Skeleton Crew

Skeleton Crew is a game with a neat concept that isn't executed well. It's a novel idea to kick things all over the place as both a means of solving puzzles and attacking enemies; it ensures that you can still get out of a pickle even if you select someone you end up disliking. Throw in the multiplayer aspect, and it feels like something you'll want to play when company's over or if you can ensure someone you know is online and willing to play. That said, the actual kicking mechanics are slow, and the various bugs and balance issues mean that there's a good chance you'll need to play through some levels a few times through no fault of your own. Despite being out for this long, Skeleton Crew still needs more polish before you'll want to give it a chance.

Skeleton Crew is currently broken in a way that makes it hard to recommend. The game that it wants to be is excellent, with nicely chaotic combat, intricate nonlinear levels filled with secrets, plenty of areas to explore and fight through, and fantastically-clever challenges. The large number of characters with different play-styles let you switch up the approach to the levels, and when everything’s working as it should the areas are a huge amount of fun to perfect a run through. Toss in some excellent high-resolution 2D art and Skeleton Crew looks and plays like what we dreamed the future would be back in the Genesis/SNES days. At the moment it’s just not where it needs to be, but if it’s got anything like a decent patch schedule, then it’s one to keep an eye on.