Game Review: Mission Majority (Browser)

I first off would like to say that any criticism I have for this browser based platformer is from the view of someone who loves video games and grew up with the advent of Super Mario Bros.  I would still be criticising this game even if it were released by any political faction where you played as a donkey called Jack, a mellow-go-lucky pot leaf named Mary J. or as the Flying Spaghetti Monster named Bob.

So, Mission Majority, or GIOPI, 2014 Mission Majority if you are one for long titles. This game was developed by. . . someone.  The website mentions that the game was paid for by the NRSC (National Republican Senatorial Committee) and that it is not authorized by any candidate or their respective committee.

Now let us not fool ourselves, this game is designed to be some form of political propaganda although I cannot think of who the target audience would be.  Anyone of legal voting age would not find the level design to be engaging in the same way that the first level of Super Mario Bros. is engaging and entertaining, but we will get to level design later.  Anyone younger than 18 (probably) will not have their own credit card to donate or not understand why you have to use the arrow keys to move and no controller support.  Maybe the humor in the game is supposed to propel the player forward or instill a "so bad it's good" feeling.  I cannot say in anyway.  There is also no statement on the webpage as to whom the game is targeted towards.

When you go to the webpage, you are greeted by Giopi (as in G.O.P.) and given the motivation for playing the game.

Yes, the characterization you see for Giopi is how he/she appears in the game, bugged out eyes and all, but the design for the character would not be so bad if the rest of the level and characters did not look better than this four colored elephant.

The character seems out of place in the world.  Even the enemies (The Taxer) has pupils and eyebrows, but Giopi has toenails and stars on his jersey to go along with his blocky-eyed blank stare.  Prior to Level 1 starting the player is told that "the Taxer, Harry Reid and President Obama sent the job-destroying Taxers to stop you!  You need to avoid them, jumping on them suppresses their high taxes."  The Taxer is essentially a Goomba that only moves forward/backward and can only harm you if you walk into it, or if you do not land correctly on its head.  You are also charged with finding golden keys that "unlock the Senate and help Republicans win the majority this fall.  Each key represents helping Republican campaign get more volunteers."  So that is the players motivation.

Upon completing a level, you are awarded with a victory screen, the option to donate money to the GNSC, buy Giopi merchandise from their online store or join them, which I assume means join their mailing list.  The store contains simple merchandise such at a Giopi sticker, drink/beer coozie, T-shirts, posters and sweatbands all for a nominal fee ($6-$30).  What would have been smart was for the player to earn a certain discount based on how well they have done in the levels up to a certain percentage off, such as 5% for each level completed or after a certain score is reached.

The nitty gritty now.

The game stages are not well designed.  The controls are simple enough (Left Arrow: Move Left/ Right Arrow: Move Right/ Up Arrow or X: Jump), but there always seemed to be a half second lag after pressing the button.  I just chalked this up to being a browser game.  As far as aesthetics,  you are able to notice that the background and the platforms will sometimes not tile correctly, often with glaring breaks in the continuity.  I only noticed this in the second and third levels, which both use the same palette.  The final product comes across to me as being shoddily put together with little care about the people who will be playing this game because they want to, as opposed to people like me who have played this game because we were intrigued and amused by the premise.

There is also a striking disconnect between what the creators and how they want to keep the player alive.  If you notice in the top middle of the screen, the time reads 9861, which means I have 9861 seconds, or  2 hours and 44 minutes to complete this "collect three key" stage.  Even if the numbers do not directly correlate to a full second, that would still translate to almost 25 minutes to beat a stage (if 1= 1/4 second).  Directly under the timer is your life meter, consisting of four hearts.  As to be expected, with the loss of the final heart Giopi dies and you have to start the level over from the beginning and collect all the keys again.  There are no heart drops or items (aside from the keys) t0 be found throughout the level.  I do not understand the disconnect between having a timer that ends up being meaningless paired with a life meter if the game is meant to be an easy browser based platformer with really bad hit detection (more on that in a bit).

That big blue enemy is the attempt at variation to Level 2 and is called the Mudslinger.  "The Democrats' Mudslinger hurls false and empty rhetoric.  You can jump on them to mute their misleading words."  Believe it or not, I was excited by this enemy at first.  I figured that this would be the bad guy who throws blue bits of mud at you like one of the Hammer Bro. or a Venus Fire Trap, but no, the Mudslinger just stands there, not moving.  That is it.  Sure it's taller than the Taxer, but that is not much for enemy variation.  I should also mention that every time you kill an enemy, a short multiple second soundbite from one of a few Democrats during Obama's Presidency plays.  Because you squashed the Democrat, you are awarded with the enemies misleading rhetoric.

