Ever played Bit.Trip Runner? Well, then, you've played parChord. The only difference between the two games is that in parChord, you get to choose the song to which you evade obstacles.
For those of you who've never played either game, here's a brief synopsis: you are running. There are obstacles. You dodge said obstacles. The music gives your ears multiple orgasms.
aaand that's it. The two games are identical. ParChord does a very good job of putting the player in the zone with its simple controls and whatnot.
It's a damn rhythm game, alright? Is there anything else I really have to say? Play it yourself if you're curious, but otherwise, it's just another Bit.Trip Runner.
So let's talk about Penguin Panic
uuughh, God, those pixels hurt. Yeah, this game right off the bat seems to be trying way too hard to replicate the "good old days." They even set this game in the year "20XX" and used that atrocious pixel-text that makes "M"s look like "H"s and whatnot...ehhh, this one's going to be a challenge for me to get through.
Well the game starts off reasonably well. The controls are a little complex and you're given very little time in which to learn them before your penguin minions start dropping like flies at the hands of hungry seals, but the levels are quick and there's a lot of room for error.
Even the aesthetic isn't horrible (for the most part). The characters have enough life and charm to them to keep me from being too harsh toward the visual style.
Until I got to my ragequit moment, the game was very meh with a side of frustration. Certainly nothing to make you scramble to the DigiGallery to get your hands on it.
"Uh oh," you must be thinking, "Dean used the word ragequit again. What happened this time, no save feature?" No, actually, this game actually respects your right to ragequit, and it damn well better considering what it just pulled on me.
One level was shaped a bit like a "W." There were two shafts leading down to the bottom of the level. In order to progress through the shafts, you must use your penguin weight to make the ground give out from under you. Inevitably, you're going to end up with yourself and a bunch of your penguin pals in one shaft and the rest of your crew in the other, doomed to become pterodon food because their almighty leader isn't standing by with a blowtorch. So yeah, that's insanely frustrating in and of itself, but as long as the two shafts lead to the same place, everything's okay, right? Well yes. Sadly, though, that's not the case. The shaft I happened to be in lead to a death trap. There was no warning, no rhyme nor reason, nothing earlier in the game to even convey that such a thing could happen. The game punished me for playing it. That's like the #1 rule of game design: don't do that!
So yeah, nothing too impressive today. ParChord is at least worth checking out if you've never played Bit.Trip Runner or if you want the same experience with your own music. Stay away from Penguin Panic, though, unless you like to make snap decisions at a ridiculously stressful pace whilst being arbitrarily punished.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay frosty
Links
hardchord parchord: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24648
breakin da ice: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=18870
