'Parkour' is defined as "the activity or sport of moving rapidly through an area, typically in an urban environment, negotiating obstacles by running, jumping, and climbing." It's all about efficiency, choosing the proper path, and adapting to what's in front of you. Mirror's Edge endeavors to take those ideas, and put them into a game. It's not an easy task, but the initial result is beloved by many despite quite a few stumbles.
Mirror's Edge: Catalyst, released June 2016 after eight long years, made one huge, quite controversial decision in its attempt: It has an open world. Where the original game has very limited levels and few alternate routes the, Catalyst throws you into a huge, varied area and expects you to figure it out.
And you will have to figure it out. Catalyst takes practice. You have to learn the routes, the types of obstacles you encounter, and different techniques as you traverse the rooftops and scaffolding of the City of Glass, and every time you think you've got it's number the game pushes you to a new area, with new obstacles to overcome.
This is a brilliant idea. It's reminiscent of how many people learn parkour in real life - organically, running around the concrete playgrounds of their city. The biggest problem - and it is quite a problem - is level design. In a lot of open world games, one area is much like another, and you often don't have to pay too much heed to the flow of traversal through an area. Stack a few crates around, throw some clotheslines between some buildings, some nice tall towers, and there's your Assassin's Creed town.
The City of Glass is an entirely different proposition. Every roof, every ledge, every railing needs to be tightly designed to allow for Faith's freeform, off the cuff traversal style to flow properly. Allowances have to be made for the evolution of her abilities, to both reward the player when they master (or unlock) a new ability, but also to be tolerant if they haven't yet. It also needs to be able to teach the player organically through the introduction of new obstacles and elements. It's an amazingly tough job.
They mostly pulled it off! I had my share of hair-pulling moments, particularly with some of the random delivery missions early on, but the feeling when I realized how much better I was getting was amazing. At first I felt slow and clumsy, adjusting to new controls, new abilities, and a very different environment, but before too long I felt like I was flying over the rooftops. It was a great experience, and in the end almost exactly what I wanted from a Mirror's Edge open world sequel.
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Witcher's Work: Side Questing in the Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt
What was the last truly great side quest you played in an RPG? Side quests are often disregarded as filler content, just the stuff you have to do to fully complete a game and progress properly, but this is a mistake. Side quests are vital to fleshing out your world, giving it the proper tone and establishing and ground your setting. The Witcher 3 is a great example of this idea in action.
In the Witcher 3, almost every quest matters. Care and attention is paid to even the smallest, and very few go the way you expect. A prime example of this is in the intro area of White Orchard, where one old lady asks you to fetch a pan for her, and when you find it you discover the man that borrowed it was a spy who wanted the soot off of it to write a letter. It's fundamentally a basic fetch quest, but it's written and designed in such a way to say something about the world.
The highlight of these side quests is invariably the Contracts, where Geralt is commissioned by some town alderman, small noble, or local guardsman to go solve some supernatural problem. Geralt haggles a bit (coin is hard to come by for a wandering monster hunter!), and then goes to investigate. Sometimes it can be routine - find the location of the attack, identify prints and wound marks, and track the beast back to its lair to kill it - but even the most routine contracts take the time to ground their story in the world and establish Geralt as what he is - an experienced Witcher with decades of experience.
Some of these, however, tell self-contained stories as rich and complex as any of the subplots of the main game. The first contract most players will encounter is a great example. Geralt is contracted to clear out a wraith that is haunting a nearby well - but first he has to figure out how to break the curse. In the course of doing so, he discovers a story involving a greedy lord, desperate peasants, and the tragic death of a young woman - who became a Noonwraith, a terrifying spectre who only appears under the bright noonday sun.
Side quests are just as important to establishing a world and a fiction as any of your set piece moments. They generally make up the majority of playtime, and thus are central to establishing the feeling and tone of a game. So the next time you pick up an RPG, think about those side quests you pick up and what they convey about what a game is trying to say. Maybe you'll find more than what you were looking for.