Okay, sure, I might be complaining about the game not playing by a traditional set of platforming rules and yes, I know that even in Super Mario Bros., there was no life meter and one hit killed, but there were power up mushrooms and invincibility stars.  The problem I had with only having four hearts that could not be refilled was that the hit detection in the game was atrocious.  To me, it seemed that unless the bulk of my character was landing on the enemy, Giopi would take damage.  Compare that to being able to stand on a platform with just Giopi's toes.

The only redeeming thing to come out of this game is that the music is not half bad.  I cannot place what it reminds me of, but it is a decent mix of NES era 8-bit music and early SNES era something-or-other with a hint of Paperboy thrown in during a certain section, but only because that was what I was reminded of.

If you happen to still be intrigued at this point about Mission Majority, just do a google search and it will pop right up; before the game is taken down.  Before playing you are required to give your name and email address although from what I read on reddit, there is no verification process so you are able to plug in any name and email address and still play the game.  I only made it to Level 3 before deciding that I had experienced enough to write an article about poor game design, but you are able to make your own decisions and conclusions.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

The Smile Has Left Your Eyes

Emulator Hour: 3D Classics: Kirby's Adventure (NES/3DS)

I have a confession to make.

With the exception of playing the the first couple of levels in Stage 1 of Kirby's Dream Land and the demo for Kirby's Epic Yarn back at PAX2010, I have never played through any of the games in the Kirby franchise.  Until recently that is, which is why today I am bringing to you:

Kirby's Adventure was first released on the Nintendo Entertainment System back in 1993, near the end of the NES' life, which was two years into the SNES' release into North America.  All of that backstory aside, Kirby's Adventure is a lot of fun!

Now that I think about it, I cannot remember m/any of my friends either playing any of the Kirby games or recommending Kirby.  Actually, that is not entirely true and I did play, as previously mentioned, Kirby's Dream Land on the Gameboy that belonged to my cousin, probably back in 1993/94.  I have known about Kirby, but just never got around to playing any of the games in the series.  I probably just convinced myself that I was too old for that kind of a game.

I know that a lot of you already know this and that I am just late to the proverbial party, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoy playing the game.  It is a very simple platformer when you want to run and other times you can intake a body-full of air and simply fly around.  You can swallow almost every enemy and about half of those you can gain a special ability (spit fire, shoot lasers, emit sparks, wield a Donkey-Kong-esque hammer, et cetera).  Even when falling, Kirby takes a diving pose whereby he causes damage to enemies in his way.  However, the game is not a pushover as I do die on occasion and there have been a couple of bosses that have given me a run for my um, something-or-other. There is challenge to this game, but it is a fun and entertaining challenge.  Maybe if there was not a save feature then this game would fall from what it is to the difficulty level of games such as Super Mario Bros. 3.

My biggest critique about the game is that the color palette seems to be muted when compared to other platformers like Super Mario Bros. 3 and Mega Man 4, which is probably why at first I thought I was playing a Super Game Boy version of Kirby's Dream Land and not the NES release, which Dr. Potts kindly pointed out.  This is not true though for all levels/stages, but it was the "first impression" that I got when first playing.  Maybe if the fire that Kirby spat was red or if the ice he emitted had been blue instead of the yellow/orange tint that all of his abilities seem to have I would "feel better"?  And yes, I realize that I am making requests of an NES game that can now legally drink alcohol.

One of my favorite aspects of the game is that there does not seem to be one power that overpowers all the others.  Sure one power might be better than another in a specific situation, but I have yet to come across an ability, even one absorbed from a boss that singularly outweighs any other ability.  Sure, the laser is a fast long range attack, but it does not seem to do as much damage as other attacks, especially against those pesky bosses.  That is one of the best things about Kirby's  Adventure is figuring out what power would work best against a certain enemy or boss or how a given power is beneficial in a particular circumstance.

The 3D effect is pretty subtle as it pulls the background back in a single layer keeping Kirby, the platforms and enemies in the foreground.  I have noticed that most of the time I have the 3D effect either turned down low or off completely, but that is simply me wanting to conserve battery life.  The effects are nothing to write home to dear old Ma about, but considering that it is a 3D port of an NES game, I feel like whomever did the conversion did a good job without sacrificing gameplay or the now often mentioned "frame rate"; as in there is no lag between 2D and 3D modes.

After having played the game for just over three hours, I am 53% of the way through, which is nice to know that there is still plenty of game for me to come back to when I need a break from Donkey Kong Country Returns and all the annoyances that come with dying 38+ times in a single level.  I think that is one of the things that remains endearing (but not disarming) about Kirby's Adventure, is that I can pick up a 21 year old platformer and have a lot of fun.  I would not be surprised if I decide to go back through levels just to see what it is like with a different array of weapons choices or without powers at all.  

Big thank you to HAL Laboratory for their fun creation.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

A World Full of Secrets and Magic

First Impressions: Knytt

I decided to give Knytt a look.  Knytt is a freeware, open-world platforming game by a Swedish developer named Nifflas, creator of another atmospheric game: Night Sky.  Knytt is the first in a series, which I have just now cracked open.  

