Almost everyone likes platformers.  I literally walked around my work and asked a bunch of my fellow employees if they liked platforming games, and those that did not react with a blank stare gave a, "Yes," "Oh, yeah," or "Yep."  One guy also liked them, but only after I described what a platformer was.  He then proceeded to regal me with tales of his Atari 800XL, which he drags out of storage every few years to play Frogger and Jumpman with his wife.  Everyone else I spoke to talked about Super Mario Brothers, Sonic, and even the platforming sections of Contra.

This article isn't about any of those games.



MURI is a bit of an oddity.  It is a nostlagia-based, retro-style platformer (like hundreds of other games), but instead of focusing on the more commonly known NES-style platformer, it draws inspiration from one of the most rarely used genres out there, the PC platformer. Sure, there are a small number of remakes of PC platformers out there, but none that are quite so.....nostalgic.  Do PC speaker sounds and EGA-style graphics make you retro-weepy?  What about static frames with gameplay in a window?  If your answer is "yes" to any of the above, this game is for you.  With its collectathon-style gameplay (second only to the platforming), its hidden areas, and its floaty jump mechanics, I can guarantee that if you grew up playing Apogee platformers, seeing this game in action should at least make the corner of your mouth twitch, if not creak into a smile.


The story of MURI is told throughout the game with cutscenes, mostly appearing before starting an area or before a boss fight.  It tells the story of the creation of MURI, a powerful armored suit, in a research station orbiting Mars.  It is given to Kojo, the son of the two head scientists of the project, which ends up provoking the Earth and Mars governments to retaliate out of fear of what MURI is capable of.  But before this can happen, Mars suddenly disappears from space!  The game begins following someone named Adwoa, who is equipped with a power suit.  She wakes up from stasis, and finds herself fighting an army of robots.  The story ends up being intriguing, if not a bit confusing at times, though most everything clears up at the end; to me, this is the real "Indie touch" in MURI.  Few platform games (on any console or PC) would bother crafting a story, especially one that is so vague about certain details, especially as to who is who in the story.  Names are mentioned (Adwoa, Kwaku, Kojo, and Esi) with very little in the way of exposition.  However, the story doesn't beat you over the head with itself, and with a few quick button presses, one can skip over it and onto the boss battle or next episode.  Still, it would be a shame for a gamer to let what turns out to be a decent story go to waste.

The gameplay of MURI is very simple, yet completely faithful to what Remar Games appears to have thought of as the quintessential DOS platformer: Duke Nukem 1.  True to that title, MURI features low frames of animation (though you can choose a "Turbo" mode which kicks up the FPS from 16 to 32), a ton of collectible items, hidden areas, maze-like stages (though nothing as confusing as Halloween Harry), and more platforming than you can shake a stick at.  Much of the emphasis of MURI is on gunplay, so someone with a mind to further expand the genre could call this a "Run 'n Gun," though I think a more apt description would be "Explore 'n Collect 'n Run 'n Gun."  I'm going to see if I can sneak that one into the database.... 

There are a total of six different weapons that can be picked up in the game, all with limited ammunition save the basic "pea-shooter." Occasionally there are unlimited ammunition power-ups, though they tend to be stage (and life) specific.  There are power cells hidden around the stages (and sometimes within enemies) that can be used to unlock weapon stashes, more often than not at the final stage of an episode, just in time for a boss battle.

 

And there is collecting.  Did I mention that?  There is a lot of collecting!  There are joysticks and floppy disks aplenty, with an occasional DOS "C" prompt, thrown in.  There are also energy refills, 1-ups, and power cells (mentioned in the last paragraph).  And unlike Duke Nukem 1, there are no traps, which is refreshing.  In MURI, you just pickup and go and watch your score soar.  Nothing else, just that.  It does seem like those floppy disks should do something else, right?

And now for the problems of MURI (in keeping with the unintentional structure of this article).  Well, there is very little here for me to complain about.  However, I appear to be alone in respect to the three main complaints some people have.  Though I feel that I must point them out, none of them are something that I would consider an "issue."  The first issue is the lack of saves, which is admittedly strange considering saving is pretty common in the PC platforming genre.  Instead, you can pick from one of the four episodes at the start of the game, with only your high score surviving game restarts.  When you reach the end of an episode, you are asked if you would like to start the next one; if not, you go back to the title screen.  The second "issue" is the lack of music during a level, but again, it's nothing that I find annoying. What I do find annoying is the one song MURI has, so trust me, you should be thankful.  The final "issue" is that the length of the game is too short.  This is very true, as I was able to beat it within a of couple of hours without too many problems at the normal difficulty setting.  However, increasing the difficulty just one notch (from normal to hard) will dramatically change the way you are forced to play the game.  Subsequent difficulty settings first take away energy refills, your 1-ups, and eventually add "super bosses" (on the MURI difficulty setting). I could get to the halfway point on Hard, but getting past the first episode was nigh impossible for me on MURI difficulty.

Overall, MURI is a great game that really deserves more exposure.  It belongs to a genre that is all but forgotten (save a scant few remakes and rereleases), but still manages to be not only a perfectly playable game, but one that truly represents the best of what made those early PC platformers fun without compromising visual fidelity.  To those that frolicked through those wonderful days of PC platforming (or recently fell in love), enjoy.  MURI is pretty much everything you liked about those games, minus the length.  To those that have never experienced the genre before, why not take a peek?  It is only $3.99 on Steam and worth more, in my opinion.  And who knows?  With the amount of nostalgic charm that the developer, Remar Games, injected into MURI, perhaps you will see it as I do: a unique game in a genre thought long dead.

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