Sunday, January 18, 2015
Victoria 2: The Crisis system
I've always thought it was kind of strange that I have a thousand hours poured into various Paradox 'Grand Strategy' games, and not a single post on any of them. Part of it is that I have one in mind that might be a little too ambitious that I might want to pitch somewhere professionally if I feel I have a decent handle on it, and part of it is that I have a tendency of playing them the most when I'm feeling down and thus less likely to feel like writing, but strange nonetheless.
Anyhow, that changes today. I'll be discussing a very specific mechanic in one of their less popular games, so this will require more than a bit of background information.
Victoria 2 is a strategy game where you control a country through the 'Victorian' era, specifically 1836-1936. (I believe an expansion was required to take it through the interwar period, but I got into it after all of them were released) Likely the most unique aspect of the game is the complex production and industrial system, but that's for another post. This one is discussing the 'crisis' system, which is the game's main way of forcing conflict between major powers. (
Basically, how the crisis system works is that areas of high tension (colonial races or separatist movements, usually) a meter ticks up based on various factors, and when it hits 100%, a 'crisis' breaks out, and the involved parties (typically the nation wanting independence and the ruling nation) look for 'Great Power' (top 8 scoring countries) backers to support their side (unless they are a great power themselves, in which case they head up their own side and only need an opponent). After each side has a GP power involved, other GPs on the same continent (I think) (basically 'not the US' until Japan and China westernize) are asked to take sides, with a harsh penalty if they try to stay neutral. If no decision is reached (white peace or concessions), war breaks out, people die, etc. etc.
Critically, if no one backs both sides, the crisis peters out and nothing happens. We'll get to that later.
Anyway, the system works... okay, most of the time. I certainly understand the need to force some kind of conflict between the great powers, who usually need a *very* compelling reason to fight, and it does that fairly often. It does, however, feel very forced and arbitrary. Aesthetically it almost feels like the GPs backing one side or the other are doing it just as an excuse to fight the other GPs - very rarely is it actually a critical issue (sometimes it is, mostly in the case of Poland or Hungary - neither are sovereign realms at game start). Of course that would sometimes be the case, but it still feels awkward.
One thing Victoria 2 is bad about is throwing numbers at you that describe what is happening but not why. One example is how crises are generated - you can see the progress on a dedicated map mode, and a breakdown of how it's changing, but those numbers are very obtuse. (greek unification movement, +.12 per month! ... why?) I've played quite a bit, and I still have no idea how pops (populations) decide to back nationalist movements, although I assume the crisis progress is based on the strength of the internal movement. It just kind of happens and you respond.
My biggest issue, however, is that unresolved crises have a tendency of repeating themselves. Many of the games I've played have had one crisis repeat half a dozen times in a row over a couple of decades. (one in particular, usually - a greek reunification movement in.. Macedonia? Thessalia?). One side or the other almost always fails to garner a backer, and nothing happens, which seems... odd. Particularly if someone backs greece and no one backs the Ottomans. Logically, if someone backs the nationalists and no one backs the status quo, either the rebels should win or at the very least war should break out between the GP and the ruling nation (90% of the time with the same result, or worse), and if that was the case, crises wouldn't get nearly so stale, forcing a resolution much more often and thus allowing other crisis areas to develop.
Another idea that actually just came to mind was an idea for a new type of crisis - but this requires more background gameplay information. Sorry, it's an.. involved game. Each GP has a 'sphere of influence' - basically the countries they dominate politically and economically. (Ex: Indian minors with Great Britain, and german minors with Prussia or Austria) Anyway, you add new countries to yours by generating 'influence' with them, and oftentimes this evolves into a kind of 'bidding' war between two powers as each competes to gain dominance - a cold, soft war that seems like the perfect situation to evolve into a hot, hard one, and not a hard one to implement into the current design, although I won't get into the specifics more than I already have.