It was fun!  It was relaxing.  It was ambient.  Knytt is like an open world Super Meat Boy, but less refined.   Knytt is like Proteus, is like Starseed Pilgrim.  It also made Giant Bomb's 2009 list of 365 games to play before you die. 

I don't know how I got turned on to Knytt.  I think it was when I was researching 'Starseed Pilgrim.'  Some reviewer or another made a comparison to Knytt, and I think it was apt (even if I can't find the original article).  Knytt is similarly mysterious in its goals and intentions, and similarly relaxing in its aesthetic.  There's a gentleness to Knytt.

The gameplay in Knytt isn't actually mysterious.  That is to say, there is a tutorial.  There is a simple goal: 'collect these items.'  There's a story 'you were kidnapped by an alien, whose ship then crashed.'  But despite these things, there is a sense of wonder and uncertainty granted by the world you are navigating.  This is created by a really nice aesthetic visual and audio design, and also assisted by the ease with which you navigate the world.  By pure screen-count, this game is easily the largest 2d platformer I've ever played.  Screens fly by in a matter of seconds, obstacles are mostly easy to get around.  Different environments unfold before you as you progress.  

While the game is almost easy to the point of being boring, I didn't find it boring.  I found it soothing.  It was nice to see all the different environments, and amazing how many different variations there were.  The sounds and music were nice, varied, and unobtrusive. 

I talk alot about simplicity and minimalism in game design.  Knytt is a shining example of this.  I didn't get to the end, and eventually it may become boring, or worse: frustrating -- but that first hour was nothing but joyful.  

Definitely worth a look- don't forget:  it's free!

-D

Full Review: Deadlight (PC)

In-game time was 3h22m.
Play time was 7 hours, but I played about an hour of the first chapter again to show Emilie what the game was like.

I actually finished Deadlight about a month ago, shortly after posting my First Impressions, but have now finally gotten around to writing up everything that I want to say about the game.

STORY

Deadlight follows the character of Randall Wayne, a Canadian forest worker who is attempting to survive a zombie-like apocalyptic world set in 1986's Seattle, WA.  Raul Rubio, the CEO of Tequila Works, the company behind Deadlight, was quoted as saying that 1986 was specifically chosen because "if you think about it, 1986 was the year that had a lot of lunar events.  And if you put that with movies like First Blood and Day of the Dead, it's a strange mix and you can get a unique visual."  Other notable events that saw the light of day from 1986 was the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion in January (which was mentioned in the game), Stephen King's IT was published, Halley's Comet is visible, the USSR launches the Mir space station, one of the reactors at Chernobyl "explodes," Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior) is released in Japan, Pan Am flight 73 is hijacked by terrorists, a 7.5 earthquake strikes El Salvador and kills 1500.  You get the idea, a lot of shit was happening which probably helped to "set the tone" for the game.

All of that aside, I didn't find the story overly original.  Randall is with a group of survivors and is searching for his missing/lost wife and daughter.  Don't get me wrong though, I was throughly engaged throughout the game, albeit a little confused at times as to how Randall knew where to go, but that is all explained by the end of the game.

The story is broken up into four chapters, the first is where most of the game mechanics and story elements are introduced.  It plays like a great traditional platformer.  The second chapter feels very different as it introduces a lot of puzzle elements that play a bit like Portal, but less fun.  This second chapter was where my fun level/interest took a bit of a dip as I was afraid that I was going to be playing this type of game the rest of the time, which I didn't want as I so much enjoyed the first chapter.  The third and forth chapters play more like the first chapter with some additional "actiony" elements as well as a lot of story elements that filled in blanks from earlier in the game.

One story element that I felt could have been done differently was Randall's journal.  When you start the game, you have Randall's journal which is a somewhat daunting 60 page book with some missing/torn out pages.  Throughout the game, you can find missing pages which don't seem to add too much in the way of critical character building information.  And the journal as a whole is, as previously stated, a bit daunting.  Each time I played, I would read a couple of pages then play the game.  I would have liked this element better if pages became readable throughout the course of the game either by letting Randall actually look at them (maybe because they were too emotionally difficult for him to read in the earlier stages) or by finding them as he finds the already missing/torn out pages.

Ultimately, I really enjoyed the story that was being told here.  While not entirely original as far as concepts go, the execution is what kept me engaged.

GAMEPLAY

As previously stated, Deadlight plays like a traditional platformer with an Xbox360 controller.  The left joystick moves you, the A button jumps, the X button attacks, and so on and so forth.  All of the actions are fairly intuitive, but the game does go through brief context sensitive moments when you first learn to use those specific buttons, such as sprinting or diving through walls while sprinting.

As is the case with most games, the one difficulty I had was the jumping from wall-to-wall maneuver, which is something that I've had problems with since the days of Super Metroid.  Something about jumping from one wall to another and pressing the control pad in the opposite direction then jumping again at the right moment has never been one of my strong suits.

