Rack N Ruin

Every once in a while you find a real gem of a game that is Rack N Ruin. Simply a darn fun action spell flinging game in beautifully painted world.

Be an evil little demon hell bent on corrupting the world of Galia, and during it all not only seeing all the fantasy tropes and clichés, but embrace them and see them taken to one heck of a funny extreme. It's exceedingly fun; more so than I thought it could be. The game play starts off slow is it teaches you a basic fireball spell, and how to corrupt the first bit of land. Of course this is all thanks to a little ghost; a former demon that tried the very same things you did. So like Navi from Zelda the bugger follows you about, and although not as annoying we can finally put an end to him later on by having him banished. If only that was possible with Navi.... As you progress you find out that a Champion is on a quest to find some legendary items to trap you, typical of heroes trying to ruin fun. So in a flip of scenarios you're going to try and kill them before that's all possible. Each area is very unique, the music great and of course the art style wonderful and whimsical. Even after you corrupt the land the music and art stay great, although look like something from a Tim Burton movie at times. The boss battles are extremely fun although can be very punishing if you didn't backtrack at times and explore as much as possible. So some advice: explore everything thoroughly. Especially if you've corrupted the land. I've missed so many part because of that, which I only discovered after getting stuck on a puzzle and going back. The combat can get very hectic, as ole Rack is not the most nimble or strongest of demons, so you have to be sure to read the descriptions of your items and use them to your fullest. The main crutch of the game for me is the puzzles. Often times obviously easy that you might miss something, some are so darn convoluted that you might spend and hour backtracking through areas trying to find something to help. Thankfully there aren't too many, and are usually only needed at major checkpoints for areas, which is where they can become very annoying and break your momentum. Little Rack also doesn't move very precisely, it's not an issue most of the times; but on occasions you might need to navigate a tight area where touching something means death. This is where the little massive head demon is the weakest, he simply can't make tiny movements easily. Although I was playing with a 360 controller so this might be the culprit. Overall I simply adore the game. The art and music is sublime and whimsical; even when dark and supposedly evil. It always tries to maintain its humour, and as such stays extremely fun throughout its story despite the issues I've mentioned. Considering it's low price I'd easily recommend it to folks that want to try a be evil fantasy spell flinger.