Despite all these issues I have with what is definitely one of the most important individual mechanics in the game, I do enjoy Vicky 2 quite a bit, and the crisis system's basics are a very interesting way of reflecting geopolitics in the period where the concept really began to take center stage. These ideas are just me nitpicking something that's irritated me while playing and trying to come up with fixes.
P.S. If you're interested in reading a bit more about how Vicky 2 works, I recommend this Let's Play on the Something Awful LP Archives. It's how I learned to play, and it should be reasonably easy to follow even if you don't have the game itself.
Anyhow, that changes today. I'll be discussing a very specific mechanic in one of their less popular games, so this will require more than a bit of background information.
Victoria 2 is a strategy game where you control a country through the 'Victorian' era, specifically 1836-1936. (I believe an expansion was required to take it through the interwar period, but I got into it after all of them were released) Likely the most unique aspect of the game is the complex production and industrial system, but that's for another post. This one is discussing the 'crisis' system, which is the game's main way of forcing conflict between major powers. (
Basically, how the crisis system works is that areas of high tension (colonial races or separatist movements, usually) a meter ticks up based on various factors, and when it hits 100%, a 'crisis' breaks out, and the involved parties (typically the nation wanting independence and the ruling nation) look for 'Great Power' (top 8 scoring countries) backers to support their side (unless they are a great power themselves, in which case they head up their own side and only need an opponent). After each side has a GP power involved, other GPs on the same continent (I think) (basically 'not the US' until Japan and China westernize) are asked to take sides, with a harsh penalty if they try to stay neutral. If no decision is reached (white peace or concessions), war breaks out, people die, etc. etc.
Critically, if no one backs both sides, the crisis peters out and nothing happens. We'll get to that later.
Anyway, the system works... okay, most of the time. I certainly understand the need to force some kind of conflict between the great powers, who usually need a *very* compelling reason to fight, and it does that fairly often. It does, however, feel very forced and arbitrary. Aesthetically it almost feels like the GPs backing one side or the other are doing it just as an excuse to fight the other GPs - very rarely is it actually a critical issue (sometimes it is, mostly in the case of Poland or Hungary - neither are sovereign realms at game start). Of course that would sometimes be the case, but it still feels awkward.
One thing Victoria 2 is bad about is throwing numbers at you that describe what is happening but not why. One example is how crises are generated - you can see the progress on a dedicated map mode, and a breakdown of how it's changing, but those numbers are very obtuse. (greek unification movement, +.12 per month! ... why?) I've played quite a bit, and I still have no idea how pops (populations) decide to back nationalist movements, although I assume the crisis progress is based on the strength of the internal movement. It just kind of happens and you respond.
My biggest issue, however, is that unresolved crises have a tendency of repeating themselves. Many of the games I've played have had one crisis repeat half a dozen times in a row over a couple of decades. (one in particular, usually - a greek reunification movement in.. Macedonia? Thessalia?). One side or the other almost always fails to garner a backer, and nothing happens, which seems... odd. Particularly if someone backs greece and no one backs the Ottomans. Logically, if someone backs the nationalists and no one backs the status quo, either the rebels should win or at the very least war should break out between the GP and the ruling nation (90% of the time with the same result, or worse), and if that was the case, crises wouldn't get nearly so stale, forcing a resolution much more often and thus allowing other crisis areas to develop.
Another idea that actually just came to mind was an idea for a new type of crisis - but this requires more background gameplay information. Sorry, it's an.. involved game. Each GP has a 'sphere of influence' - basically the countries they dominate politically and economically. (Ex: Indian minors with Great Britain, and german minors with Prussia or Austria) Anyway, you add new countries to yours by generating 'influence' with them, and oftentimes this evolves into a kind of 'bidding' war between two powers as each competes to gain dominance - a cold, soft war that seems like the perfect situation to evolve into a hot, hard one, and not a hard one to implement into the current design, although I won't get into the specifics more than I already have.
