by Royce Radcliffe

Created on: May 20, 2008   Last Updated: August 18, 2010

I played the game Skin and Bones at a friend's house and was instantly hooked. I am a huge fan of the older games that rely more on coordination than blood lust so this was a welcome escape. This is a platform game-such as any Mario game and to some extent King Kong-so if you like that format read on.

This is the sequel of sorts to the ancient game Ultimate Wizards. I have never played that game but it is supposed to be similar to this one with the main difference being that you played as a wizard instead of the kid you are this time. In this storyline the wizard kidnaps the main character and is now forcing the kid to do the dirty work for him... but that is not all. He also kidnapped a skeleton to help out!

The kid named Bucky (Skin) and the skeleton (Bones) do not like each other much, but the wizard promises he will grant each one wish if they can retrieve all his lost gems for him. The two play as one but only one of them can be conscious at a time; the unused one floats above the others head. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Skin is fast and the only one who can collect the gems. Bones is the only one who can cross certain areas like lava or water as well as being the only one who can destroy enemies.

The gameplay is easy to master once you figure out when to toggle to either character. There are extras like the ability to get bonus coins and spell out a mystery word (if you can hop up and get the letter in time!) to get thousands of bonus points. There are also plenty of different enemies to contend with along the way, ranging from robots to crabs and basically everything in between. Some only hurt you if you touch them as Skin while others shoot at you. To defeat them just become Bones and give them what I like to call "the touch of death".

The graphics remind me of the original Nintendo, only more polished. Even though this game is officially 2-d, there is a great feeling of depth to the graphics. Objects in the background actually look further away. This may seem like a small touch but it makes the game about ten times more immersive.

I also thought the music was excellent. Games like these usually are heavily reliant on music and this one does not disappoint. The music is dark and foreboding, shifting from exciting to less intense atmospheric tones according to the gameplay.

The game saved automatically while I played which was a relief as some parts toward the end can be surprisingly difficult. There are six levels and even though the first few can seem like a breeze gameplay gets exponentially tougher each level up from there. There are moving platforms, collapsing platforms, switches to find, springs to jump up from... all sorts of obstacles to overcome on your way to platform glory. It is an ideal platform/puzzle game and the idea of playing as Skin or Bones truly sets it apart from all the rest.

I would overall give this game a nine out of ten.

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