Golden Force Critic Reviews

Golden Force is an excellent side-scrolling action platformer with some of the best boss fights I’ve seen for quite some time. With brilliant combat and combo mechanics and four varied islands to explore, Golden Force will surprise just as much as it entertains.

Golden Force doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does the nearly-impossible by offering a truly 16-bit experience, from sprite-based visuals to the tough-as-nails difficulty. If Gunstar Heroes copulated with Rocket Knight Adventures, Golden Force would be its beautiful brood. Just don’t go digging for the easy mode, it simply doesn’t exist.

Golden Force is a fun and varied 2d action game, but you'll need a lot of patience to overcome its challenging difficulty.

It may not be revolutionary or redefine its genre, but Golden Force is a lot of fun to play thanks to its successful formula of good level design, fun combat system and accessible difficulty. It's not a groundbreaking piece of gaming, but it's certainly a very good formula.

It goes without saying that Golden Force does not revolutionize the platform action game in any way, it nevertheless offers a beautiful homecoming, which is sure to satisfy the most nostalgic and platformer lovers.

Golden Force is a title that is very fun and challenging, whether we play it alone or in company. An interesting game for veteran lovers of the genre. Despite being short, it is a highly recommended title if its proposal attracts you.

Old-school action and platforming meet in Golden Force. It’s not the most original game, but it’s a good choice for those looking for a challenging 2D experience.

Golden Force manages to offer a well-balanced platforming experience, with functional battle mechanics, exceptional level design, co-op and a difficulty that can push players to their limits and often test their patience. Had it built upon its overall gameplay experience, it could have had an even sweeter place in our minds and hearts.

Golden Force is an enjoyable romp, but its steep difficulty and straightforward design prevent it from rising above the trappings of the games that inspired it. It’s definitely worth a look for anyone who enjoys the run ‘n’ gun style of the games of yore, even if it can be controller-throwingly difficult.

While games like Shovel Knight utilize the rose-tinted memories of retro gaming to full effect, Golden Force delivers the white-knuckle reality. For those who regularly replay older games, Golden Force will feel right at home and take some time to fully master. For those who are just looking for a good time, the game is harder to recommend simply because of the frustration inherent in progressing through it.

Homage supported and assumed to the consoles of the 90s, Golden Force does not seek to revolutionize anything, but only to make us relive the sensations of this beautiful era.

Golden Force is a fun, retro, side-scrolling experience not for the faint of heart. Full of challenging battles and pixelated fun, this run-n-gun will keep you on your toes.

It is a good challenge for players who enjoy breaking records and scores and pleasant at the controls as long as they are willing to overlook its technical problems.

There’s a good game in here somewhere and I really want it to break the surface, but performance issues and questionable difficulty are holding down a great game.

It’s disappointing that Golden Force falls down in the areas that it does, because without these fixable issues it would be an easy recommendation – level design is mostly strong, the boss battles marry spectacle with varied and fun-to-learn attack strings nicely, and it feels good to get stronger and play better. Unfortunately, some rookie errors come close to spoiling the fun altogether, but if you’re bloody-minded enough to muscle through these frustrations there is undoubtedly a lot to appreciate about Golden Force. Which is a shame, in a sense, because “Golden Farce” would have been a perfect tagline for this review. The one we’ve had to opt for is rubbish, by comparison. (It’s not as easy as you might think, this game-reviewing lark.)

If you have the patience to persevere through its irritatingly tricky segments, Golden Force can be a rewarding fun-filled adventure.

Golden Force is a platform for hardcore and tenacious gamers. It has good pixel-art and a powerful soundtrack. It is fun but some choices of game design are far from perfect. Its bad camera and its artificial difficulty can discourage many players.

Much of Golden Force is very, very good. Any diehard fan of 16-bit games will find a lot to like, but in an age where games like this are common, Golden Force is too technically flawed and too hard to recommended to all but the most dedicated players.

In spite of some genuinely enjoyable platforming and action sequences, Golden Force is unpolished and rusted. The vibrant and colourful aesthetic can’t make up for the poorly-balanced economy and flawed technical aspects. My initial impressions were much stronger than my later ones, and as I made my way through the different stages, conquered the bosses, and replayed stages to seek out more coins and collectables, the weaknesses became more prominent and the strengths less so. My understanding is that the developers are aware of some of these issues, so this could turn into a somewhat decent title in the future. At present, though, if there’s an alchemy to turn lead into gold, it’s sorely needed here.

Taken on its own, Golden Force is decent. It looks wonderful, with some solid combat mechanics and very engaging boss fights. Start to compare it to other pixel platformers on the system, and you'll come to lament the forced trial-and-error gameplay, tedious combat, and unnecessarily broken upgrade economy. Patient players may stick it out, but for everyone else, the Switch has plenty of other well-crafted platformers.