Despite all these issues I have with what is definitely one of the most important individual mechanics in the game, I do enjoy Vicky 2 quite a bit, and the crisis system's basics are a very interesting way of reflecting geopolitics in the period where the concept really began to take center stage. These ideas are just me nitpicking something that's irritated me while playing and trying to come up with fixes.
P.S. If you're interested in reading a bit more about how Vicky 2 works, I recommend this Let's Play on the Something Awful LP Archives. It's how I learned to play, and it should be reasonably easy to follow even if you don't have the game itself.
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Cosmonautica: Thoughts
Cosmonautica is an interesting little game. It's in Early Access, starting just last week - but there's some potential here. Basically, you captain a ship with up to 8 crew members, cruising around the solar system (around 15 planets) trading, fighting pirates, completing missions and whatnot. There's some story to it, but the main campaign isn't available yet, just the prologue.
The ships are modular, with a certain layout and specs, and you have to decide what you want to prioritize. Do you want a smaller, faster ship with more weapon capacity, to fight off pirates, or become a pirate yourself? A fast passenger liner? Or a huge freighter with space for a ton of cargo - and all the amenities to support a huge crew? (There's 4 ships in the game so far, one starter and three others, each fulfilling one of the archetypes I mentioned above. I went with the passenger liner, although I was more focused on cargo than passengers, who are dependent on missions instead of the procedurally-generated prices)
Each crew member has certain skills, and you manage their time spent performing those tasks and free time, to take care of their needs - food, hygiene, exercise, etc. As they level up, they become much better at their tasks, but they also have more needs, requiring more room on your ship to satisfy those needs. It starts out simple - with a pilot, mechanic, and janitor - but relatively quickly ramps up as you add a scientist, maybe a weapons tech or a hacker, and have to balance their needs and tasks.
The trading system seems to work quite well for such a small game. I'm not 100% sure if prices fluctuate, but you can't buy and sell infinite numbers of goods (actually, the good routes are fairly harshly limited, if incredibly lucrative), which is good. The customs/smuggling system also seems pretty neat, although I think it could bear with a bit more fleshing out. I wish it told you the success chance for bribes, and there's only one type of non-mission-specific contraband so far.
One thing that makes Cosmonautica particularly interesting in my opinion, particularly when more content is added, is the research system. You have to unlock the outer areas of the system, where the trade routes are much more lucrative and the pirates much more dangerous (although I don't think the pirates are actually IN the game right now? It's very early access.) The interface promises more things to research later on, as well - new ships, new weapons, new rooms, etc etc. It makes for surprisingly effective progression and pacing, allowing you to putter around in the small starter area before pushing you out to the far reaches of the system.
The basics of the game are pretty simple, but I'm a sucker for trading in games like this so I found it reasonably fun for a couple hours - although very quickly I totally ran out of things to spend money on, and that 2 hours was enough to do basically everything as far as I could tell (well, I didn't mess with combat so I don't know how that works) Again, early access. If you want to take a look, here's the steam store page, where you can get Cosmonautica for just $10, ramping up to $15 when it hits full release in 4 months, according to the steam page. I'm looking forward to seeing them add features over the next weeks and months.
Disclaimer: I got this game for free from a giveaway IndieGamerChick has been doing on twitter, so thanks to her and Chasing Carrots, the developer, for letting me take a look!
The ships are modular, with a certain layout and specs, and you have to decide what you want to prioritize. Do you want a smaller, faster ship with more weapon capacity, to fight off pirates, or become a pirate yourself? A fast passenger liner? Or a huge freighter with space for a ton of cargo - and all the amenities to support a huge crew? (There's 4 ships in the game so far, one starter and three others, each fulfilling one of the archetypes I mentioned above. I went with the passenger liner, although I was more focused on cargo than passengers, who are dependent on missions instead of the procedurally-generated prices)
Each crew member has certain skills, and you manage their time spent performing those tasks and free time, to take care of their needs - food, hygiene, exercise, etc. As they level up, they become much better at their tasks, but they also have more needs, requiring more room on your ship to satisfy those needs. It starts out simple - with a pilot, mechanic, and janitor - but relatively quickly ramps up as you add a scientist, maybe a weapons tech or a hacker, and have to balance their needs and tasks.
