I want you all to use your imaginations for a sec: Imagine Ikaruga as a voluptuous young woman. Now imagine Megaman X as a spirited young man. Imagine the two find each other at a bar one night and Megaman X takes Ikaruga back to his place for a bout of energetic young passion. Now, imagine what comes from that about 9 months later. The answer is PhaseOut.
Now that I've thoroughly confused and probably disgusted you with that delightful bit of imagery, let me explain. PhaseOut is a fast paced platformer involving wall jumping (there's the Megaman X) and polarity between red and blue, making certain things intangible and others not (there's Ikaruga).
I really don't feel like running down the list and complimenting every aspect of the design, so just imagine the best case scenario given what I told you so far. Now, imagine that with minimalist yet still charming 2.5D visual style that takes a turn for the unnecessarily confusing when the background changes from green, a color reserved only for background, to blue, a color also utilized by sometimes intangible platforms. Other than that one very confusing design choice, there's not much to complain about in the looks department.
The biggest problem with the game isn't even a problem with the game. It's a problem with my computer. When I'm pressing both the up and left arrow keys, the space bar doesn't work. The space bar is what you use to switch between red and blue. The levels are all designed to be very challenging when you're able to switch colors mid-jump, so imagine how frustrating it gets when half of the time, you have to stop moving for a split second in order to change color at the right time. It's kind of if like Super Meat Boy simply decided not to hold onto walls while he was facing left unless you were pressing some arbitrary button like "left crtl" or something.
Now I know what you're thinking: Dean, if the only major issue you took with the game wasn't its fault, then you've got to give it your seal of approval, right? Well, as much as it pains me, no. I want to give this game my seal of approval for its brilliantly challenging yet doable (in theory) design. I want to give it my seal of approval for having a competent level select. I want to give it my seal of approval for its aesthetics, sound design, feel, everything...but I just can't get past that one big ol' flaw. See, I still think the devs share some blame here. The "WASD" keys are never used in the game...why not?! Maybe my computer is the only one with the arrow keys problem, but I'm pretty sure it's a common problem. I know they designed the game mostly with an Xbox controller in mind, but I don't have any of those. Sorry guys, but for your lack of consideration for the keyboard warriors, I can't in good conscience give this game my seal of approval. Still, though, to my audience if I have one, check this game out. It's one of the most fun platformers on this list.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay intangible
Links
Red/Blue Shift: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24672
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Perspective
Alright, this one was interesting. Really interesting.
You remember when you were little and you would play with action figures or dolls or whatever you want to call them? Remember how you would make them jump around on cabinets and tables and whatnot? Now, did you ever have one of those moments when you were really tired but you still wanted to play with your toy, so you kind of unfocused your vision and made the action figure jump around on the outlines of cabinets and tabletops in the distance? Well, that's kind of what this game is.
In case that explanation was a bit too asinine for you, I'll try to use more technical terms. By pressing LMB, you can switch between controlling the camera and controlling Mr. Blue Jumpy Man. If Mr. Blue Jumpy Man, to be hitherto referred to as "MBJM," touches orange, he dies. He can only stand on blue platforms. Even if he dies, he can respawn infinitely in almost the same position, making this game's frustration factor almost nil.
The game gets interesting when you control the camera. See, the platforms that MBJM can jump on aren't all immediately accessible. You have to move around to manipulate where the blue platforms seem to reside in space. MBJM apparently stands on the perception of an object rather than the object itself. This gameplay mechanic is really unique and clever; it makes you think outside the box and I see this game as another successful attempt to push the boundaries of what game mechanics can do.
Of course, with a game like this, the primary determinant of quality is whether or not the central experimental mechanic works, and in this game, it's flawless. It does exactly what it's supposed to 100% of the time. On top of that, the game controls like butter. This game looks fantastic, feels fantastic and sounds fantastic (even if the background track can get a little repetitive).
My only real criticism is that this game spends a little too much time exploring its one mechanic, but that's not really a bad thing. I doubt there's some super sentimental ending that'll make me want to plow through the levels to see, so who cares if the game is too long? Besides, it has an autosave feature, so you can put it down when you get bored.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay perceptive.
Links
Now You See Me, and You Always Will: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25930
EDIT: The autosave doesn't work, so nevermind. No seal of approval for you.
You remember when you were little and you would play with action figures or dolls or whatever you want to call them? Remember how you would make them jump around on cabinets and tables and whatnot? Now, did you ever have one of those moments when you were really tired but you still wanted to play with your toy, so you kind of unfocused your vision and made the action figure jump around on the outlines of cabinets and tabletops in the distance? Well, that's kind of what this game is.
In case that explanation was a bit too asinine for you, I'll try to use more technical terms. By pressing LMB, you can switch between controlling the camera and controlling Mr. Blue Jumpy Man. If Mr. Blue Jumpy Man, to be hitherto referred to as "MBJM," touches orange, he dies. He can only stand on blue platforms. Even if he dies, he can respawn infinitely in almost the same position, making this game's frustration factor almost nil.
The game gets interesting when you control the camera. See, the platforms that MBJM can jump on aren't all immediately accessible. You have to move around to manipulate where the blue platforms seem to reside in space. MBJM apparently stands on the perception of an object rather than the object itself. This gameplay mechanic is really unique and clever; it makes you think outside the box and I see this game as another successful attempt to push the boundaries of what game mechanics can do.
Of course, with a game like this, the primary determinant of quality is whether or not the central experimental mechanic works, and in this game, it's flawless. It does exactly what it's supposed to 100% of the time. On top of that, the game controls like butter. This game looks fantastic, feels fantastic and sounds fantastic (even if the background track can get a little repetitive).
My only real criticism is that this game spends a little too much time exploring its one mechanic, but that's not really a bad thing. I doubt there's some super sentimental ending that'll make me want to plow through the levels to see, so who cares if the game is too long? Besides, it has an autosave feature, so you can put it down when you get bored.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay perceptive.
Links
Now You See Me, and You Always Will: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=25930
EDIT: The autosave doesn't work, so nevermind. No seal of approval for you.
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