LEFT ON THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR FOR A REASON

Ultracore (originally called Hardcore) is a game that was in development by Digital Illusions (better known as DICE, the studio that makes Battlefield) for the Commodore Amiga, Sega Genesis and Sega CD before publisher Psygnosis canceled it near completion in 1994. In 2019 Strictly Limited Games salvaged the game and put it onto Analogue’s Mega SG console. These types of stories make me happy. This game not so much.

PLATFORMS: PS4, SWITCH, MEGA SG
MSRP: $22.99
PRICE I’D PAY: N/A

Ultracore is very much a European platformer/shooter that was a popular subgenre on the Sega Genesis. Think Turrican in the way the game looks and plays. As a fan of games like Turrican and B.O.B. and James Pond, I was expecting to like this game and for a while I did. The aiming feels natural, the platforming is really good, and there’s enough weapon variety and enemies to keep the game constantly feeling fresh and exciting. I was thoroughly impressed.

That is until I got to the second stage (the stages are of decent length with a miniboss and a final boss) where I was required to ascend up a chute by jumping on platforms that drop as I land on them and spring back up afterward. Below these platforms is an instant death laser beam. After trying to jump to the next platform and realizing I didn’t have enough height I logically thought that I had to wait until the platform was at the maximum height to jump off of it. Sometimes I could land the jump, other times I couldn’t, and it seems to be completely random. I died, lost all my lives, and chewed through two of my three continues trying to get through that.

So I questioned if I was missing something. I messaged my Editor-in-Chief and took some video with my phone to show him my problem and to see if he could reach out to PR about it. Maybe I’m just dumb, right? We got no response. Maybe if I watch a playthrough someone knows how to do it. I watch the only full playthrough I could find and sure enough the person playing has the same problems. I find a Reddit thread asking about it. This is a known problem. It is a choke point for players and it is on the second stage.

So how do I review something that I can barely play? I suppose I can start by not recommending it as that section is so brutally unfair that it’s not fun. It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten frustrated at a game but this game got me there. I am disappointed because this game was really cool until that point and I am sure it is really cool afterwards too but I’m not going to sit there and bash my head against something that clearly puts luck over actual skill.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.