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And Yet It Moves Review

Colt — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:40:28 +0000

The gimmick of snide lead characters that are too crackerjack for their own good and game designers breaking the fourth wall and spouting quips directly at the audience is hopefully fading away. You know the one: break in the action, our hero turns to us and winks. While it’s easy to remember these moments in a glowing haze of old-school fondness (such as the classic Monkey Island ending), it seems to be relegated for lesser games such as Conker, or used merely for shock value. This mechanic is used with good intention, a way to cement the character and player together, a bridge between real and virtual.

And Yet It Moves takes this interaction and literally spins it on its head, granting the player ultimate control: avatar, game world, fate. The left hand moves your bohemian character, simply a dude with stringy long hair and thick boots, and the right hand rotates the world left or right, as he jumps and runs through three distinct environments: Cave, Forest, and Acid Trip. More on that last one later. Any obstacle like a high wall is traversed by spinning the world, turning it upside down so the ceiling is now the floor and running along. This innovative game mechanic made AYIM an IGF Student Finalist in 2007. The game starts out simply enough, but the kindergarten solutions at the games start, quickly advance to Calculus and Astrophysics. You will swing from branches, avoid falling rocks, toss unsquished bananas to hungry apes, fight against gravity and momentum. It takes a clever mechanic and stretches it to encompass multiple scenarios, so that once you get the hang of one facet, you suddenly must adapt to a new skill.

With all this control and motivation comes ownership. AYIM is not easy, and it’s not exactly hard either. You will die often. And it simply requires patience and foresight. The real pressure isn’t repeated errors, because they are so inconsequential, but the reality that if you quit a level or make repeated mistakes it is your fault, for lack of fortitude or wit. The world is merely responding to gravity, and there is no camera error or cheap kills to blame. When you shatter into a million pieces after rocketing into a wall, you realize, “Hey, I might be falling too quickly.” The deliberate physics engine is less about traditional realism and more about keeping the game challenging in it’s own realm. For instance, when traversing underneath tumbling boulders, rocks free-fall overhead regardless of their starting position: it is cloudy with a chance of rocks, a persistent rain spout spawning rubble just above and off-screen. Trees sway, bats fly, flames always flicker upwards, stuff rolls downhill. The world is alive and squirming under your finger like a pinned sibling. My friend asked me as I repeatedly failed to get past a monkey guarding a door, “Why are you bothering that monkey?” I replied meekly, “It’s blocking my way.” And come hell or high water, you’re going to make it through.

The whole game has this bohemian, organic feel, and maybe that’s why I’m looking at it metaphorically. The graphics are layers of ripped paper, the levels the antithesis of structured graphing paper, with sound effects that seem mouth-made. Pops, chica-chica’s, finger-against cheek flicks all make an appearance. This all gets pretty grating after a while. I like the clean aesthetic of an N+ over the strange jungle beats and bopping of AYIM. I’m a proponent of less is more. Silence can create incredible tension. There is no real payoff or release after a particularly hairy situation, or any suspense really. It’s as flat and linear as the game world.

But it picks up during the last chapter, in which, –SPOILER ALERT– your character is bitten by a poisonous snake and dropped into a 60′s Dante’s Inferno, a twisting, tie-dyed world, with slinky extending platforms, possessed trees, jet black persona’s, and actual music. It is wonderful. The journey from practical levels as a lost spelunker in a cave or a jungle explorer leads into the full-blown ridiculousness of a Rez. It is now you against your imagination – your psychedelic imagination beset on squashing you between two kaleidoscopic slabs of rock. The last level is a treat to the ADD audience for toughing it out through the more utilitarian level design of the first two chapters. It is random, with no foreshadowing, hallucinatory, and glorious, with inventive puzzles and eyebrow raising moments, controlling two avatars, ebony and ivory, id and ego, to reach their respective goals. –SPOILERS END—

After this correction, And Yet It Moves is an obvious recommendation for platforming fans, but it won’t revolutionize the genre or convert any outsiders. Not that it has to. Despite some of the design turn-offs, AYIM takes a clever mechanic and creates an interesting world that slowly unravels. It is a less flashy Portal, but just as innovative.