Another difficulty I had at two areas in the game was timing my jumps from the ground to a fence, flipping over and jumping off, all while being shot at or avoiding falling debris.  This happened at the end of Chapter 1 and the beginning of Chapter 3.  Failing at said tasks would always lead to dying, which is something that you will have to become very comfortable with as it will happen often; not quite as often as in Altaïr's Chronicles, but it will be fairly often.

GRAPHICS
The graphics for Deadlight are what sealed my interest with the game.  A zombie apocalypse platformer set in 1986 Seattle about a man searching for his wife and daughter aren't the things that initially grab my interest senses, but these kinds of visuals:

Running through a building with Shadows approaching from the background.

Leaping from a platform over a barbed wire fence to land on an adjacent roof.

Walking through a park in downtown Seattle, WA.

The graphics are gorgeous.  Randall is backlit for the majority of the game although there are some details that peek through when he is closer to the camera/foreground.

There were a couple of instances, two come to mind, where I was unsure as to what I was supposed to be doing because I could not recognize certain elements in the environment.  In both instances, I was supposed to grab on to a piece of ceiling in order to climb to the platform above my character.  While I did realize that jumping was the key, I did not know that I, for example, had to knock something loose in order to make the platform accessible, or something similar.  In one of these events I resorted to looking on youtube to find out how to access the next platform/area.  I could probably just blame myself as needing to take a break and over thinking either the game mechanics or the puzzle itself.

SOUND & MUSIC
The music for Deadlight was composed by David García Díaz and is  very somewhat minimalistic, in that I cannot recall any memorable thematic elements.  There weren't any John Williams or Nobuo Uematsu type themes running through the game, so you're probably not going to be humming the music and you walk down the street.  Those themes are not for this kind of a game, even one set in 1986.  In another game, you might have bits of music from that era playing in the background or out of stereos or cassette decks.  The music in Deadlight is there to help set and maintain the mood of the world.  I didn't find the music obtrusive, even when the music became more dynamic when Randall was being attacked by Shadows.

The themes that are present in the game though are haunting and beautiful, but not heavy handed.  You can get a sense of both the hope that Randall will be successful in his quest and yet there is also the despair that he will find what it is that he fears most.  It's just well composed music that you might expect to find from a big budget movie studio that knows how to do a zombie apocalypse film.

FINAL THOUGHTS
In the end, I spent a total of six hours with the game although it only took me a total of three hours and twenty minutes, if you do not take into account all the dying and the three times I had to restart Chapter 3 because the game crashed (fell through the world), I turned the game off before reaching a mid-level checkpoint and my final run though.  After a single playthrough, achievement-wise, I completed 74% of the game, which I find is a testament to how much of the game I was able to complete/experience without (much) assistance.

There were only a couple of spots that I found to be difficult, but every game is going to have moments like that.  I did like that there were no bosses because that's not the kind of game this is trying to be.  I know some people will scoff at the short play time, but that's just the kind of game this is and if you also take into account that it's the first game from this studio, it's a damn fine game.

One last little tough, was that as you make your way through the game, you unlock artwork from both pre and post production.  Basically just a bunch of little tid-bits that I love about DVDs and something that I wish more video games would do for their audience.  There are even a couple documentaries that I have yet to watch, but there are a handful.  These are the little things that I really appreciate.


~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Instrumental

P.S.  Sorry I do not have any really actiony shots as I was too busy playing the game and Conklederp wasn't around to act as camerawoman while I was playing.  Just go and watch the trailer that sold the game to me and you'll get the idea.  I can also promise that everything in the trailer is actual game footage (except the blurbs from various gaming sites), even the occasional bits where the action slows down while you're jumping/falling.

First Impressions: Starseed Pilgrim

Starseed Pilgrim just ate two hours of my day.  I knew I had been at it a while, but I was surprised to read the total.  I'd been saying 'just one more game' to myself for the last ten games or so.  The first half of the time was spent figuring out what is going on.  And then when I started to figure it out, I've tried to determine how to build skill.   I'm definitely getting better at it, but I feel like there's still more to learn.

This game taps into a sense of creativity, of mystery, of exploration and of expertise.  And Harmony, don't forget harmony.  The visual and audio design is already invading my dreams.  Starseed Pilgrim is another in a very exciting trend in gaming which uses sound effects in a musical and atmospheric way.  Every action produces a tone, and they combine in a musical soundscape of the game.  Similar uses of music include Everyday Shooter, Bit.Trip.Runner and Proteus.

Starseed Pilgrim is one of those games that I want to take care not to share too much.  Part of the fun and excitement has been just figuring out how to play.  I recommend mapping a gamepad using JoyToKey, and then having a good time.

That's all I'll say for now.  I'll write a full review after this game lets go of my brain.  It will be full of spoilers.

-D

P.S.  I suppose I should mention one more thing:  this game is TOUGH.

