Mega Coin Squad Review (PS4)

Money equals power in today's world and greed can often get the better of people. This is true of Big Pixel Studios' money grabbing indie outing, Mega Coin Squad – a 2D, retro platformer in which you'll be nabbing cash in either single or multiplayer modes.

The solo option sees you embarking a journey through four locations: Forest, Desert, Snow, and Lava – each of which host four individual levels. The aim in each stage if to fill your piggy bank with a specified number of coins, ranging from 100 to 1,000. Each level lasts minutes, which makes its $14.99 asking fee seem exceedingly steep. However, it can be challenging at times due to the obstacles and enemies that will reduce your wealth to zero if you get hit by them.

The obstacles, coins, and enemies spawn in random groups and are on a time limit so you have to collect the pennies quickly before they disappear. Fortunately, you'll have the odd weapon to aid your plight against the enemies, but we found the aiming to be less than ideal, leading us to stomp as many of the blighters as we could.

Weapons are more useful in the game's four-player multiplayer mode, where you battle your friends in four different game types: Bank the Coins, Mega Coins, Deathmatch, and Hold the Rainbow. The latter is a highlight as holding onto the titular rainbow increases your wealth, but you'll lose out if you're attacked. This makes for some frantic competitive action, and the multiplayer is very fun when you've got a group gathered around the television.

Helping to hold everyone's attention are the visuals which employ a pixelated style that strikes a balance between contemporary and retro art. The music is equally cheerful and the sound effects when hitting blocks and collecting coins are reminiscent of Super Mario. In fact, the game wears its Nintendo influences on its sleeve, including an end of level mechanic that's similar to the one found in Super Mario Bros. 3.