Game Review: Monster Boy and The Cursed Kingdom on Google Stadia
I have to start off by stating that I had never heard of the Wonder Boy video game series before, until Monster Boy and The Cursed Kingdom came out on the Google Stadia platform. I even had to look it up on Wikipedia, because I enjoyed playing this game so much on Google Stadia, I was kind of surprised I never knew about it or played it on an earlier gaming console.
Rebranded in 2018 as Monster Boy, with the release of Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, I reviewed the past games in the Wonder Boy video game series on Wikipedia and the years when they were released. In my amateur research, it became clear how I would have overlooked this video games series given Wonder Boy In Monster World was released at or around the same time as the Sonic The Hedgehog video game series on the Sega Genesis platform in 1991 — a year when I became more or less introduced [and indoctrinated] to casually playing video games — and Sonic being a hallmark video game series at that time. I was even more surprised I had not heard of this video game series before, because I was one of those kids who went to the grocery store to purchase the monthly release of GamePro Magazine — and I still could not recall being exposed to this video game series — even through print media. That history aside, I did discover an interesting fact during my research, and that was that this game was originally going to be called: Monster Boy and the Wizard of Booze, and I will call finding out THAT fact: redemption for lost time.
I first became aware of the Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom video game, because of the Google Stadia Official Trailer for the game (see below). Additionally, I was able to watch reviews and gameplay via an auto-generated video game channel on YouTube created for Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom.
Being a Google Stadia Pro Member and someone who has enjoyed past 2D side scroller games such as Mega Man X; I was ecstatic that I received this game for FREE.
Let’s start off with the music in the official trailer on YouTube — it is infectious, and alone would make you want to play this video game. However, if you are more of a video game fan art person who falls in love with the art before falling in love with the game play, then you should really check out all of the fan art on the Game Atelier Twitter Page or the Monster Boy Blog.
The artwork, the storyline, and the game play music in this game is a perfect match. The storyline is simple and relatable if you have played any type of 2D fantasy game before. The music is upbeat and modern. The artwork is colorful, crisp, bright, and clear — making screenshots from the game appear scenic and iconic:
I cannot state this strong enough: this is a fun game and worth your time and money. I have currently invested about 20 hours into this game, and still am not done playing it.
This game has puzzles, you fight bad guys, you save people, you morph into different monsters with different powers and abilities, the game saving mechanics are easy to understand by walking over save points, you fight multiple final / stage bosses, and there are a ton of side quests to explore and unlock achievement badges.
This game gets my full recommendation, and if you were looking for an intro game to test on Google Stadia — Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is a perfect game to start with.
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Article Disclaimer Note: Views are my own and not of my employer. I was not compensated, endorsed, or sponsored in any way for this article except for being a part of the Medium Partner Program.
