Genre: Arcade
Developer: Radin Games
Publisher: ZeroUno Games

If indeed "bashfulness is an ornament to youth, but a reproach to old age", then no one can fault the geriatric, balding gray-haired King Arthur of Eternum Ex, who exhibits his well-animated fighting moves as he leaps around detailed, well-shaded stages which would not look out of place in a "Castlevania" game. The built-in CRT filter is one of the betters this reviewer has seen, although for all of its quality, the art is almost too sharply drawn, and thus lacks any sort of defining charm or character of its own.

Modern video game music is either full-on Hollywood-style orchestra drivel, or of the pretentiously chirpy "chiptune" variety. Eternum Ex instead opts for an 80s arcade-- or Mega Drive, if you prefer-- Yamaha "OPN" family FM synth style. Not only that, but its heavy use of the minor keys compliment the art's ghoulish, Halloween-like designs. Sound effects are there but toned down in volume, and don't serve the kind of functional roles they do in the very top arcade games.

Eternum Ex is a straight-up high score arcade game, functionally like a strange cross between "Pac-Man" and "Mario Bros."; enemies spawn and cascade around a side-scrolling arena, and the player must scoop up treasure chests while avoiding the baddies. If a chest is first bumped from beneath, then its contents-- a randomly chosen power-up-- can be obtained. It's a water-tight formula to be sure, but there is something about the "fun factor" which just doesn't make it as addicting as the period games its meant to imitate.

For a game which obnoxiously bills itself as "Hyper Mega Super Ultra Hard!!!" in its trailer, it's not so bad-- there is even a mode which will save progress after each of the first four "worlds" is completed. There's not really a fault to be had with Eternum Ex specifically, and the game works well as a bite-sized handheld experience. But something about the too-precise artwork and the overall gameplay formula conspire to make the game feel a little flat.