by Cynthia Heard

Created on: May 20, 2008   Last Updated: May 28, 2008

If you're thinking that Skin and Bones is some sort of gory, horror game, then you're wrong - dead wrong. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.) It's actually an old school arcade style action game about two unlikely friends, Skin and Bones, who have been captured by the Wizard. To gain their freedom, they must work together to collect all the Wizard's magical gems.

While most video game makers are trying to blow gamers away with the latest and greatest technology, the producers of Skin and Bones - Addictive 247 - opted to do just the opposite. Skin and Bones pays homage to the 2D platform games of yesteryear. One look at this game and I was instantly swept back to the days of Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, and Nintendo thumb. From the giant, 8 bit pixels to the catchy MIDI music, all the elements of early video games are there.

On the surface, Skin and Bones may seem like it's just a copycat of the classics, but if you dig a little deeper you'll find that this game has a very interesting element of originality. In the old games, you could only play with one character on any given level. However, in this game you must play with both Skin and Bones in order to be successful. Each character has a job based on his abilities. Skin is quick and agile, so he collects the gems. Bones is tough and hard, so his job is to destroy the enemies, making things safe for Skin. Sometimes they even have to stand on each other's heads in order to complete a task.

So how do you play with two characters? You switch between them. While you play with one, the other one "sleeps." This adds an innovative twist to game play, but it does take some getting used to. I found maneuvering between Skin and Bones to be a bit tricky. It got a little easier after playing for an hour or so, but I still had problems with switching the characters when I wasn't trying to. Of course, I was playing with a keyboard instead of a joystick (which I don't recommend, unless you're really good at that), and platform games aren't exactly my strong-suit (I never did save Princess Toadstool. Hopefully, she's not still waiting.), so you may not have the same issues.

Skin and Bones is a great throwback game. Personally, I wouldn't buy it because, as I said before, I'm not very good at platform games. However, I highly recommend it to anyone who loved these kinds of games back in the day. It's nostalgic, fun, and funky fresh! I give it 4/5 balls.

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