Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Trending
    • Interview: Lewis Thompson, VP Sport
    • En Garde!
    • BUWRU Still on Top
    • Hidden Histories: With The Archaeology Society
    • Beabadoobee Concert Review: Welcome to Beatopia
    • Taylor Swift: Midnights Review – The Stories of 13 Sleepless Nights
    • Claire Concert Review: Claire Cottrill in Concert!
    • Is There Hope For Percy Jackson?
    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Flickr
    Seren
    • News & Politics
      1. Local News
      2. UK News
      3. Uni News
      4. World News
      5. Politics
      6. Comment
      7. Business
      Featured

      SABB Election: The Full Result Breakdown

      By Emily ReadMarch 20, 20210
      Recent

      Redevelopment plans and the culture of Bangor

      October 28, 2022

      Immediate closure of Menai Bridge following reports of structural integrity issues

      October 28, 2022

      Racial abuse victim calls for harsher sentencing following nightclub assault

      October 28, 2022
    • Arts & Culture
      1. Books
      2. Games
      3. Film
      4. Music
      5. TV
      6. Creative Corner
      Featured

      Bangor alumni podcast earns Hollywood cameo & BBC features

      By Amelia SmithMarch 7, 20210
      Recent

      Beabadoobee Concert Review: Welcome to Beatopia

      October 29, 2022

      Taylor Swift: Midnights Review – The Stories of 13 Sleepless Nights

      October 29, 2022

      Claire Concert Review: Claire Cottrill in Concert!

      October 29, 2022
    • Lifestyle
      1. Fashion
      2. Food and Drink
      3. Social
      4. Health and Beauty
      5. Travel
      Featured

      Country Highlight: The Netherlands

      By Emily ShoultsMay 6, 20220
      Recent

      Gilmore Garms

      October 28, 2022

      Fleeces and Funk

      October 28, 2022

      Cheerleading: Getting your kit together

      October 28, 2022
    • Discovery
      1. Science
      2. Environment
      3. History
      4. International
      Featured

      Brewing up a Storm: The History of Guinness

      By Emily ReadMarch 20, 20210
      Recent

      North Wales Ramblings

      October 28, 2022

      Hamza Yassin: The Hard Work That Is Making Luck Happen

      October 28, 2022

      Student’s Union Hosts Repair Cafe for Sustainability Awareness Week

      October 28, 2022
    • Sport
      1. Varsity 2019
      2. Varsity 2018
      3. Varsity 2017
      4. Varsity 2016
      5. Varsity 2015
      6. Varsity 2014
      7. Varsity 2013
        • Varsity 2013 Results
        • Varsity 2013 – In tweets
      Featured

      Bangor Muddogs’ American Football: a young woman finding her place

      By Jade HillMarch 23, 20210
      Recent

      Interview: Lewis Thompson, VP Sport

      October 29, 2022

      En Garde!

      October 29, 2022

      BUWRU Still on Top

      October 29, 2022
    • Students’ Union
      1. Union News
      2. Societies
      3. Volunteering
      4. Clubs
      Featured

      INTERVIEW: Be Period Positive

      By Caroline CartmillMarch 17, 20210
      Recent

      Interview: Lewis Thompson, VP Sport

      October 29, 2022

      En Garde!

      October 29, 2022

      BUWRU Still on Top

      October 29, 2022
    • Issues
      • Current Issue
      • This year’s issues
      • Last year’s issues
      • Seren Archive
      • Seren Teams
    Seren
    Home»Arts & Culture»Games»There’s something Stranger in the neighbourhood -Stranger Things: The Game Review
    Games

    There’s something Stranger in the neighbourhood -Stranger Things: The Game Review

    Meg RichardsBy Meg RichardsOctober 27, 2017Updated:October 31, 2017No Comments4 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    Developer: BonusXP
    Release Date: 4th Oct 2017
    Platforms: iOS, Android, Windows Mobile
    Genre: Isometric Action RPG
    Multiplayer: No
    Age Rating: 12