Pros:

Clever & Innovative Platforming mechanic, Unique Art

Cons:

Some Design Missteps

Rating:

85%

Tales of Monkey Island Review

Mike Gnade — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:07:34 +0000

The point and click adventure games were all the rave for pc gamers back in the 90s, but with fancy 3D graphics cards came new, exciting pc games. Lucky for us, Telltale games has kept the adventure genre from fading into obscurity with its episodic games. LucasArts Monkey Island franchise is fondly remembered and treasured by its fans despite the franchise not having a new release since Escape from Monkey Island in 2000. That is until now.

Resurrecting a franchise is tricky business and can bring with it equal parts delight and regret. While Monkey Island has changed over the 10 years since the last game, it is with great pleasure that I assure fans that its wit, humor, and core gameplay remain intact. Tales of Monkey Island is a triumphant and hilarious re-launch of the classic LucasArts series and it all starts with the “Launch of the Screaming Narwhal,” but more on that later.

Like the previous games, the protagonist of the game is Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate. Guybrush can be controlled with the mouse through a frustrating click and drag system or with the keyboard. The movement system with the mouse is one of the most obvious blemishes on an otherwise highly polished and enjoyable interface. Trust me when I say stick with the keyboard.

Tales of Monkey Island (TOMI) doesn’t have an interesting game mechanic; it’s a point-and-click adventure game, pure and simple. What matters most in an adventure game are the characters and stories and to a lesser extent the puzzles. Each episode of TOMI (so far) has delivered memorable and enjoyable characters, hilarious moments, and some stand out puzzle sequences (see Episode Mini-Reviews). The most shining triumph of TOMI is still the fantastic writing. Jokes, puns, witty snipes, and all around tomfoolery pour out of every scene and interaction of the game. This superb writing and humor is what makes Monkey Island so enjoyable; Tales of Monkey Island keeps you playing and laughing. I can’t think of a game, indie or not, that surpasses the dialogue in this series. Telltale games’ writers deserve a round of applause.

These humorous moments wouldn’t be possible without some hilarious situations and amazing voice acting. Surprisingly the writers do a good job tying all these situations into a compelling overall narrative. The story and situations of Monkey Island far exceed expectations and SitCom standards. It’s consistently funny and well voiced, which is more than I can say for most television shows.

While it’s important for an adventure game to have a good story, it needs puzzles to give the player something to do besides simply watch the onscreen antics. The inventory system adds some depth to puzzle solving since it allows for items to be combined, but for the most part the puzzles are not exceedingly hard or frustrating to solve. As long as you visit each locale and pay attention to the dialogue, you shouldn’t get stuck (plus the Telltale forums always have help). Like other adventure games, you can’t die and spend the majority of the game clicking on things in the environment. If you hate point-and-click adventures, TOMI won’t sway you.

Tales of Monkey Island is great sequel to the LucasArts classic. The adventure gameplay hasn’t changed much, but neither has the excellent writing and storytelling. The production values are still superb and while the graphics don’t have the highest polygon count, clever camera angles and quirky art direction make up for it. The characters are charming and the game is witty.

Pros:

stellar production, fantastic writing and voice acting

Cons:

Nothing new gameplay wise

Rating:

91%

Episode 1: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal is one of the best episodes thus far. This episode introduces the main conflict: Guybrush botches a voodoo spell and releases pirate pox across the Caribbean, but focuses on Guybrush washing ashore and being stranded on Flotsam Island. There’s a memorable puzzle in a crazy French man’s lab and a rather large island to explore. I was especially a fan of Flotsam’s jungle which brings back some of the old screen mazes found in old adventure games such as Zelda. Screaming Narwal serves as a great introduction or refresher back into the world of Monkey Island.