FEZ: revisited

FEZ may very well be a masterpiece.

The attention to detail, visual design and editing really come through.  This game has been meticulously crafted, and I love it.  It's almost like a challenge just to enjoy all the fine details.  

Contrary to my first impression, I now see that the movement is consistent.  The puzzles are amazing.  How does he do it?  The learning curve is steady and challenging.  Once you learn to use the map system, the game opens up.  The little graphical details are delightful.  This is truly a love letter to 2d platform gaming with a really well conceived and executed mechanic.  Bravo!

Fez is not a clone of anything, and it is proof that the retro platformer can still be innovative.  If I were to estimate the mechanical level of FEZ, I would guess playstion 1/Saturn/Nintendo 64 era, but it's hard to tell.  The game is so dense, that I experience some slowdown at times, yet I have no problem emulating the PS1.  The number of little sprite animations is awesome, and may just be a bigger processing strain than I give it credit for.

My one nit pick thus far is that I can't control the camera zoom.  I'd like to get a closer look sometimes, but I am unable to do that.  This is a bummer.  

Also, this game brings to mind Voxels.  I haven't played with them much except for the first Humble Bundle I bought, the Humble Voxatron Bundle.  Voxatron was a fun little 3d shooter made of blocks, like Minecraft and Fez.  What an interesting developement for 3d games:  3d blocks, rather than polygons. I'm for it!

I'm playing FEZ in a little bit of a different way than usual.  Usually, I game in about 2 hour sessions, but with FEZ, I'm playing in half hour sessions.  I like it.  I find that I hit a wall at about a half hour, and rather than struggle, if I just put the game away, I will be refreshed the next time I start.  

In conclusion:  FEZ is very nearly a perfect game.  It is rare to find a game with this level of detail, few come even close.  A triumph of design and editing.  

-D

P.S.  Many thanks to Daniel Featherstone for encouraging me to stick it out with FEZ.  

First Impressions: FEZ- interrupted

So, after a long time waiting, FEZ was released for Steam.  And then, shortly after, it went on sale at 50% off, and I bought it.  Even though I don't have a job and should be saving my money.  I've been wanting to play FEZ since I first heard of it!  But for a long time it was only available on X Box, so I had to hold out for 'some day.'

Well, that day is today.  Or, actually it was a few days ago.  Anyhow, I installed FEZ, and it runs.  It doesn't run great, however.  It's a little choppy, really.  Not terrible, but not smooth.  Playable though.  At least through the first two stages.  The third stage ratcheted up the image complexity, resulting in a huge cut to the framerate.  If I had to guess, I'd say it's down to about 5 frames per second.  I believe film runs at 24 frames, and fancy high def film runs at 60.  I've also heard that the human eye can't perceive more than 60.  That's neither here, nor, there-- I guess the point is that I can't really play FEZ.  damn.

Having seen Indie Game the Movie, I am tempted to judge FEZ harshly.  Mostly because the creator, featured heavily in the movie, comes across as too hyperbolic.  But also, I know that he went back and remade all the tiles in the game, to a greater graphical complexity.  I think his efforts show, FEZ is very pretty, but it doesn't do me any good, because that same complexity is very likely contributing to my difficulty in playing the game.  I'm a strong advocate for gameplay first, graphics second.  Otherwise the graphics are a bit more of a window dressing for a game that doesn't play all that well.  

I'm concerned that FEZ has a bit high of a window dressing component.  On the other hand, the central gameplay mechanic - rotating a 2D world - is fantastic.  It really is brilliant, and it appears to be executed pretty effectively.  My biggest argument for this is that I had FEZ dreams the first night after playing it for about an hour.  There's just something so satisfying about the rotating Platforms.  The platforming isn't that great, however.  The jumping is unwieldy, and I find I miss jumps I think I should make. On the other hand, there are lots of fun references to classic games, such as Ocarina of Time and the Super Mario Series.  These are done well without seeming overdone.  More window dressing, perhaps, but it's really good window dressing.  

So, bottom line, based on my impression of the first couple of levels:  The creator may have some issues he needs to work out, but FEZ is, thus far, delightful.  I hope I can get a hold of a better graphics card and finish playing before too long.

-D



P.S.  Oh look, and now it's available for the Humble Indie Bundle 9 - wouldn't you know it?  If I had just held out, I could have gotten FEZ and a bunch of other games for the same price I paid for FEZ + soundtrack.  Oh well, that's how it is with the Humble Bundles:  you win some, you lose some.  Really, you mostly win.  Pretty much always.   

P.P.S. And look again!  It turns out my janky ol mac laptop can actually play FEZ better than my desk top!  whodathunk?  This machine is full of surprises.  Except the overheating after a half hour of play.  That is like clockwork.  In the meantime, I will at least get a chance to take a few more bites out of FEZ.  For this, I am grateful.

