Marcus Level

Before you decide to download this game please do check out the in-game videos of game play HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

In Brief

Marcus Level is a casual adventure running game with platformer elements. It was originally given away HERE November 18, 2017! where it received a positive 65% from 26 votes with 12 comments

Introduction:

Overcome lots of obstacles and save the beautiful princess in the game Marcus Level! Play the amazing game and help the boy get back from the virtual reality with his beloved! Marcus Level is an adventure game of an ordinary boy named Marcus who loved video games. A lot of people may probably recognize themselves in him, but what will you do if you accidentally get inside the computer game? Play all of them through, cope with all the difficulties as you did in the reality and become invincible virtual hero! Get rid of the wizard's intrigues, complete all the goals and save the princess from the dragon!

Reference accessed HERE. 17th November 2017

The Game:

Review 1:

A young boy who gets trapped inside a video game? Well, it all sounds a little familiar.. doesn’t it? That aside, Marcus Level, despite its strange name, is a curious platform game that takes elements from the endless runner genre to combine a unique twist on what is essentially a quirky finite runner game.

The colorful, cartoon-esque visuals hit you instantly as soon as you load the game. Despite its obvious attempts to be ‘unique,’ Marcus Level, unfortunately, falls just short of the mark as its bothersome mechanics and slight repetition weigh it down unnecessarily.

The control system is fairly straightforward, you tap the left icon for a spinning slash attack, and the right icon to jump. Sadly, that’s about as straightforward as it gets, as this becomes riddled with issues the further you progress. Marcus’ unique twist is that you can change direction if you hit a wall or surface. Despite this interesting quirk, I managed to get completely and utterly stuck on one of the levels when Marcus decided to do a complete u-turn and ended up underwater (de-froggified) and unable to turn around. This led to me having to completely restart the entire level, thus causing more frustration than anything else.

Don’t get me wrong, the game is enjoyable for the most part. Its primary grievances mainly revolve around having to deal with the unpredictable controls, which can pretty much mess everything up if you’re engaged in a time challenge. If you’re not a fan of repetition, you probably will want to steer clear of Marcus Level as you’ll find you need to complete the levels more than once to achieve all the goals and beat all the challenges. Once you’ve run through the level for the first time, you can attempt to surpass “Ephi’s” score, in which you’ll find yourself having to complete the level in under a minute. Here’s where the minor frustration sets in because you’ll find the controls somewhat of a major hindrance. Occasionally if you see a secret you need to collect, the game will frustratingly send you constantly in the wrong direction despite how much you attempt to pursue it, which can be the cause of much frustration.

Luckily, there’s lots to do in Marcus, so if you’ve not already thrown in the towel, you can sink your teeth in some other achievements, including discovering all the secrets, collecting all the chocobongo’s and even amassing all the badges from the other levels. You’ll find yourself backtracking a lot in order to advance to the other stages and worlds due to the game’s insistence that you complete all the badge challenges in order to reach the “boss” level. Another slight letdown is the obvious lack of Game Center functionality, which means if you enjoy competing against your friends, you’ll be a little disappointed, but there are extra trophy achievements which could keep you busy for a great many hours.

At the beginning of each stage, you can trade the in-game currency to spend towards bonuses that will aid you in your level as you advance. Sadly if you die (and you only get one life at a time) you lose all the bonuses you’ve just purchased, so its better to be sparing sometimes rather than go all out on a whim.

Overall, Marcus Level is a great casual game if you’re looking for something to kick back to, but it’s definitely only a game for those who have oodles of patience and a lot of spare time on their hands.

Reference accessed HERE. Originally posted by Lucy Ingram on 27th June 2014. Re-posted by Whiterabbit-uk 17th October 2017.

Review 2:

Marcus Level is a playful endless runner with platformer elements. There are 20 levels spanning four worlds in Marcus Level and players must complete certain tasks to earn badges to unlock the boss and bonus levels in each world. Players progress through the levels by jumping on or attacking enemies and jumping over obstacles. The in game currency called ChocoBongos can be used to purchase power-ups, upgrades, and to unlock some levels. Marcus Level require iOS 4.3 or later and is compatible with iPhone 4 and up, iPad 2 and up, iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPod touch 4th generation and up.

