Birthday of Midnight
Fast Facts
Developer: Petite Games, Ratalaika Games
Publisher: Ratalaika Games SL
Website: https://www.ratalaikagames.com/games/birthdayofmidnight.php
Genre: Puzzle, Dexterity
Platform: PlayStation 4 (Also available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One)
Age Rating: PEGI 3
Release Date: 20/09/2020
Price: £3.99
A code was provided for review purposes.
A Little Fellow with A Pain Inducing Golf Fetish
Ah, can you smell that? It smells like another Ratalika easy platinum trophy. Birthday of Midnight, which is a sequel to Midnight Deluxe, is a game about whacking a little funny shaped fellow into a hole. Think of golf but instead of a ball it is a little chap that seems to have a weird fascination with pain and holes.
In pretty much the same fashion as the previous game, all you have to do is get the little bloke into the hole in each stage. The fewer the shots, the better the rating, in a mobile style three-star system. Each stage is littered with hazards, lasers, fire and spikes. Again, I really think this little character has a pain fetish.
A Slither of Narrative
There is a slither of a story here. During your birthday a crack opens in the earth and swallows you whole. The reason you are whacking your way through these stages is to get home and reunite with your strangely shaped family. What I don’t get is why the underworld is full of golf holes, pumpkins and exploding crates?
I don’t think this game is bad at all, in fact, I rather enjoyed my foray into the games seventy levels. My issues here are the fact it is far too similar to the previous game and the weird trophies that accompany most Ratalaika games. Firstly, if you had not have pointed it out to me, I would have thought I was still playing the first title. There is literally no difference, nothing at all, no new features, no new systems or tweaks. Just whack yourself into a hole.
A Trophy Hunters Dream
The trophy thing bothers me. I was awarded the platinum trophy, which should be a measure of how much you like the game and your dedication to it before I even finished the game. How is that even a thing? I got the platinum at level fifty, which is twenty levels short of the finish and it only took an hour or two. I also did not have deviate from just completing all fifty levels.. Like a lot of these smaller games, I feel a lot of trophy hunters buy them just for the easy platinums. To be fair, I used to be one of them.
Graphically, Birthday of Midnight is quite striking. It has a semi-monochrome art style that makes the game feel and look extremely eerie. The lack of colour really adds to the games atmosphere and character. It’s sharp, stark and quite pleasant to look at. You can’t ask for much more really. While Birthday of Midnight does not have the best graphics I have ever seen, it does have style and character in it’s graphical presentation.
Not A Bad Little Filler
As I said, as far as Ratalaika games go, this one is enjoyable. I enjoyed navigating the small stages, I also enjoyed the soothing music that accompanied it. It will never be an all-encompassing title that you play for hours on end but I did enjoy whacking the little uncanny fellow around while watching the footy.
While I dislike the fact that the game is basically the same as the last one, while I abhor the trophy grabbing nature of the trophy set, I quite enjoyed my time with Birthday of Midnight. I want to dislike it for the previously mentioned reasons but all being said and done, it’s not a bad filler between other things or while you’re watching your favourite thing on the telly box.
Rapid Reviews Rating
3 out of 5
If you would like to purchase Birthday of Midnight, you can on the PlayStation store here.
You can find and read our reviews on OpenCritic.
