Full Review: Anodyne

Read the First Impressions

When talking about Anodyne, I can't help but say a little more about the ambience.  I want to compare it to a free-to-download indie favorite of mine: Eversion.  This is a little indie game that isn't afraid to get creepy.  It also vibes a bit Earthbound, for the SNES.  It's visually like Earthbound as well:  Anodyne is just between 8-bit and 16-bit style.  It sort of plays like the Game Boy version of Zelda: Link's Awakening.

Like Zelda games, there is a great variety of puzzles to solve.   Unlike Zelda, there are not a lot of equipment upgrades, however, the designers do a great job innovating new and different puzzles as the game progresses.  They also take care to make each stage or region look substantially different from the last, keeping the atmosphere strong, and reducing a sense of repetitiveness.     

The designers were ingeniously courteous in the way they designed the world maps.  They corral you into different winding corridors on the map by the use of locked gates.  However, as you progress, you double back and unlock the gates from the other side.  I don't know if you can beat the game without unlocking the gates, but that would make for one hell of an achievement.  The game itself seems to be only vaguely exploration based.  That is to say, I feel like I am covering every inch of the map in order to progress.  However, that said, I beat the game with 12 undiscovered Cards.

The game comes with a charming little Card System.  You collect various cards throughout the game, which correspond to the different characters and enemies.  Each card contains a caption and an image.  It's pretty cool,  I mean, pointless cards are nothing new, but this game has such a strange storyline, that I'm always very eager to see what the caption is on the cards, even if it's just a throwaway non-sequitur.  Also, the programmers decided not to make the cards pointless: there are locked gates that you can only get through if you have enough cards.

I beat Anodyne in 5.2 hours.  A little underwhelming by the end,  that is my only complaint.  And hey, it might just be my attention span.  There are 12 remaining cards and a secret stage that I haven't yet been to.  I always love these little easter eggs, however, I have not held myself to 100% completion before writing this review.

Is it worth ten bucks?  Well, that's like a trick question, since I got it in a Humble Bundle and also - I generally try to get games on sale, so I usually pay about 7.50 for a game, or even 5.  So, with that context, I still think it's probably worth ten bucks, but I recommend getting Anodyne, or any game, when it's on sale.  Bottom line is that this game is a labor of Love from a tiny team of 2 designers, and it shows.

-D


P.S.  Okay, now I went and reviewed it on Metacritic.  I gave it an 8.  My username is FeaxPotts.  Always nice to have a typo in your username :P  I think I want to go back through all my game reviews and review them on meta critic.  Especially those ones with metacritic scores that I disagree with.

Note:  This game came with an Android version as well.  I gave it a shot on my smart phone -- I don't like it.  Maybe I need time to adjust to having touch buttons.  The biggest problem is the control pad.  It's so slippery, and it's located on the lower left-hand side of the screen, and I'd like it a big higher.  I find that when I lift my thumb, I always set it down on the top of the pad, rather than the center.

The Place Where A Crossbow Can Turn Into A Smartphone

I thought about talking. . . about how out of touch I am in some markets.  Specifically how much I am lacking in the crossbow department.  Why crossbows when I have a perfectly good compound bow sitting not 10 feet behind me?  Because I happen to have left eye dominance and right everything else.  And, I've come to the realization that even with a lot of practice, my aim when pulling back with my right hand wasn't great.  I could still hit the groinal region of Bob (6 1/2 foot bipedal target) from maybe 30 feet, I never measured the actual distance.  I would then proceed to miss the head shot and hit the fence the point being, this is not what I was originally going to talk about.

The market that I was initially going to "briefly" mention was that I am now entering the world of smartphones.  As is the case with some aspects of the technological realm, I'm late to the party.  I acquired my first cellphone in 2005 and that was a flip phone because I liked the idea of my phone not accidentally making calls on my ass'/thigh's behalf.  Two years later I got another flip phone for the same reason.  I wasn't looking into smart phones because I didn't want to have the obligatory +$20 for message/data plan tacked onto my already $45/month phone bill.  Two years later, another phone, this one a slider, which I found out are not washing machine proof.  I was then given an old Razor/er/ar? by Conklederps Dad which I used until I thought I lost in San Francisco.  Roughly a year and-a-half later, it was then replaced by the same slider phone that is 15 feet away charging.  

I only decided to look into smart phones because my current phone's ear piece speaker is starting to get all warbly.  After a bit of research, I discovered that I would be paying about the same amount that I'm currently paying, even with the data plan.  So now, or at least by tomorrow, I'll be the newest member of the smart phone universe.

All that context has brought me to wonder if I'm going to start reviewing cellphone games.  I might, but I don't see myself turning into a cellphone gamer.  I of course say that now, but then I also gave the Game Boy Players Guide to my neighbor (we'll call him PvW) because I didn't own a Game Boy and never saw myself owning one.  Look how well that one's turned out.

That's pretty much all I've got at the moment.  If I don't post anything on Monday (9/30), then send a search party for Conklederp and myself as we'll be around Crater Lake this weekend.  And someone should also tell my work that I won't be coming in.  Now to make sure our tent is still functional and my 3DS is charged.

And Steam's got new stuff too.

Have a good weekend.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

That Thing Hadn't Come Out Yet