Is this game a masterpiece? YES, as long as you want to reduce the city to rubble while fighting to retrieve your stolen spirit bottles from the devil! Sometimes indie games hit like a grenade. This is one such game.

Anton and his girlfriend (or is it just his colleague?) Annie are what we would call rednecks. Boozy and primitive. They are sleeping it off on the couch when the devil steals their alcohol supply. Not necessarily because he wants to drink the alcohol himself, but because he wants to lure Anton to him. Anton is redder than the devil himself, and the devil really dislikes that. So much for the story, which now chases Anton through over 10 levels, in each of which he has to win back a bottle before finally taking on Satan directly. Anton is of course inspired by Nintendo's Wario - a muscular, choleric guy and the opposite of Mario, but also the protagonist of a quite successful game series (Wario Land, WarioWare).

Anton (or Annie, you can choose your character at the beginning and change later at any time at the toilet in the bar) runs through the levels at hellish speed and destroys everything in his path with his hammer. The whole screen is constantly filled with explosions, often you can't even find Anton in all the chaos. At first, all the destruction is easy to handle. As chaotic as the gameplay looks, it requires planning and caution to make progress. Simply running, jumping and pressing all the buttons doesn't work, even if you have an unlimited number of attempts and are simply reset to the last automatic save point (minus a little cash) if you die. Apart from the fact that you'll quickly bite the dust if you're not careful, you'll also miss out on many of the hidden secrets if you just run through the levels like a madman.

The levels are all quite different and always incorporate different game mechanics. Absolutely fantastic! Reminded me a little of my old favorite Earthworm Jim, where every level was a new work of art. In Antonblast, however, the sections also have a few things in common - you first have to fight your way through the level, trigger explosives to open the path, bag your stolen alcohol - and then comes happy hour! Now you have to go back through the whole level and back to your base (the bar/casino), but under time pressure like Indiana Jones escaping from a collapsing temple. This can take a few minutes, and there are no automatic save points during the happy hour. The only thing that counts here is running like a madman! If you make it back, you can buy a few (consumable) upgrades for the next level with the money you find (actually: chips for the casino), such as increasing your health, taking a dog with you or extending the time limit of the happy hour.

The controls with the gamepad work excellently, but are demanding. Only if you can maintain your speed will you be able to perform the various attacks and jumps, which are often more “controlled bounces” than jumps. And don't press the “B” button while you're in the air - then you'll crash to the ground with a smash (and lose all your speed). With the Xbox controller, the basics of control consist of pressing “X” to hit forward with the hammer and move forward at the same time, “X” again when the rage bar is charged to become even faster, “X” just before an opponent, to fling him away, “A” to jump, “B” to slide, “B” in the air to make a bomb on the ground, “X” in the air to spin the hammer like a madman and bounce even higher off the ground, “RS” downwards to turn into a bowling ball. Despite the chaos on the screen, you'll need to master all of these moves to make progress.

The graphics are not necessarily high-resolution, but will be upscaled in the fullscreen setting. However, you can also play in a tiny window (on a 4K monitor). It's reminiscent of older cartoon series - although older doesn't necessarily mean the early years of cartoon animation like in Cuphead, but rather the cartoon series of the 80s, before everything was swept away by Japanese anime graphics. Antonblast also contains highly creative boss enemies, which unfortunately can take a beating. Here, the insane speed takes a step back and you have to fight your way through multi-phase battles of attrition (fortunately with automatic save points) until the bosses admit defeat.

Conclusion:
Destruction and speed - these are the two essential components. Varied and with a completely irreverent sense of humor - this also applies. It is a totally over-the-top platformer that is surprisingly challenging to play and packed with little details and secrets, one of the most creative indie games of the year.

[table][th] Review by [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34633003-Gaming-Masterpieces/lists/] Gaming Masterpieces [/url] - The greatest games of all time on Steam. [/th][/table] Is this game a masterpiece? YES, as long as you want to reduce the city to rubble while fighting to retrieve your stolen spirit bottles from the devil! Sometimes indie games hit like a grenade. This is one such game. Anton and his girlfriend (or is it just his colleague?) Annie are what we would call rednecks. Boozy and primitive. They are sleeping it off on the couch when the devil steals their alcohol supply. Not necessarily because he wants to drink the alcohol himself, but because he wants to lure Anton to him. Anton is redder than the devil himself, and the devil really dislikes that. So much for the story, which now chases Anton through over 10 levels, in each of which he has to win back a bottle before finally taking on Satan directly. Anton is of course inspired by Nintendo's Wario - a muscular, choleric guy and the opposite of Mario, but also the protagonist of a quite successful game series (Wario Land, WarioWare). Anton (or Annie, you can choose your character at the beginning and change later at any time at the toilet in the bar) runs through the levels at hellish speed and destroys everything in his path with his hammer. The whole screen is constantly filled with explosions, often you can't even find Anton in all the chaos. At first, all the destruction is easy to handle. As chaotic as the gameplay looks, it requires planning and caution to make progress. Simply running, jumping and pressing all the buttons doesn't work, even if you have an unlimited number of attempts and are simply reset to the last automatic save point (minus a little cash) if you die. Apart from the fact that you'll quickly bite the dust if you're not careful, you'll also miss out on many of the hidden secrets if you just run through the levels like a madman. The levels are all quite different and always incorporate different game mechanics. Absolutely fantastic! Reminded me a little of my old favorite Earthworm Jim, where every level was a new work of art. In Antonblast, however, the sections also have a few things in common - you first have to fight your way through the level, trigger explosives to open the path, bag your stolen alcohol - and then comes happy hour! Now you have to go back through the whole level and back to your base (the bar/casino), but under time pressure like Indiana Jones escaping from a collapsing temple. This can take a few minutes, and there are no automatic save points during the happy hour. The only thing that counts here is running like a madman! If you make it back, you can buy a few (consumable) upgrades for the next level with the money you find (actually: chips for the casino), such as increasing your health, taking a dog with you or extending the time limit of the happy hour. The controls with the gamepad work excellently, but are demanding. Only if you can maintain your speed will you be able to perform the various attacks and jumps, which are often more “controlled bounces” than jumps. And don't press the “B” button while you're in the air - then you'll crash to the ground with a smash (and lose all your speed). With the Xbox controller, the basics of control consist of pressing “X” to hit forward with the hammer and move forward at the same time, “X” again when the rage bar is charged to become even faster, “X” just before an opponent, to fling him away, “A” to jump, “B” to slide, “B” in the air to make a bomb on the ground, “X” in the air to spin the hammer like a madman and bounce even higher off the ground, “RS” downwards to turn into a bowling ball. Despite the chaos on the screen, you'll need to master all of these moves to make progress. The graphics are not necessarily high-resolution, but will be upscaled in the fullscreen setting. However, you can also play in a tiny window (on a 4K monitor). It's reminiscent of older cartoon series - although older doesn't necessarily mean the early years of cartoon animation like in Cuphead, but rather the cartoon series of the 80s, before everything was swept away by Japanese anime graphics. Antonblast also contains highly creative boss enemies, which unfortunately can take a beating. Here, the insane speed takes a step back and you have to fight your way through multi-phase battles of attrition (fortunately with automatic save points) until the bosses admit defeat. [u][b] Conclusion:[/b][/u] Destruction and speed - these are the two essential components. Varied and with a completely irreverent sense of humor - this also applies. It is a totally over-the-top platformer that is surprisingly challenging to play and packed with little details and secrets, one of the most creative indie games of the year.