The trading system seems to work quite well for such a small game. I'm not 100% sure if prices fluctuate, but you can't buy and sell infinite numbers of goods (actually, the good routes are fairly harshly limited, if incredibly lucrative), which is good. The customs/smuggling system also seems pretty neat, although I think it could bear with a bit more fleshing out. I wish it told you the success chance for bribes, and there's only one type of non-mission-specific contraband so far.
One thing that makes Cosmonautica particularly interesting in my opinion, particularly when more content is added, is the research system. You have to unlock the outer areas of the system, where the trade routes are much more lucrative and the pirates much more dangerous (although I don't think the pirates are actually IN the game right now? It's very early access.) The interface promises more things to research later on, as well - new ships, new weapons, new rooms, etc etc. It makes for surprisingly effective progression and pacing, allowing you to putter around in the small starter area before pushing you out to the far reaches of the system.
The basics of the game are pretty simple, but I'm a sucker for trading in games like this so I found it reasonably fun for a couple hours - although very quickly I totally ran out of things to spend money on, and that 2 hours was enough to do basically everything as far as I could tell (well, I didn't mess with combat so I don't know how that works) Again, early access. If you want to take a look, here's the steam store page, where you can get Cosmonautica for just $10, ramping up to $15 when it hits full release in 4 months, according to the steam page. I'm looking forward to seeing them add features over the next weeks and months.
Disclaimer: I got this game for free from a giveaway IndieGamerChick has been doing on twitter, so thanks to her and Chasing Carrots, the developer, for letting me take a look!
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Remember Me: Thoughts
Remember Me is the first game I've ever played where my end conclusion was 'this would be better as a movie.'
It's not a bad game, it just doesn't seem ... excited about being a game. It has boss fights, and combos, and chase scenes, and puzzles... and almost all of it feels totally superfluous and unnecessary. The only interesting thing mechanically is the memory remixes, where you dive into someone's mind to change a memory, but they're used more for narrative impact than as a regular gameplay mechanic, mostly consisting of choosing out of a set of variables to get the event you want.
The phrase 'more than the sum of its parts' often applies to games, but in this case I think it's the reverse - Remember Me is less than the sum of its parts. Everything is competent, but very little is unique and in the process it becomes a game without its own identity. The most positive thing I have to say about it is that it is paced rather well. Combat is broken up with exploration, boss fights are few and far between, and the memory remixes never stop being a big deal.
The concept of the game's narrative is stellar, but the only times it comes even close to following through are the opening and the oft-mentioned memory remix sequences. It never feels content to really dive into the ethical dilemmas it presents with the technology of memory manipulation, but instead presents them almost without comment, letting the player draw their own conclusions.
For better or for worse, I think I will remember Remember Me for quite a while. A shame it didn't live up to its premise.
P.S. What are leapers, again? I feel like the only reason they exist is to give you something to fight. Another decision made in service of video game conventions?
It's not a bad game, it just doesn't seem ... excited about being a game. It has boss fights, and combos, and chase scenes, and puzzles... and almost all of it feels totally superfluous and unnecessary. The only interesting thing mechanically is the memory remixes, where you dive into someone's mind to change a memory, but they're used more for narrative impact than as a regular gameplay mechanic, mostly consisting of choosing out of a set of variables to get the event you want.
The phrase 'more than the sum of its parts' often applies to games, but in this case I think it's the reverse - Remember Me is less than the sum of its parts. Everything is competent, but very little is unique and in the process it becomes a game without its own identity. The most positive thing I have to say about it is that it is paced rather well. Combat is broken up with exploration, boss fights are few and far between, and the memory remixes never stop being a big deal.
