Double Cross
Genre: Action-Adventure Mystery / Platformer
Developer: 13AM Games
Publisher: Graffiti Games
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
A Review by Andrew Dmytrasz
Double Cross is an interesting modern side scrolling platformer with a retro feel. You play as Zahra, a plucky teenage agent of RIFT (Regulators of Interdimensional Frontiers and Technology) whose job is to maintain order and monitor all interdimensional travel between worlds–parallel and otherwise. The story starts with an attack on RIFT by a masked assailant known only as Mr. X. Your mission is to unmask their identity and discover what they are after. I had the opportunity to demo this game at EGLX, and afterwards I had to check out the full game!
Double Cross is half action, half mystery solving. You have three different worlds you need to explore and fight your way through to gather clues and evidence to build your case. You get certain items from each world that you need to show people at RIFT, so you need to remember what people tell you when you talk to them and what items would be relevant. The story/mystery solving part of the game is interesting. It’s nothing ground breaking, but certainly enough to keep you intrigued throughout the game. There are four levels within each of the three worlds (three main levels and a boss level), so 12 levels total. I found the nine main levels to be very similar, essentially fighting and swinging your way through, but each tries to have some unique aspect or puzzle that you needed to solve. 
The gameplay was good, but not great. Most of the levels you simply need to fight and smash your way through while collecting Upgradium, which are crystals scattered or hidden throughout the levels. What I did like about the Upgradium is that you can see in which order you collect them in the level you’re on, so you can get a sense of how many you missed and roughly what location they would be in. You use the Upgradium to level up and you unlock passive fighting skills and different mods you can equip to yourself. There are about 12+ different mods, but you only have room to equip three. I found myself sticking to a few key ones and not even using most of them, which did seem like a bit of a waste. The other ones were useful, just not ones that I would prioritize over other ones. The fighting moves that you unlock were good, but the controls for them were similar, so I often found myself annoyingly using the wrong move in battle.
The main tool you use is your proton slinger, which you use to grab and swing to different areas, as well as grab and throw objects. It’s rather fun using your proton slinger to swing around the levels! Though it would have been good if they made the length longer to allow you to move farther.
For your HQ it takes a little bit to find your way around the ship, but it’s not that big, so you get a sense of the layout eventually. It would have been nice if they added a map to see where you are and the different rooms, or at least more signage as to where the different rooms are for when you first start.
There are different settings you can switch between for the game, but it doesn’t give you an explanation as to what the different modes do, so I never bothered trying them out. I’m sure they would have been fun, but without knowing what they did, didn’t want to use them and mess up in the middle of an important area!
Double Cross definitely has a retro feel to it, but not pixelated, and each of the three worlds you explore have their own theme and design. A lot of bright colours to keep you engaged and minimal dialogue so it didn’t feel drawn out. 
Play it – Double Cross has some minor issues, but overall I enjoyed playing it! This game has a lot of potential and they may be able to work out some of the kinks in a sequel and be able to expand on it more.