Full Review: Gunman Clive

After 1 hour 57 minutes and dying 76 times, I was able to finish Gunman Clive, playing as Clive.  I could spend another hour playing as Ms. Johnson and probably another hour and-a-half playing as The Duck (you read that correctly) and write a full comprehensive review, but that word is not part of our title.  So I'll begin this review of Hörberg Productions' Gunman Clive with just having played as Clive.

Until I learn how to take screen caps on my 3DS, you'll have to settle with this.

Graphics

The graphics for Gunman Clive are pretty simple, in that their line drawn and have a constant "sketching" appearance.  It reminds me a lot of the FMV used in the updated Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions.  Initially you might think it would be distracting to have everything around the character looking like it's constantly being sketched, but I didn't notice any distraction.

3D Effectiveness

The 3D effect in this game was subtle and while it looked cool while it was on, I didn't feel like. . . ok wait.  With the exception of the glitch during the second boss battle, I had the 3D effect at about 75% on the rest of the time.  There wasn't a whole lot that made me feel like it needed to be on, but when it was, it pushed the background back and added a subtle cool factor that the game didn't have when playing in 2D.  Is the game playable in 2D?  Yes, very much so, but at certain times, like on the train stage, it was cool having the things. . . I don't know what their called, I'm not up on my train car anatomy, the things that hold logs and such, but having those on both sides of the train car in 3D, it looked pretty cool.

Game Play

The game plays like your standard platformer.  There's stuff to jump on that moves while enemies and automations shoot at you.  there are ducks, wolves and horses to avoid while said jumping.  Pretty standard stuff and not breaking any new ground.  BUT!, that's perfectly fine and not a fault I find with the game.  It was a refreshing short platformer that was quite difficult at times.

Some of the gameplay differences though lies with the different characters.  Clive is a straightforward character.  He runs, jumps, ducks and shoots.  Ms. Johnson can hover, similar to Princess Toadstool (before she became Princess Peach), but she'll only hover as long as the B button is depressed.  I did notice with Ms. Johnson that bullets will pass through her hair, which sticks up even when she ducks  The Duck can fly/hover for 5-6 flaps of its wings.  That's it.  The Duck can't attack so your approach to the game is run and dodge.  It's a pretty clever way to play through a standard action platformer.

Story

Depending on who you're playing as (Clive, Ms. Johnson, The Duck), the story is pretty straight forward.  Either Ms. Johnson or Clive are kidnapped and you have to rescue them.  As The Duck, um. . ., I don't really know.

Music

I commented on my own post about Gunman Clive after it's initial posting that the soundtrack was available to buy from the composer, Arne Hörberg.  I also noticed that the music runs continuously through the stages.  When you die, the music doesn't abruptly stop, but continues indefinitely until you complete the stage and the next stage begins with either a new music cue or the same music.

Final Thoughts

There are a lot of games that try to recreate both the platforming glory days of the 1980s and 90s, as well as the difficulty level of games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mega Man, or Ninja Gaiden.  Gunman Clive manages to create some of the difficulty, but also the fun at being able to kill a boss that has killed you a half dozen (or even a baker's dozen) times and still not be frustrating to the point that you don't want to play anymore.

Gunman Clive is a short game, comprised of four leves, each having five stagesl including a boss fight.  Sure it's short by most game standards, but it's an independently created game that's selling for only $1.99, a price probably created by Nintendo, possibly because of the shortness of the game.  I would have been happy even if I had paid $5 for the game.  

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
"Shut Up and Take My Money!" Very Much Applies Here

First Impressions: Cogs & And Yet It Moves (PC)

I've had Cogs for sometime, although I do not remember which Humble Bundle it was bundled with, but I have always liked the look of the logo (mission accomplished).  Sadly though, last Friday (as in 12/7) was the first time I played Cogs, and that was only because Coolman asked about it.  So it was that I discovered that Cogs is a game that I will not be playing a great deal.

First off, the game could be described as a "casual puzzle game," but for me, it's a frustratingly beautiful puzzle game.  The puzzles are all variations on the sliding block puzzle.  That might be a decent description, but here's a screen cap:

In this puzzle, you have to move the three gear pieces so that the gear on the left is touching a gear piece, which in turn is touching another gear piece and finally, has another gear piece above that one so that it's touching the gear attached to the propeller.  This particular puzzle is multi-sided, which at first is intimidating, but once you quickly realize that you only have to solve one side at a time, it's pretty simple.  Sort of anyway.

The thing for me though, is that I've never had an aptitude for these kinds of puzzles.  I just get really frustrated when I have one or two pieces of the puzzle figured out, but then realize that I need to move everything around in order to get a much needed piece three to it's ending place, but that ruins where piece one and two are supposed to go.  