The concept of the game's narrative is stellar, but the only times it comes even close to following through are the opening and the oft-mentioned memory remix sequences. It never feels content to really dive into the ethical dilemmas it presents with the technology of memory manipulation, but instead presents them almost without comment, letting the player draw their own conclusions.
For better or for worse, I think I will remember Remember Me for quite a while. A shame it didn't live up to its premise.
P.S. What are leapers, again? I feel like the only reason they exist is to give you something to fight. Another decision made in service of video game conventions?
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Neverwinter Nights 2: Thoughts
Well, that was interesting. I've spent the last couple weeks playing Neverwinter Nights 2 and its first expansion (and the only one that's a direct sequel), Mask of the Betrayer and... wow, are those two very different stories. For this post I'm just going to talk about the original campaign (OC for short), since if I wrote about both it would have ended up being quite unwieldy
I first played NWN2 (just the OC) a long time ago - maybe '07? - and I'm pretty sure served as my introduction to Dungeons and Dragons and was one of the first party-based CRPGs I played (I might have played Knights of the Old Republic before it). It's a very typical CRPG story, what with the protagonist growing from humble beginnings into the Chosen One, and the main plot being mostly concerned with an ancient empire torn down by their own hubris kind of stuff. How NWN2 handled companions and character interaction did a lot to influence my expectations of later games - including the Bioware games I had yet to play.
Mechanically, it's passable at best. D&D wasn't really meant for a computer screen, but NWN2 is the best translation I've seen, and quite likely better than some later CRPGs that drew inspiration from it (Dragon Age, I'm looking at you). I do appreciate that it starts off slow, instead of doing like Baldur's Gate did and throwing you to the wolves at level 1 (literally). That said, it's a bit TOO slow. Act 1 and it's artificial plot gate are probably half the game, and easily the least interesting part of it. I could have done without the hours and hours of politics and fetch quests. I'm not saying the main storyline is the best thing ever, but it's significantly better than playing guard.
Later on, though, you're awarded your very own castle and troops to control. Crossroad Keep is awesome and feels awesome. It's a bit buggy, because Obsidian, but it's just COOL. Training your troops up, getting them equipment, sending them out on missions, and just generally becoming the best Knight-Captain ever is pretty awesome, including how it's implemented in the endgame.
The story is nothing special, really, but I've always enjoyed a good hero's journey, and aside from that ridiculous plot door (I forgot just how long that really is. It's around 15-20 hours), I don't think there's anything particularly egregious. I liked how Jerro's Haven was presented, both from a story presentation and a gameplay one, and from then on Act 3 just kind of keeps ramping up to the end. The siege of Crossroad Keep was a pretty interesting sequence as well.
Overall, it's a pretty.. average game, I guess (Except for its length!). Sometimes that's not bad, though, especially in a genre that doesn't really have that many entries. I certainly enjoyed it enough myself.
Next time, however, I'm going to talk about Mask of the Betrayer, which is anything but typical.
I first played NWN2 (just the OC) a long time ago - maybe '07? - and I'm pretty sure served as my introduction to Dungeons and Dragons and was one of the first party-based CRPGs I played (I might have played Knights of the Old Republic before it). It's a very typical CRPG story, what with the protagonist growing from humble beginnings into the Chosen One, and the main plot being mostly concerned with an ancient empire torn down by their own hubris kind of stuff. How NWN2 handled companions and character interaction did a lot to influence my expectations of later games - including the Bioware games I had yet to play.
Mechanically, it's passable at best. D&D wasn't really meant for a computer screen, but NWN2 is the best translation I've seen, and quite likely better than some later CRPGs that drew inspiration from it (Dragon Age, I'm looking at you). I do appreciate that it starts off slow, instead of doing like Baldur's Gate did and throwing you to the wolves at level 1 (literally). That said, it's a bit TOO slow. Act 1 and it's artificial plot gate are probably half the game, and easily the least interesting part of it. I could have done without the hours and hours of politics and fetch quests. I'm not saying the main storyline is the best thing ever, but it's significantly better than playing guard.
