Free game! Free game! That was my excited reaction to finding out that I would get to review, Regular Show: Mordecai & Rigby in 8-bit Land. It’s an apt response, given that the new title, from D3Publisher for Nintendo 3DS, is based on the animated series Regular Show, which centers on a pair of anthropomorphic animals who live to slack off and play video games.
The premise is that Mordecai and Rigby find a mysterious video game console that sucks them into a digital world full of obstacles and monsters. Luckily, if any two characters can adapt to a universe based on platform games, shooters, and more, it’s the protagonists of Regular Show. Players can freely switch between both characters, each with his own strengths: Mordecai, a blue jay, has an incredibly useful double-jump; while Rigby, a raccoon, can scurry into small passages.
The art direction resembles old-school 8-bit titles, and as I mentioned before, so does the game play. In fact, I would categorize most of, Regular Show: Mordecai & Rigby in 8-bit Land, as an homage to the original Super Mario Bros., with lots of leaping between platforms to collect money and items, and jumping on hostiles to squash them. The game’s storyline never even explains the latter; it’s such a classic genre trope that as players, we accept it and move on.
Meanwhile, the game finds ways to be clever about its old school-ness. For example, in the second level, players can transform into a laser-shooting, spaceship version of Mordecai, which definitely has its charms. However, the designers take it one step further by having certain obstacles that only non-spaceship Mordecai or Rigby can traverse. As a result, players have to puzzle out when to be one form versus another, and there are even times when the changes have to be timed perfectly to avoid certain doom.
Wrinkles like that keep Regular Show: Mordecai & Rigby in 8-bit Land, from being a generic experience, though fans of either the show or retro-style video games in general may still like it most. The game is suitable for ages 10 and up, and I recommend that out of respect for the main characters, you play it while slacking off at work.