As I mentioned, all the puzzles are variations on the sliding block puzzle and not all of them involve gears.  There are puzzles that use steam or colored steam to fill up the appropriate ballons; two sided puzzle where a piece has two sides and each side of the puzzle has to be turned to look at the back to make sure the corresponding piece isn't messing up the solution on the other side.  And I forgot to mention (or you could just look at the left hand side of the above picture), there's a timer and a move counter, so you're encouraged to complete the puzzle in as few moves and as fast as possible.  It's a pretty brilliant take on an early kids game.  Lazy 8 Studios has made a really beautiful game that was, admittingly, somewhat fun to play with other people.  So, when I got frustrated and couldn't figure out a solution, I could pass off the mouse/keyboard and let either Coolman or Conklederp have a go, I just may not be playing this game solo.

And Yet It Moves is yet another puzzle game from Broken Rules, although it's in the form of a platformer, but there's twist; pun only slightly intended.  Like any platformer, you have your character and move them from point A to point B.  There are some baddies that are reminiscent of the kind you'd find in Little Big Planet, i.e.: passive and there to be in your way.  The twist with And Yet It Moves, is that you're able to rotate the world 90 degrees in either direction.

The world in this game is beautifully created to look like pieces of colored paper products have been torn and crumbled to create environments.  The effect is not as distracting as it sounds and it is very easy to learn where you can stand and where you fall.  Black non-paper = bad and you will fall.  Which is where rotating the screen comes in.  For example:

That black area will swallow you like it owns your soul.

But, upon rotating the camera 90 degrees, you can safely land on a new surface/ground.

That's the basic gist of the game.  However, you do have to be careful with how far you fall, either by jumping or by constantly rotating the world as you will constantly gain momentum and you're little paper person is not indestructible.  There is a skill (one they teach you in game) about hitting the ground at an angle so you can land from any height/speed safely, I just haven't been able to master it.  And thankfully, when you die (which you will, and possibly very frequently), you don't have to start over, but from one of the many check point paper people who populate each map.  Additionally, they will point you in the right direction you need to go, literally.  They will point you in the direction (with their little paper fingers) you need to go in order to find the next check point, and each one you come across is like it's own little victory.

So there you go, two readily available games.  Both are fun in their own rights but I think I'll be playing And Yet It Moves more often than I will with Cogs.  But again, that's just because sliding block puzzles aren't really my cup of tea.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

27 Down, 46 To Go

Noir, noir, noir, Full Review: LIMBO

This post is going to contain *spoilers*  I will try to keep the details to a minimum, but I will be talking about game flow from beginning to end.  Since this game is a strongly atmospheric game, I don't want to break your immersion when playing, which would spoil the game for you.  LIMBO was released by Playdead for Steam on Aug. 2nd, 2011.  

Let me tell you the story of when I was first introduced to LIMBO.  I was over at my friend Steve's house, with a bunch of friends.  Steve's a guy who makes it a priority to have the latest and coolest giant flatscreen tvs and playstation y's.  We were all playing Rock Band and drinking beer in the prime time hours, having a great time and generally being hooligans.  I'm sure we annoyed the ever-loving piss out of all of Steve's neighbors, as he was living in a small apartment complex.  No one really thought twice about it for some time into the night.

But at some point, as these things happen, some responsible adult took charge, and we were told it was time to take a break from Rock Band and to stop making so much noise.  Everybody crumpled into their seats and slowly started breathing regularly again, in a daze brought on by so much hard rocking, hard drinkin' good times.  For my own part, I was not ready to stop, and I didn't have a clue what to do next.

As we all settled down, there was maybe a little idle chatter, but mostly our energy had gotten low, perhaps we had rocked too hard and only now were realizing we were exhausted.  While this decompression was going on John quietly started up LIMBO.  

We all sat, transfixed, as he played for the next half hour or so.  We were completely absorbed by the games atmosphere.  And this was not the usual gaming crowd.  These were the sorts of hooligans that haven't owned a system since the NES, and didn't usually make it out en force for a video gaming session unless it was a game like Rock Band.  But no one said a word, the whole time John played.  We just watched the shadowy little guy walk around on screen, push down a rotted tree trunk, avoid bear traps and fight a giant spider.  It was awesome.  I was so awed by the game that I made a firm mental note that I would one day play this game, and i would play it through to the end.  

And I did.  Twice.  In just the last two weeks.  It took me a while, but I didn't forget.  I was just waiting for the right time.  And then LIMBO was a part of the Humble INdie Bundle V that Jac' did purchase for me earlier this year, not realizing that he was giving me more than just a great set of games, I was getting one particular game for which I had been salivating.

So, one day, while I was at home sick from work, I played through LIMBO.  It took me about 4.5 hours.  I had a great time.  I knew I wanted to play it again as soon as I was finished.  I just finished it for a second time, and I actually got the same feeling.  But this time I won't.  Until I have someone to show the game to.  

Because really, for me, this game comes down to atmosphere.  The hazy black and white scheme, the background and foreground merge together seamlessly, the animation is very solid, and the sounds are haunting. I always feel immersed in the game's world.  