Later on, though, you're awarded your very own castle and troops to control. Crossroad Keep is awesome and feels awesome. It's a bit buggy, because Obsidian, but it's just COOL. Training your troops up, getting them equipment, sending them out on missions, and just generally becoming the best Knight-Captain ever is pretty awesome, including how it's implemented in the endgame.
The story is nothing special, really, but I've always enjoyed a good hero's journey, and aside from that ridiculous plot door (I forgot just how long that really is. It's around 15-20 hours), I don't think there's anything particularly egregious. I liked how Jerro's Haven was presented, both from a story presentation and a gameplay one, and from then on Act 3 just kind of keeps ramping up to the end. The siege of Crossroad Keep was a pretty interesting sequence as well.
Overall, it's a pretty.. average game, I guess (Except for its length!). Sometimes that's not bad, though, especially in a genre that doesn't really have that many entries. I certainly enjoyed it enough myself.
Next time, however, I'm going to talk about Mask of the Betrayer, which is anything but typical.
Monday, January 13, 2014
VVVVVV: Thoughts
Wow, I haven't posted anything on this blog since last April? Man, I should fix that. So I am!
I'm planning on writing at least one post about every new game I play this year, and here's the first, for VVVVVV.
VVVVVV is a puzzle platformer designed by Terry Cavanagh (who also did Super Hexagon, which I've enjoyed immensely over the past few months) that I picked up for like 30 cents in the holiday steam sale. I'd played the demo before, and I've played several flash games with similar conceits.
The main mechanic in the game is a simple gravity switch - notably, however, you can only activate it when you're actually on the ground (or the ceiling). The objective is basically to explore and find your missing crewmates, puzzling your way through gauntlets of laser beams and spikes and such. There's also 20 collectibles that serve as much more difficult bonus challenges.
The story and art style are both pretty unremarkable, but I enjoyed my time with the game as far as it went. There's a definite speedrunning bent to it (including a time trial mode), and I believe there are also plenty of community made map packs and such, so if it does grab your interest there's plenty of content beyond the hour or two a basic playthrough will last.
Controls are THE most important part of a platformer, and they seemed a bit finicky to me at first - lots of platformers have momentum when you're running, so you don't just stop when you stop hitting the key, and sometimes it doesn't feel right. That said, I definitely got used to it, only coming close to ragequitting a couple of times. I think the most times I died on a single puzzle was... 28?
Overall, it's a nice, super cheap flash-style game. I especially appreciate the presence of the map packs - it's a good way of just providing more content for a game that people enjoy.
I'm planning on writing at least one post about every new game I play this year, and here's the first, for VVVVVV.
VVVVVV is a puzzle platformer designed by Terry Cavanagh (who also did Super Hexagon, which I've enjoyed immensely over the past few months) that I picked up for like 30 cents in the holiday steam sale. I'd played the demo before, and I've played several flash games with similar conceits.
The main mechanic in the game is a simple gravity switch - notably, however, you can only activate it when you're actually on the ground (or the ceiling). The objective is basically to explore and find your missing crewmates, puzzling your way through gauntlets of laser beams and spikes and such. There's also 20 collectibles that serve as much more difficult bonus challenges.
The story and art style are both pretty unremarkable, but I enjoyed my time with the game as far as it went. There's a definite speedrunning bent to it (including a time trial mode), and I believe there are also plenty of community made map packs and such, so if it does grab your interest there's plenty of content beyond the hour or two a basic playthrough will last.
Controls are THE most important part of a platformer, and they seemed a bit finicky to me at first - lots of platformers have momentum when you're running, so you don't just stop when you stop hitting the key, and sometimes it doesn't feel right. That said, I definitely got used to it, only coming close to ragequitting a couple of times. I think the most times I died on a single puzzle was... 28?
Overall, it's a nice, super cheap flash-style game. I especially appreciate the presence of the map packs - it's a good way of just providing more content for a game that people enjoy.
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