Review – Antonblast

Please note that this review is of the Steam build of Antonblast. The review will be updated with details on the performance of the Nintendo Switch version of the game when it drops later this month. 

 

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As a kid, it was instilled in me pretty early on that a rival character is usually cooler than the hero. I’d turn the TV on and there was  Tommy, the evil green Power Ranger evenly matched against Jason, the leading red Power Ranger. This also translated to video games and music. Sonic was the fastest thing alive until Shadow came along to match and exceed his speed. Metallica was the fastest, meanest and most technical thrash metal band until Megadeth came along. And then there was Mario meeting Wario for the first time. 

I bring this up because Antonblast is one of a few platformers to recently recall the Wario Land series. Where Mario was known for bouncing off the heads of his enemies and nimbly navigating his way to the end of a level, Wario shoulder-checked and barreled his way through both his enemies and the level itself. A walking, talking wrecking ball, Wario was designed as a raucous rendition of Mario’s well-worn 2D platforming. 

Not only did Wario have to make his way to the end of a level, he also had to charge through that same level backwards in order to escape in time. One could say that Wario was the extreme version of Mario. This brings me to Antonblast. The titular character Anton is so extreme that his enemy is literally the devil. The reason isn’t for any transgressions or crimes committed either. The devil is just pissed that Anton is redder than him, so he takes Anton’s spirits hostage and challenges him to come find him in Hell. 

 

 

So begins Summitsphere’s Antonblast, a sort of followup to 2021’s Breakout-style puzzler Antonball. Where Antonball was a combination of a block-breaking paddle puzzler and 2D platforming, Antonblast is a more focused Wario Land-style 2D platformer. If 2023’s Pizza Tower was like Nickelodeon’s absurdist gross-out cartoons of the ’90s, Antonblast is its wackier, edgier Cartoon Network counterpart — more explosions, cursing dialogue and an actual lives system with numerous death animations. And instead of a pizza chef, you’re playing as a demolitions expert. 

In fact, Antonblast is a very ’90s video game. Loads of familiar and nostalgic cartoon sound effects can be heard as you charge through the 12 levels on offer. These sounds are visceral and energetic, matching up with the Looney Tunes-style animations in a way we haven’t exactly seen since the PlayStation days of platformers. Particularly, there is a lot of Crash Bandicoot in Antonblast’s DNA. You hop on fragile crates, avoid exploding-on-contact green Nitro boxes and even spin like the Tasmanian Devil through certain stages. 

 

 

Antonblast’s sound, humor, and look all exude a certain swagger that fits with the Wario-like character archetype of Anton (or as the devil likes to refer to him as, Antoine).  The optional playable character Annie is a green-skinned Mandy or Gaz-like punk rock kind of antihero that reminds me of attitude-driven cartoon girl archetypes. The reds, blues, yellows, and greens that comprise the game’s saturated color palette look fantastically gritty. Boiler City’s villainous, big band stomp that begins Anton’s misanthropic quest to Hell is infectious and really fits the chaotic action. The demonic bruisers spread throughout the levels you crash through all react to Anton’s incoming path of destruction like it’s the last thing they’ll ever see (it is). The presentation is appropriately goofy, encompassing the same dark humor that defined ’90s cult classics like Cow & Chicken and The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. Each level begins with the devil against a backdrop spouting some kind of one-liner, my favorite being “Don’t smile because it happened, cry because it’s OVER” at a suitable spot in the game. In the hub world between levels, a high rise hotel, Anton encounters a bartender that says “Damn” more often than I expected. He’s the shopkeeper that allows you to purchase upgrades as well, so he’s probably just mad he’s pulling double duties. 

Because Anton is a demolitions’ expert, he can destroy entire portions of each level and create new paths by doing so. He can shoulder check, slide, use his Mighty Hammer to bounce off the ground like Scrooge McDuck’s cane, roll like a bowling ball down slopes and pressing a dedicated button makes him scream like Tom getting one of his paws smashed in Tom & Jerry. Just because. He also receives casino chips, the game’s currency, for destroying just about anything in the foreground or background. Yes, you can jump between the two using specific arrowed platforms you encounter. The consuming dust cloud of exploding buildings all around and ringing of casino slot machine noises is just the kind of audio-visual feedback I look for in a video game. 

