As I’ve shared many times, one of the things I love about indie games, and will even extend a fair amount of benefit of the doubt for, is creativity. Daring to do things that look, feel, and play differently is what this space is all about, and even if sometimes the creations don’t quite come together, they should still get at least some applause. Of course, as much as I love titles that take big swings, some of them will simply leave me scratching my head, baffled sometimes by the idea and other times by the execution. I’d say Candy Rangers earns a little bit of both in the end.

Feeling like an arcade-like mix of a rail shooter, platformer, and almost a puzzler at times, it really would like you to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time in video game form. The thing is, in theory this could work I suppose, as both forms of gameplay have been around for a long time, and at least when things start out you can sort of manage it reasonably well. Bearing in mind that you aren’t simply shooting at things without any complication, you’ll also need to take into account their color coding (or directional position, whichever you find easier), being sure to use the proper face button to fire the proper shots… so there’s quite a lot going on.

Here’s the real crux of the problem though, the stage design and how enemies attack you either don’t feel like they were designed with enough care, or they were purposely set up to consistently be frustrating. With enemies coming in from any direction, the camera angles changing, things being obstructed by the scenery in places, and just sometimes coming in at a ridiculous pace, it can feel like you’re being set up for failure. Sure, people who like a challenge could choose to dig in and persevere, but there’s a more fundamental problem below that… and that’s the fact that even when everything is somewhat manageable I simply didn’t feel that it was very fun regardless.

That’s where the arcade feel really came to me, thinking back to the olden days when people gathered in darkened arcade parlors to squander their quarters. When you went in there would be games of all sorts, ones for different tastes, and ones for different skill levels. You could make something different and interesting, but if it wasn’t fun people weren’t generally going to give it their quarters. When that element just isn’t quite present, the rest sort of becomes more immaterial.