    Stranger Things: The Game is a free, with zero microtransactions, tie in game, which was released to promote the upcoming second season of Stranger Things. Even though the game isn’t in depth, I’ll be mentioning characters and events that ties into the Season One’s ending, so here be spoilers swimming in the depths.
    You play through one main quest – in the form of a dungeon crawler – unlocking characters with unique abilities as you play the game.  Sadly, the plot (so far) doesn’t make much sense in regards to the show’s timeline. Also, there are several items you collect such as Hearts, Eggos, Gnomes, VHS tapes, and various items that are related to several side characters. Collecting the VHS tapes unlock a clip from Season 2 that you can watch in the ingame cinema, and collecting the Eggos unlocks new characters. This is obviously meant to generate hype for the show. It’s incredibly well made and a lot of fun. Another plus side is that it isn’t too long and, along with finding the collectibles, takes only 8-10 hours to complete. It allows you to play as many of the characters from the show, even a mystery character from season two who hasn’t yet been revealed. However, not all the main characters are playable, and, while unfortunate, means you aren’t overwhelmed with choice. 

    The game’s perspective is top down and, along with RPG like elements, it’s very reminiscent of older games such as the early Final Fantasy games, Ultima, and Gauntlet. The difficulty settings do make a nod to how classic games were a lot harder than modern titles. I personally didn’t find the ‘Classic’ mode any more difficult than Normal. It does, however, respawn you at the beginning of a dungeon when you die. Additionally, sections of the town of Hawkins have to be unlocked, through scripted events or character abilities, and I found that this added to the replay value. That said, the game isn’t perfect, with some of the characters abilities being unbalanced, most notably Nancy and Lucas and possibly, depending on your playstyle, Dustin, who are a more powerful than the rest of the characters. Also, it includes the most annoying enemy ever to exist: Owls. You can only attack them by quickly going up close and personal and whacking them, or hitting them with a ranged attack, which has limited ammo for most of the game.

    If you want to avoid spoilers, skip this paragraph. Another mechanic is that if you collect all the Eggos, and put them in Chief Hopper’s box in the woods, Eleven comes out and takes them, which makes her a playable character in all future playthroughs in both modes. Her special move allows you to teleport across the map making traversing Hawkins a lot faster.
    The game adopts the 8-bit colour graphical style, which is reminiscent of old NES and Atari games, with the App Icon even looking like a NES cartridge. Unfortunately, there isn’t much variation to the enemy designs. The soundtrack consists of 8-bit remixes of the Stranger Things music, which doesn’t give it much variety, but hearing the show’s main theme in 8-bit music is admittedly very cool.
    Stranger Things: The Game is a homage to games of the 80’s, with a decent plot, graphics and music. That said, I really, really enjoyed this game, and played it in mostly two sittings. I mentioned up above it’s free, so you aren’t losing money by at least trying the game.
    That’s all from me folks! Now I’m going to binge watch 8-9 hours of Netflix while eating toaster waffles. Bye!

    games iOS issue264 NES Stranger Things
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Meg Richards

    Games Editor 2016-18

    Related Posts

    REVIEW: Donut County – A Hole Lot of Fun

    February 28, 2021

    Games to look out for in 2021

    February 7, 2021

    REVIEW: A Short Hike – A Relaxing Getaway

    December 27, 2020

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    MORE INFORMATION
    • ABOUT
    • ADVERTISE
    • CONTACT US
    • GET INVOLVED
    • MEMBERS
    Links
    • Bangor University Bangor University
    • Google+ Google+
    • Undeb Bangor Undeb Bangor
    About

    Seren is Bangor University Students’ Union’s English Language Newspaper

    We have editorial independence from both Bangor University and Bangor Students’ Union. Seren is written by students for students and we’d love you to get involved!

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.