Episode 2: The Siege of Spinner Cay seems to be one of the shortest episodes thus far, but I loved that from the very start the player was allowed to explore several locales in any order they so choose. Episode 2 reunites Guybrush with his beloved bride, Elaine in the Merfolk town of Spinner Cay. Pox-stricken pirates are blockading the city and it’s up to Guybrush to find some ancient artifacts to summon some helpful sea creatues. Despite the freedom to explore the Jerkbait Islands, Episode 2 feels easier than the first. It’s great that Monkey Island avoids reusing locales from the first, but ultimately Episode 2 is a little disappointing.

Episode 3: Lair of the Leviathan does not really address any of the control or interface issues, but continues the overall narrative with new locales and characters. Episode 3 is more polished than the last and story-wise is one of the best vignettes to date. Lair of the Leviathan starts with Guybrush, Winslow, Morgan LeFay, and their ship getting swallowed by a huge Manatee. Like the other episodes, antics ensue inside the belly of the beast. Highlights abound in this episode with a Pirate “Face Off”, Manatee mating game, and a captive ‘newlyweds’ dialog puzzle. My only complaint about Lair is that it is much more linear than the previous two episodes and lacks exploring. Regardless, Episode 3 puts Telltale back on the right track.

On Trial: Tales of Monkey Island: Episode 1 Review

Mike Gnade — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:28:58 +0000

Colt: 9
I was giddy to play the new chapter of Monkey Island from the moment the opening credits rolled. The Mighty Pirate™ is back, along with the sharp writing and clever puzzles the series is known for, along with a fresh graphical renewal and contemporary puzzles: combining breath mints and root beer for maximum fizz? Someone’s been watching Youtube. The vivid locales and character models look great, and the keyboard-driven movement is welcome as a laptop user, but the intro sequence with an incessantly rocking ship, along with a shifting cursor, is unnecessary. Really this is just quibbling; the voice-acting is great, the writing still punchy. Now how about some Day of the Tentacle Episodes?

Ben: 9
Tales of Monkey Island’s greatest strength is still its fantastic writing. The short introduction’s puzzles aren’t particularly challenging, especially with the overly generous hint system (which can be turned off), but the jokes come frequently, and some of them are real knee slappers. The polygon count isn’t very high, but Tales makes up for it with some stellar art direction and clever camera angles. On that note, Telltale Games’ approach to moving Guybrush in a fully three-dimensional space is innovative, although occasionally clumsy; clicking and dragging Guybrush makes him move, but he usually weaves left and right drunkenly. Actually, if the demo has one great flaw, it is interface. The pitching ship is a nice effect, but it makes clicking on objects near impossible. Included in the demo is a treasure hunting minigame separate from the main game, in which players find maps scattered across the internet, and use clues to find treasure in a large maze, which unlocks fun bonuses like wallpapers.

Mike: 8
Telltale Games is the king of point and click adventures and they continue their fine tradition of humorous episodic adventures with the continuation of the beloved Monkey Island franchise. My computer is a little on the low-end of things, but still ran the game fluidly after lowering the graphics quality. Even at the lowest quality, the graphics and animation in Tales of Monkey Island (TOMI) look great. The voice acting, music, and presentation are all top-notch with stellar production values. The worst thing about TOMI Episode 1 is that the demo is over in less than 20 minutes after downloading almost 200MB….c’mon!

Andrew: 8
Tales of Monkey Island is a revival of the classic series that does everything in its power to return as a faithful addition to the long-revered adventure classic. It succeeds in just about every way possible, providing fans of the genre the classic experience they’ve loved for years. However, if you’re not already a fan of adventure games, Monkey Island will do little to indoctrinate you. If you don’t like point-and-clickers then the snappy dialogue and solid voice acting will do little to assuage your boredom.

