Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Aminal: The Christmas Game starts with an immediately understandable challenge: collect bells across a 2D side-scrolling level, then bring them to the post box at the end. It is a compact arcade-platformer loop, and the pressure comes from trying to do two things at once—finish fast while leaving as few bells behind as possible.

The scoring rules are where the game finds its bite. Time and bell totals both affect your points, while gathering bells quickly earns a combo bonus. That means a cautious clear is not necessarily a satisfying clear. If you enjoy replaying a stage to tighten your route and keep a collection streak alive, the game gives you a practical reason to care about every pickup.

Hazards keep that route planning from becoming a simple treasure sweep. Men on camels and chainsaw-wielding snowmen are deliberately silly threats, but they still force you to pay attention while you are trying to preserve speed. Seven levels is a modest run, so the payoff depends on whether score improvement is enough motivation for you to revisit them.

Graphics

The game uses a 2D side view, putting the action in a clear horizontal platforming frame. Its most memorable images are also its strangest: a band member running past camel riders and snowmen carrying chainsaws in a Christmas-themed bell hunt.

Story

You play as a member of the fictitious band Aminal, with the Christmas framing built around collecting bells and delivering them to post boxes. It is a light premise designed to launch the platforming rather than slow it down.

The post box gives each level a simple finish-line purpose: your bell collection has somewhere to go, not just a number on a score display. That small touch fits the seasonal theme neatly.

The game’s humor comes through more clearly in its setup than in any elaborate narrative. Camel-riding men and chainsaw snowmen make the journey feel knowingly goofy, so do not go in expecting a heartfelt holiday tale.

Overall Experience

This is a lean, score-focused platformer with a festive coat of paint and a taste for absurd hazards. Its best moments should come when you stop treating bells as optional collectibles and start treating the stage as a route to optimize.

Give it a chance if a short run built around faster times, higher scores, and combo chasing sounds like a good use of an evening. The seven-level structure makes it easy to sample, and the oddball enemy choices give it more character than a generic holiday platformer.

It is harder to recommend to you if you want a long campaign or a story to carry the experience. Aminal: The Christmas Game lives or dies on the satisfaction of improving a run; when that score chase clicks, it is a pleasingly direct little challenge, and when it does not, there is not much else to lean on.

Retro Replay Score

5.5/10