 

 

The goal in Antonblast is to locate four individual detonators marked with a specific playing card icon in four different areas of each level. Doing so completely opens up the path to one of the spirits necessary to complete the level and the Happy Hour clock, essentially the stone idol statue from Pizza Tower. As soon as the clock is hit, the mad dash back to the elevator at the start of the level begins. Up to that point in a level, you are free to explore in an almost Metroid-esque fashion. Levels are connected by dumpsters you dive into and come out of. You’ll come across different rooms this way and potentially encounter three optional collectibles. These are necessary for 100% completion. 

This general idea is already pretty solid and would be a fine way to play through the game. But Antonblast takes it a step farther by introducing variety to how the detonators and timer are framed. The Mad Mall has a safe in the middle of the level with the four detonators connected to it, each detonator being on a different path accessible only by clearing the previous path. Big Bath has you changing the water level of a giant pool in order to access the detonators. A later level that I won’t spoil the name of drops you in with the Happy Hour timer activated immediately and requiring you to find all of the detonators before being allowed to exit. This is one of the levels with a false ending, another detail I won’t spoil. 

Each level features a new transformation or power up for Anton, such as a pinball, a bouncing bomb, a charging shark and a jetpack. These are reserved for specific sections of a level which are designed perfectly for the utility of each transformation. I was impressed with how much Antonblast was able to accomplish with, and add to, the Wario Land formula. The shoulder charge incorporates the turbo boost meter from Crash Team Racing, for instance. Each timed button press adds more speed to Anton’s running animation. This comes in handy when trying to beat the timer. I didn’t necessarily find the timer to be too punishing, but this kind of tech will make speedrunners and players familiar with Pizza Tower feel more at home. 

 

 

The gameplay loop of Antonblast is unique in that there are just as many bosses as there are levels. After clearing a level, you’ll fight a mini boss known as a buster. The cool thing about these fights is that they’re just as full featured as a normal boss fight. The smaller size of the busters is deceptive. I had more trouble with some of them than I did with the real boss fights. The first mini boss reminded me so much of the Tiny Tiger boss fights from Crash Bandicoot 2 and Warped. I’m beginning to think the developer might just like that series. There’s a good sense of timed hits to these fights, reminding me of Punch Out!!. Later buster fights were more mechanized and required clearing waves of enemies in order to do damage. 

The actual boss fights are on a bigger scale and quite creative. My favorite example is the opera fight where Anton is dueling on a stage across from a reciting villain with a crowd in-between. A meter goes from happy to upset as you take damage while trying to avoid falling music notes. If your meter doesn’t completely fill, the crowd will pelt the singer on the other stage with tomatoes which fills a separate anger meter. Once that meter is filled after a few face-offs, the real fight begins and you can start doing real damage to the boss. It was a creative and fun encounter. Some of the bosses feature more traditional multi-phase tactics, one specifically reminding me of a Final Fantasy summon. Just like the rest of Antonblast, the fights were humorous and imaginative. 

Antonblast’s credits rolled within 7 hours with some occasional difficulty spikes. The fun factor was consistent and I felt accomplished by the end. Going back through levels to obtain more collectibles rewarded me for my previous knowledge of the level’s layout. And by collecting everything, at least one more optional level could be found which was a nice surprise. Playing on Steam, I encountered a few obtuse crashes which were quickly reported and patched thanks to a pre-release Discord channel with the developer and fellow journalists. I recall The Mysterious Glasshouse being one of the most troublesome levels in this regard and in general due to its abrasive platforming on top of man-eating plants. The difficulty overall scales pretty naturally with unlimited lives and the ability to purchase additional hitpoints if needed. The latter levels do up the difficulty and there’s a few gauntlets that put me to the test. 

 

 

I had a big smile on my face while completing Antonblast. Its cartoony, raucous influences make for an over-the-top, hilarious 2D platformer. I enjoy when platformers specifically embrace slapstick humor and allow its protagonist more than a few pratfalls. Anton just so happens to be a lovable grump and his opposing cohort is a Lex Lang-voiced flamboyant Satan. A lot of Antonblast felt like a nostalgic warm hug for someone who grew up watching edgy cartoons and playing wacky platformers. If you’re looking for pure explosive fun with a bit of a sinister twist to it, Anton’s your guy. 

 

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