My immersion is broken when I die, but I'm treated with a gruesome death animation and then the game starts up again, usually very near to the place of death, and   immersion returns.  Immersion is only heavily broken when I die over and over again, which did happen a few times.  In one sense it was more fun to play the second time when I already knew how to do the puzzles.

I realize now that John had definitely already played it when he showed us.  He cruised through the first portion of the game without dying more then a few times and without puzzling too long over any of the puzzles.  It was a great way to be introduced to the game, I recommend it to anyone.  

I think my one strongest point of critique for LIMBO is that, after a while, it just becomes an excuse to put puzzles in front of you.  The earlier parts of the game, I had a sense of discovery, like maybe I would learn something about this strange world that I occupy.  Or maybe there would be plot development. There's a giant spider, there's these strange dudes with blowguns.  What does it all mean?  Now I'm in a factory, now I'm on top of a roof, what's next?

Oh, more factory.  And more.  By the last third of the game, it's some sort of mish-mash of factory scene and swamp scene, and puzzle after puzzle after puzzle.  This is where the game gets to be like many other puzzle platformers, in that the setting just serves as a way to put more puzzles in front of you.  Buzzsaws anyone?  Reminds me of Super Meat Boy, a game that didn't take itself seriously at all.  In LIMBO, I just found the factory scenes boring.  

Apart from the setting not being as interesting in the latter half of the game, I think I was let down by the lack of other creatures.  Early in the game, there was a spider, and corpses hanging from ropes, and weird blowgun toting dudes and then, finally a giant fly.  But then, for the next half of the game, there's no one.  Did I kill off the entire population of LIMBO?  A giant spider, three random dudes and a giant fly?  Well, I guess we'll always have brain slugs (way cool, but a bit overused in the game).  

I loved playing LIMBO.  It's the kind of thing I would call a "gaming experience."  And I recommend it highly to everyone.  It's not perfect, by any means, but it's damned good.  

-D


*the game gets an extra point for replay value because the first 1/3 of the game or so is worth playing again and again and again.

P.S.  Oh, and before anyone says "Boring?  But it's LIMBO, dude, it's supposed to be boring" - that is so not true.  It was very entertaining, it became boring when it felt like just a bunch of puzzles, one after the other, and not a really cool world to explore and move through.  

Ideas.

This actually brings me to several ideas I have for a sequel.  One is that it would be cool if they did have a 'second play-through' mode.  Really beat the player over the head with the idea of LIMBO, meaning no escape, no real progress.  Plus, the game already has replay value, why not reward the player for it with variations on the second time through?  

One way to do this would be to have multiple paths through the game.  Or your standard 100% discovery mode, similar to the one from Super Metroid or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.  This would promote the idea that if you truly want a good ending, a way out of Limbo, then you have to earn it.  There were times in the game when I felt the immersion was broken when I died too many times in a row on a tough puzzle. I thought the puzzles were cool, but the real strength of the game was in the atmosphere, which the challenge of solving the puzzle-- or, simply executing the solution-- sometimes broke.  Perhaps the game could have an easy route with easy puzzles or less of them.  Just a stroll through the spooky atmosphere with no real breaks in the immersion.  Just an idea.  

And/or the puzzles could be tied in with multiple paths.  There's an easy way out and a hard way out.  The hard way will lead you along a different path.  Something of a 'choose your own adventure' method, but being controlled by the difficulty of puzzles.  The game wouldn't require a difficulty setting, because the variance of difficulty modes would be built into the game.  

It might have been nice would be for extended deaths.  Like, after getting hit with a blowgun, the game could cut to me stuck in a box, unable to get out, like one of the corpses I encounter.  Like: that's just what these guys do, they stuff people into boxes.  Also - game over, you're dead. The game actually did something like this in an unavoidable way when you are captured by the spider and wrapped in a cocoon.  I guess I feel like the corpses helped to create an atmosphere of horror and when I finally encounter enemies that seem to have some agency, they don't really do anything interesting or clever.  I'm sorry, I criticize because I love.

And my final idea for a sequel to this game would be to just straight-ripoff the multi-player in Journey, by thatgamecompany.  In Journey, the multi-player mode was like so:  The game was connected to the internet, and a random player who happened to be playing in the same stage of the game as you would appear in your game.  You couldn't talk, but you could communicate through actions.  I loved this mechanic, and I think a game like LIMBO can be a good fit for it.  As you progress through the game, you encounter another player, stuck in this dark, dreary and frightening environment with you. Mostly, this would be a break in the heavy loneliness that would (hopefully) enhance the atmosphere when it is taken away. 

I really love this game, and I am so glad it gave me all these ideas of how to improve it.  This is what all the best gaming has always been for me- loving the game and being inspired for improvements. But, ultimately, I'll leave it to the LIMBO fellows to do what they do and do it well.  Here's hoping for a badass sequel.  Later!