Players can earn up to five badges in each level (one for completing the level, one for getting all of the ChocoBongos, one for getting all of the secrets, one for beating a time trial, and one for completing the level without using a checkpoint). Badges can be obtained by completing the level while meeting certain conditions like a time trial where you try to beat a time set by a character named Ephi or getting all of the ChocoBongos in that level. These challenges seem fairly easy but the difficulty level varies dramatically from level to level depending on which badge you are trying to get. Sometimes, getting the badge for beating the time trial is really easy because the quickest path to take is obvious and other times the path is much harder to realize.

A lot of the time getting all of the badges requires replaying the level over again as taking the quickest path usually means you won't be able to get all the secrets in the level at the same time because they are on a different path. Having to replay a level lets players explore different paths and this is rewarding for the player because they might be able to complete a badge requirement on their own without having to use a power-up.

Power-ups can be purchased with ChocoBongos at the start of a level and these help players find secrets, get a head start on Ephi's time, have more life points or collect the ChocoBongos easier. Players can use the secrets power-up to direct them towards the hidden secrets. The time power-up is helpful for beating Ephi's time in a couple of levels in particular where it is harder to quickly navigate the level. The life power-up gives players an extra chance to get through a level if they are having trouble with enemies or obstacles without having to restart from the beginning.

Finally, the magnet power-up is used for drawing the ChocoBongos closer to you. The magnet was not as effective as similar power-ups in other games as the range for the magnet is not very large. A lot the time, players collect nearly the same amount without the power up as they do with it. One solution for this problem is that you can upgrade the power-ups so they are more effective. However, it is weird that players would have to choose between using their ChocoBongos for upgrades or having the power-up for that level. It would be nice if the magnet power-up was a little bit better to make choosing the magnet power up a better choice from the start.

Another problem in Marcus Level is that the area you are supposed to touch is a little too small especially for the jump and action button. This leads to players pressing thinking they have pressed the button to perform the action and expecting the character to react but he doesn't. Sometimes this is frustrating to deal with and takes a little away from the enjoyably fun nature of Marcus Level.

Marcus Level features a cartoon like art style that's meant to represent a video game world. The main character in the game, Marcus, fits in well with the rest of the art style and plays up the fun nature of the game. Each world features differently themed enemies which keeps Marcus level feeling fresh and the character design with the enemies encourages players to keep going to see what the next world's enemies will look like.

Reference accessed HERE. Originally posted by Jessica Buchanan on 26th Aug 2014. Re-posted by Whiterabbit-uk 17th November 2017.

Review 3:

Endless running and platforming go together like peanut butter and chocolate. There is a reason that there are entire series of videos online featuring people trying to speed run games. This phenomenon gave birth to an amazing sub-genre of gaming that Marcus Level hopes to exploit to its fullest. Hopefully Marcus has his running shoes on, because things are about to get really speedy.

Bolting from left to right is kind of Marcus’ thing. He has somehow managed to become entrapped in his favorite video game. To escape before his parents come home, players must help Marcus save the princess and vanquish the evil Vipkrad. How does he do that? By running through stages as quick as possible, collecting all of the jewels (otherwise known as chocobongos), or completing a series of four other goals.

Badges, which are acquired from completing each of a stage’s five goals, are used to unlock either the boss stage or other entirely new worlds. The resulting game is a repetitive process of trial and error in order to collect enough badges to progress the campaign forward. As simple as this sounds in concept, objectives such as finding the correct path in order to clear a stage in under a minute will at times seem borderline impossible. However, once the proper line is found the sense of accomplishment is genuinely euphoric.

Beyond complaints about the rather strenuous badge count hindering the game’s progress, simple concepts like a retry button are notably absent from a post-level breakdown. Given the game’s make-up, it would seem like common sense that players would want the ability to run through stages multiple times in a row.

While playing, it was hard to put a finger on what Marcus Level’s structure was reminiscent of. After hearing the peppy tune that accompanied the first bonus stage, the homage suddenly becomes clear: this is essentially a less friendly version of the “Rayman Run” series. All it would take is an adjustment to make stages unlock with a few less badges and suddenly the game would become just as appealing, too.

There are a couple of key elements working against Marcus Level that make it far more difficult to recommend than its brethren. Fortunately, the fact that it is free somewhat earns it a pass to be slightly less forgiving to players. Hopefully, there are slight updates to curb the rather steep unlock cap a bit, but it's still more than competent enough to compete with other premium-priced games that are similar.

Edited reference accessed HERE. Originally posted by Blake Grundman on June 26th, 2014. Re-posted by Whiterabbit-uk 17th November 2017.

