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Mega Coin Squad

Mega Coin Squad

There's hardly anything that beats local multiplayer amongst friends.

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Regardless of technical advancement it is simply an absolute truth that online multiplayer never entertains as fully as an evening playing with your friends next to you. You know the sort of evening where there's plenty of shouting and schadenfreude at each other's misfortunes after having been subjected to something utterly unfair.

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Usually this means that games like Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Trials Fusion and Mario Kart 8 will provide the entertainment, but during the last few days we've been playing Mega Coin Squad on Xbox One. It's an action platformer for up to four players where co-op is highly optional and instead you're pretty much told to be a jerk and profit at the expense of the other players.

There are four game modes and "Back the Coins" is the one that most closely resembles the single player (more on that later). The objective is to grab coins and bank them before your "friends" get to you. A variation on this is "Mega Coin" where you're chasing one giant coin instead.

Mega Coin Squad
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In addition to this there is a death match mode, something very few multiplayer games should be without, and "Hold the Rainbow". The latter quickly became a favourite amongst our friends, and the objective here is to get the rainbow coin, and whoever holds it cashes in simply by moving. The makes for a dynamic where the other three players quickly have to work together to take down the player with the rainbow coin. It allows for alliances to form and break within seconds.

There is no doubt that Mega Coin Squad is best experienced with your friends. It's fun with two players, but when you're four it's hard to stop playing. Additional game modes would have be nice, but hopefully the concept proves popular enough to spawn a more fleshed out sequel. And while you can see the lack of content as a point of criticism it is also a compliment that we want more.

As a matter of fact Mega Coin Squad also entertains the solo player. The concept here is reminiscent of speedruns, however you need to make time to collect coins (and gems) as you'll be able to spend these on power-ups that will prove essential as the difficulty ramps up later on. You can choose between six characters with different abilities and you'll unlock achievements finishing the game with each of them.

A playthrough takes rough an hour or two, something that modern day players may appreciate. And given that the characters adds variation and the game is entertaining at its core we find ourselves wanting to finish it with all characters. But it doesn't stop there as we want to improve our times and runs. If you're not motivated by high scores and setting new best times there's little else to tempt you back.

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Mega Coin Squad

We'd also like to point out the Super Mario World-esque world map that guides us through the single player adventure. The audio and visuals also deserve a mentioning, and reminds us of the good old days, somewhere around PC Engine and Mega-CD. It serves up gorgeous pixels and extremely catchy tunes that will stick in your head. We felt the need to look up whether the soundtrack was available on Spotify (sadly we weren't able to locate it).

The controls are also great - jumping, dashing and shooting is precise and makes for a combination of New Super Mario Bros., Contra, and Metal Slug. Not the worst role models to have. It's just left to the player to muster zen-like focus in order to beat their own records with the guns available.

But it cannot be helped that great replayability isn't quite enough. The single player ought to be longer and the multiplayer could have done with more content. You'll find yourself wanting for more. Therefore we cannot quite recommend a purchase if you're mainly interested in the single player component, but if you're looking for a great local multiplayer game (or both) there is no need to hesitate.

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08 Gamereactor UK
8 / 10
+
Superb local multiplayer, Original concept, Charming graphics, Evocative music, Varied modes, Lots of replayability.
-
Lacks content, Singleplayer doesn't measure up.
overall score
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Mega Coin Squad

REVIEW. Written by Jonas Mäki

"Single player ought to be longer and the multiplayer could have done with more content. You'll find yourself wanting for more."



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