Indie Game Spotlight: The Adventures of Sullivan by Bumper Car Studios

By: Mia “NerdyNursey” Owens

This month’s indie spotlight focuses on a retro, pixelated side scroller called the Adventures of Sullivan. I didn’t expect to enjoy this game as much as a did, as I’m not much of a shoot-’em up kind of gal but the demo really pulled me in and I couldn’t help but play this over and over. The story, although mostly unavailable in the demo, promises to be engaging and entertaining as you embark on an epic quest to rescue your cat - named C.A.T. The in-game music fits the action perfectly, as you move along in a combination of jumps, double-jumps, and slides to get the best angle on the enemies. My favorite part of the game involved the weapon drops that would randomly occur as I killed a foe, as I got to blast away with a variety of really fun firearms, machine guns, laser cannons, and ultra-powerful revolvers. Although my least favorite part was the low drop rate of health and shields from the enemies or checkpoints, as I was never able to fully finish the demo due to getting killed and having to start over from the beginning for my entire playthrough. The creators, however, have already committed to increasing those drop rates, and in doing so, will definitely increase how much fun this game is My other slight annoyance came from the trajectory of grenades you can throw, as they seemed to have a super bounce ability that made it hard to aim correctly, but throwing them was a lot of fun anyway.

Overall, this checked a lot of boxes for me, retro style, smooth controls, challenging enemies, and a wonderful cat-based storyline. I definitely plan to play more of this, and snagging it when the full game is available, as you can’t beat Bumper Car’s $5 pricetag. You can check out the demo for yourself, and find out more about the game at https://bumpercarstudios.itch.io/ .