Average: 8.50

Bit.Trip Series: Holistic Indie Game Design

Mike Gnade — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:38:29 +0000

Bit.Trip.Core

Mike Roush, the artist of Gaijin Games, got things kicked off at the indie game summit with his talk on Holistic game design. The core takeaway from the talk was that the team at Gaijin Games (game designer, artist, and programmer) all have input into every aspect of the game. This three parts: Concept (Alex Neuse), Programming (Chris Osborn), and Art (Mike) when approached holistically can make a game greater than the sum of its parts.

Gaijin holds brainstorming sessions to get everyone on the same page and allow everyone to contribute. Ultimately, each person is the expert of their field and gets the final say. Their first game concept was ‘Pong with Music’ and they planned over 30 levels. Ultimately, when their publisher gave them only 3 months they decided to scale back the game and its price to $6 and about a 45 minute experience.

The 2 big takeaways from this panel were:

If your an indie with a team, make sure your team works together and you accept input from one another. I would even advise you take it one step farther and accept feedback and input from the public during development as well.
Tailor your game to the development time you have and the price it will sell for. Don’t spend 2 years on a casual game that Big Fish will sell for ony $7.

World of Goo Review

Mike Gnade — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 02:18:00 +0000

World of Goo is the first game from Indie Game Studio, 2D Boy. Founded by Kyle Gabler and Ron Carmel, 2D Boy’s goal (according to their website) is to “make games that everyone can play, with gameplay nobody has seen before.” Well, they have certainly met this goal with World of Goo. World of Goo is hard to pigeon hole into one game genre. I guess if I had to label it I would describe it as a goo-construction physics puzzle action game. Basically, you drag and drop goo balls to build towers, bridges etc. towards a vacuum pipe that sucks up all the remaining goos. The game is definitely out there and utterly unique, but it’s also incredibly sublime.

Gameplay: 10/10
Pros: The gameplay is unlike any other game out there. It’s sort of like building with K’nex…except their goo balls with little personalities. Each level poses a brand new challenge and the game controls are pretty basic (drag & click). The game introduces new goos at a great pace which helps keep the puzzles and goo building fresh. There’s sort of a story and its interestingly told.
Cons: The game is over too fast, but great games always are. Large goo structures can be tricky to build and frustrating tip over…but the limited level skips are always enough to keep you moving along the campaign.

Graphics: 10/10
Pros: The art style is probably the best thing about the game. It is very odd…especially the cutscenes and some of the level pieces (Girl Goo Heads, Wacky Hands, Creepy Robot Heads, etc) but utterly charming. The game’s first chapter is very clean and colorful…but as the game progresses the art style starts permeating through and gets weirder and weirder along with the wacky story. All this oddity is a good thing though. The visuals never get boring and the presentation and execution is excellent.

Sound/Music: 10/10
Pros: The music perfectly fits the art style and mood, but what really makes the games auditory experience so excellent are the sound effects. Goo giggles, mumbles gibberish, inflates, etc. and the People of World of Goo speak emphatic gibberish as well…but all along the way convey emotion. That coupled with the sheer humor of the it all makes it incredibly enjoyable.

Lasting Appeal: 8/10
Pros: There are 5 Chapters and an Epilogue, with each world having a decent number of levels (~10) but when a game is this enjoyable and completely lacks tedium you always want more. The Global Ranking score system add replayability and the meta game of using extra goo to build the tallest tower also adds longevity to the title.
Cons: Ultimately the game can be beaten over a weekend and every level played.

Average: 95.00%
Tilt: +2.00%

What it comes down to is that World of Goo is one of the finest and most original games I have played in recent years. It may not be the longest experience, but much like XBLA’s Braid, Goo maintains an interest and high quality throughout every level of the game. The game is a fantastic experience that will be thoroughly enjoyed, but then you can move on. This approach to indie games is excellent because ultimately and indie studio cannot compete with the longevity of a commercial studio game. This is what they do best – Wow you with originality, art style and uniqueness and offer you a fantastic experience for the fraction of the price of a full scale commercial title. World of Goo is an exceptional game at an exceptional price. There’s really no excuse not to experience the creativity, art, and fun that permeates this game.

Verdict: 97%