Other Reviews and Videos of Marcus Level:

You can see Steam community reviews of Marcus Level HERE. There are several in-game videos of game play HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

Conclusion:

Unless you are fast with your keyboard controller, this is a hard game to beat, as are most runner games. Personally I rarely get past the first few levels when playing runner games, as I constantly crash into obstacles and are returned to the beginning time and time again, which becomes a little tedious. That said, if you are up for a challenge, you’ll probably like this game. To earn badges and to unlock bonus levels and bosses you need to complete certain tasks, which can be hard to accomplish unless you are fast on the keyboard. Positives include several language options which are accessed via the options icon, a nice cartoon graphic suitable for all the family and decent game play. As I didn’t progress very far in this game I won't be giving it a score.

Problems getting Marcus Level to work:

If you're having problems installing or activating or getting Marcus Level to work please visit the FAQ's Thread HERE and read through the communities comments because sometimes fixes have already been posted, for example, a common issue seen since the Themida wrapper was introduced almost six years ago is that some community members installation of the game are blocked by their security because Themida code has been known to hide malware, (usually an error message is flagged for example 'The executable is corrupted' even though in reality it is not); so as a precaution some anti malware programs will block and even delete the suspect installation files even though the files (i.e the setup, read me and setup.gcd files are actually totally free from malware. This issue can be solved either by rebooting your computer in safe mode with networking or a quicker method is to temporarily turn off your security software to allow the installation. You could also try whitelisting the setup.gcd file. In the 13+ years this game giveaway site has been operating there has 'never' been a game given away that was infected with malware.

If for any reason you want to contact the giveaway team, for example, you have a game to offer the community, or are unable to download the latest game or other issues that the FAQ's thread or these comments don't cover or solve you can do so HERE

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank MyPlayCity for giving away Marcus Level and also to the game giveaway team, as always, for securing other ways to get free games.

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway:

If Marcus Level doesn't interest you, but you still hanker for something new to play, you'll find details of some game deals whether they be sale items, indie bundles or games being given away for free HERE (I've recently updated the thread , though some links still need updating ; that said most of the links still take you to the latest deals).

Don't forget to check out Epic Games HERE. This weeks freebies are Close to the Sun and Crimes & Punishments Sherlock Holmes. Next weeks are the excellent shooter Just Cause 4 and Wheels of Aurelia 1972. Also there are free Steam games available that you'll find listed on the Reddit page HERE. They include Ticket to Ride: First Journey, Gravity Wars, Arcade Moonlander Plus and the VR game Transpose (usually costs £15.49/€16.79/$19.99). It's worth checking that link regularly as they have been adding games every few days since the lock-down.

More games have been added to the Indie Gala freebies/Dev's Showcase section HERE; for example (minimum system requirements in brackets) Off-Road Drive - take part in The Russian trophy, Off-Road Trial, Thai Trophy and many other events through the worst driving conditions with a variety of natural obstacles like swamps, rocks, snow and sand - (XP), Brigade E5: New Jagged Union - is a tactical game that places gamers in the small tropical nation of Palinero on the verge of a civil war. The mission: hire a band of mercenaries and take control of the deteriorating situation before the country finds itself in complete ruin - (XP), Medieval Mercs is a side scrolling action rpg - (Win 7+, 2G vRAM, Quad Core), Krog Wars - is a 2d and/or 3d space invaders like shooter - (Win 7 +), Stalingrad - is an isometric real-time strategy title that places gamers in the middle of the most dramatic periods of World War II, (minimum XP SP3 1.8GHz), Galactic Hitman - The Dargenziz pirates have taken control of our expansions in the zeta quadrant and we have a dire emergency that can only be handled by you. Colonist ships are already in route and you are the closest available contractor to assist our cause. Clear out the pirate filth before the colonists arrive to avoid massive casualties on our side - (minimum Win 7+, 2G vRAM, Quad Core), Devils Share - A first person horror Take on the role of Victor Locke, a mercenary hired by the church to clean out the filth that has begun plaguing the lands (minimum Win 7, 2GB of vRAM, Ring Runner: Flight of the Sages - combines the fast-paced action of space combat with the rich story and skill variety of an RPG.

Finally, check out Delenns threads for details of other free games and offers HERE and elsewhere in the game discussion forums HERE, (usually on the first page of the game discussion forums).