The Last Fighter:

In Brief:
The Last Fighter is a side scrolling looter shooter 'precision' platformer. There are two locations to explore spread over 15 levels. You'll fight three different enemy types (pirates, smugglers and bandits) with a selection of five different weapons (pistol, shotgun, grenade launcher automatic rifle and mini gun). These are picked up via packages every so often, but you can only carry one weapon at a time and cannot switch to any weapon you previously had. Each weapon has a different icon, so if you don't wish to pick up a particular weapon, you can jump over the package.

You start with 130 bullets and the single shot pistol (though keeping the fire button pressed will give you continuous fire). You'll find ammo packs to pick up as you progress; these can hold either 10 or 30 bullets. The mini gun fires at a rapid rate, so bullets will be at a premium. The grenade launcher throws three grenades at a time.

You start with three lives, each life includes five blocks, each hit removes one block (20HP) from your life. You can pick up health packs by walking over them. Each health pack recovers 100 HP (full health). If you've not lost any health the health packs will remain in situ. There are plenty of health packs to find along the way, so don't be to concerned if your health is only 40HP as you're likely to find more health soon. Once you've passed a checkpoint you cannot return back from where you came from, so ensure you explore all visible area's before moving on to the next screen as it may be a checkpoint.

Jump over spiked traps, each time you hit a spiked trap you lose 20HP. Use spring platforms to be able to jump higher as well as ladders to jump onto and use as aids to get to higher places.

In the top left hand corner, there are three indicator boxes. The first tells you how many lives you have left, the second the number of rounds of ammunition or grenades (which changes appearance depending on which weapon you've picked up. The third one appeared blank in all the screen captures I took; however, the third image from the bottom, which I copied from Steam, shows an icon in the box, but I didn't get far enough to discover what it meant (it was approaching 6am and I needed to retire). Please do post info' about it if you discover what it means.

The game starts in Full Screen, there is no options menu and the main menu includes:

Continue
Start
Exit

On starting the game, use the W & S keys to select from the main menu then press the enter key to start the game. If you have previously played the game but not completed it, select Continue and it will take you to the last checkpoint you left. If you press Start, it will over write your save and start from level one. There is no level map, so once you've completed a level it is only saved by using the continue button. See below for the control key bindings or controller buttons.

The game was supposed to have been released on Steam HERE yesterday the 25th July 2022, but is not yet available.

You can see a very short video of game play HERE

Keyboard Controls:

Main Menu:

W = Menu Up selection
S = Menu Down selection
Enter = Start game

In Game Key Binding:

A = Move left
D = Move right
Hold S = Go Prone
W or Space or J = Jump
K or Right Alt or Left Ctrl or Right Ctrl = Fire weapon
Hold S + Space = Jump Off

Controller Controls:

Main Menu:

D Pad UP = Menu Up
D Pad Down = Menu Down
A = Start game

In Game Key Binding:

D Pad Left = Move left
D Pad Right = Move right
D Pad Down = Go Prone
A = Jump
X = Fire weapon
D Pad Down + A = Jump Off

Conclusion:
The Last Fighter is a reasonable retro pixelated action platformer with survival elements. there are lots of health packs and plenty of ammo packs to pick up, because of this the game is relatively easy to play; however, some of the harder to reach platforms do require accurately timed jumps, so can become a little frustrating. You don't have to explore every part to complete a level; so, if you're finding it difficult to get to that small platform to then jump to another small platform requiring two well times jumps or more, you can just pass over them. That said, those hard to get areas often have much better pick ups, for example in the fourth image from the end there were three ammo boxes that boosted my ammo to well over 200, which was useful, because my next weapon pick up was the mini gun, which uses a lot of ammo, even when firing in short bursts. Other harder to get places include more health packs and weapon pick ups. If you do pass up on these hard to get places; remember, once you've passed a checkpoint, you cannot return to that part of the level prior to hitting the checkpoint.

I recommend this game to anyone who loves platform games. Despite only including 15 levels; the levels are reasonably lengthy and there's enough varied content to keep you busy for a few hours at the very least without getting too jaded; that is unless you're a super whizz-kid at such games; in which case, there's probably little more than an hour (4 to 5 minutes per level; though I spent much longer). That said, platformers are low on my list of enjoyable arcade games; my favourite platformers include old ones such as Wik & the Fable of Souls, Gish and Super Meat Boy, (the latter two were created by the same developer who also created Larva Mortus; and, the first two listed are over 20 years old now)