There's also a lot of touches within the levels themselves that add to things. Backgrounds will feature other monsters eying you, and other background elements that add to the atmosphere. There's a level of detail here that you wouldn't expect in a game of this scope, but it just adds to everything I love about it. While they'll definitely be giving you a lot of trouble, enemies themselves often seem to kill you in ways that make them look silly too. Speaking of little touches here and there, Slippy actually changes his look and weapon a depending on the stages you're currently playing through. Oh, and the packages you collect are also one-off jokes themselves. You can view all the ones you've collected in the Gallery for a chuckle or two if you so desire. The way Slippy stretches, smashes, and gets squished by simply moving gives everything a cartoon-like atmosphere. The same is true for the bosses and the world too. It keeps the mood light, and helps when you're constantly dying in certain levels. Even the death animations, limited they are, add to this. My only wish is that there was more to all of these things, and wishing for more of the same isn't exactly a bad thing to complain about.

This Yeti is kind of cute.

Monty Mole, but a dangerous robot.

Sound is another aspect of the game I really enjoyed, for the most part at least. While I have to say that most of the music is silly and upbeat, but some of it gets a bit too abstract at times for my tastes. Not to attack the Jungle area more, but it was those levels that I felt had the weakest music overall. I actually was going to give this game generally bad scores at first because I was spending hours on just the few introductory levels. I was ready to quit, and I had to hear a sub-par soundtrack the entire time too. Then everything, music included, seemed to fix itself in the later levels and areas. I won't be rushing out to buy this game's soundtrack, but I definitely enjoyed the music outside of the opening sections. Sound effects are just as well-done, but they weren't quite as numerous as I would've liked. What is here has a similar cartoon-like vibe as the visuals. Also, it may be asking for too much for a game of this size, but I wish there was more voice acting. There is some for the LOL representative throughout the game, and for everyone in the cutscenes, but I would've loved to have all the dialogue between Slippy and McFly to be voiced as well. Maybe get these two their own series of games.

This is the part of the review where I discuss how replayable a game is, or just its general amount of content when compared to its price. I'm not really sure how to judge this though, as I do think it's a fairly short game that can get a lot of padding by way of its occasional difficulty. This is by no means a big negative, and there are a lot of things you can do if you're looking to keep playing the game after beating it. First off you do unlock more gameplay in the form of Bonus Levels. Besides these, you can do what I didn't and try to go for all the timed challenges. Even though this game can be completed in maybe 4-6 hours, you can easily get double that if you want to do everything. It also has a relatively small price tag at just $11.99. While I think $9.99 might suit it a bit better, you do get a lot of content for your money, and that's an important point to make in my opinion. Whether this game stays in your rotation after you fully complete it is another story, but that's what sequels are for right? Well, one can hope at least.

Did this turn into Super Meat Boy?

Who cares about the corporate overlords.

While I don't think I can give Kickback Slug: Cosmic Courier the fullest of recommendations, I must admit that I had a lot of fun with it once I got past the Jungle sections. My advice would be to just power through those levels with everything you've got, and get to the good stuff that comes afterwards. If you're a fan of platformers, and want a very different take on the genre, then you'll probably find this an entertaining experience. Everyone else might not get into it quite as quickly, but its low price, and easy to grasp gameplay, is sure to keep most around who can stomach the harsh learning curve and front-loaded difficulty. I on the other hand will be hoping to see our friends Slippy and McFly in another adventure someday. I just hope it's not a long wait.

Check Out Kickback Slug: Cosmic Courier on Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/kickback-slug-cosmic-courier-switch/

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Story: A
Gameplay: B+
Graphics: A
Music/Sound: B
Value: B

Overall: B

Pros:
+ A generally funny atmosphere, wacky characters, and some quirky quips will make most players chuckle at least a few times.
+ Even though the game can be pretty punishing difficulty-wise, the controls are very tight and accurate.
+ Infinite lives, and quick level loading, means that you're able to get in the inevitable repeated tries quickly.
+ The boss battles and bonus levels give variety to the gameplay.
+ Graphics are colorful and well-detailed for what they are, and the animations are all as smooth as can be.

Cons:
- Much of the game's length comes through its occasional difficulty spikes, many of which are front-loaded.
- No mid-level checkpoints mean that players will find themselves stuck on the same levels for dozens of tries at a time.
- Some of the music may be annoying to some (read: me), and I found myself wishing for more voice acting.
- Not a lot of reason to go back to this one after you complete it.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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I never did get that package by the way.