IGHQ

Noitu Love 2: Devolution

admin — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:10:50 +0000

Genre: Action

Rating: 9.7/10

Cost: $20

Metal Slug, Gunstar Heroes, Viewtiful Joe - there’s something truly satisfying about how those games combine 2D with non-stop action. Throwing 3D in the mix would almost take something away; the cramped quarters and constant push to the right of the screen keep the immediacy of play on the tip of your mind. By the end of the game you realize you haven’t blinked in quite some time and your eyes are red - the sign of an exhausting (albeit an extremely fun) gaming session. If all the aforementioned titles could be thrown in a sizable pot, what would you end up with? You’d have in your hands one of the most impressive independent games to come along in some time. You’d have Noitu Love 2 - Devolution.

Developed by Konjak, which is a one-man development studio fronted by Joakim Sandberg, the numbering in the title might throw some gamers off. Yes, there was a previous Noitu Love game developed for the PC a while back (you can grab it for free over at konjak.org). It put you in the role of a superhero main character named Noitu Love, who battles a robot army led by Darnacus Damnation. This sequel retains the same bad guy (with a few new ones throw in), but swaps out Noitu Love for a new main character: Xoda Rap. And really, that’s all there is to the story. But it’s all that’s really needed - you’ve got your motivation (defeat the evil robot army) and along you go.

You’re able to forgive what little there is in the form of story because the overall gameplay is so fine-tuned. This may seem out of the ordinary for what seems like a standard action game, but let’s talk about controls. The assumption would be that a standard control pad would be the perfect match or, perhaps as a fall back, simple arrow controls with the obligatory jump and attack buttons. Not here. The setup is more FPS inspired - a WASD keyboard and mouse combo may seem foreign, but it ends up being more responsive than any control pad would ever be.

Since we’re talking two dimensions, A moves the character left; D, right; W allows you to jump; and S ducks. You can double tap on W, A or D to perform special attacks. This occupies your left hand and leaves your right free for mouse-specific actions. You left click to attack (you hold the button down to charge attack or grab and throw enemies) and right click to throw up an energy shield, which can block enemy attacks and stop pesky environmental obstacles (such as scorching fire vents). There is always a targeting reticule visible on the screen. Aiming with it and left clicking allows for context sensitive actions; you can grab onto hooks in a Bionic Commando-like style or simply click on enemies to zip across the screen and begin a beatdown. As you become more comfortable with the controls, you’ll realize that by targeting enemies and jetting across the screen you can build massive air combos.

A proper control set means nothing if a 2D game isn’t paired with inventive level design. But that’s not a worry here. Each of the game’s seven levels has its own unique theme (such as robot cowboys and Indians) bolstered by a set of interesting twists. One level has you stuck in an out-of-control elevator that rockets up, only to then barrel down the screen. This forces the main character onto the ceiling and floor, respectively, while still tossing an ample amount of enemies on the screen. Another gravity scenario has you jumping on arrow pads to change the pull of gravity in the room during a mini-boss fight. There’s even an air combat level that plays a like a classic side scrolling shooter.

You can’t beat on the same cannon fodder-esque robots all day long. That’s where the boss fights come in. Boss fights in 2D games are always about sound pattern recognition - learn the schedule of enemy attacks, and you’re golden. Here the formula’s no different, but the execution is just so well done. You’ll been racing on top of a water wheel careening down a river while fighting one boss; another puts you in charge of a giant keyboard that triggers attacks - hit the right key, and the boss takes a massive wallop. Perhaps one of the most inventive bosses is a digital signal that controls a set of T.V. channels; every time a new channel is triggered, a new set of attacks occur. For example, when the channel flips to sports, a soccer player appears and kicks a ball out of the screen toward the foreground; this results in a massive explosion.

Tying together all this frantic action is a colorful sprite-based graphical engine. Sure, nothing is hi-def, but that’s not the point. It’s all about fluid animation and keeping things moving along at a constant pitch. This allows the game to play homage to the classic Treasure games which surely had an influence on the developer. Not only is it refreshing to see a sprite-based game, but it means that it won’t be taxing your computer hardware. To illustrate: the game was reviewed on a generic, two-year-old desktop and there was never a single frame rate dip. Underpinning the presentation is a solid MIDI soundtrack that ties together the old school 2D package. Each level has its own identifiable, catchy theme.

The fine tuning of the game comes through in the difficulty department. The screen may look ever-chaotic but the situation is always manageable. The game never crosses that all too common line into frustrating territory. You may die from time-to-time trying to figure out enemy patterns, but once learned, the strategy shifts from just clearing levels to getting the best letter grade. The formula for this grade is made up of overall time, enemies destroyed, top combos, and hits taken.

With Noitu Love 2 - Devolution, Konjak has absolutely hit the 2D nail on the head: it plays like a long-lost gem from the Treasure catalog, while still managing to flesh out its own quirky identity. Action fans don’t want to pass this one up.

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Gish

admin — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:58:28 +0000

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By: Cryptic Sea

Genre: Platformer

Rating: 10/10

Cost: $19.95

“Gish uses a well-worn genre as the launching pad for some exuberant and largely successful experimentation.” Erik Wolpaw

What an awesome little game! Gish more or less epitomizes everything that independently produced, budget-priced titles should aspire to. Rather than making a dull, no-frills copy of a popular game, Chronic Logic has taken a well-worn genre–the 2D side-scrolling platformer–and used it as the launching pad for some exuberant and largely successful experimentation.

There’s nothing experimental about the game’s structure. It’s a traditional platformer in which you’ll jump, run, and swim through a series of increasingly complex scrolling environments while conking enemies on the head with your butt. There are times to beat, extra lives to earn, coins to collect, and secrets to unlock (including some extra levels that act as funny tributes to 8-bit classics such as Super Mario Bros. and Pitfall). In what might be the ultimate homage to video games in general, you’re even on a quest to rescue your girlfriend.

The unorthodox element of the game involves the way in which your character interacts with the environments. You play as a charismatic gelatinous blob of tar called Gish. You can glide across the ground, jump, and make yourself slippery so that you can flow through tight spaces. Moreover, you can become rigid, thus giving yourself more weight. You can also extrude a series of small hooks that let you scale both walls and ceilings, in addition to letting you grip and move objects. What makes all of this so interesting is the game’s fully realized physics system. Gish flows across and is deformed by objects in an utterly believable, unique, and satisfying way. Jump height is affected by how compressed Gish is at the start of a leap, while maximum compression is achieved by falling from a great height, which makes successful high jumping a matter of rhythmically timed bounces.

Objects in the world are governed by the physics system as well. For instance, seesawlike platforms can be controlled by Gish’s varying weight, pendulums can be ridden and made to swing, and cinder blocks can be gripped in Gish’s spikes–and they can then be rotated around his body and subsequently flung into the air. The game presents you with all the elements of a traditional platforming environment, and then it gives you a completely new and entertaining set of tools with which to tackle them.

The game’s visuals are simple but stylized. Everything’s drawn in a unique manner that gives Gish plenty of cartoony character. There’s also a nice lighting engine that complements the physics. For instance, crumbling walls will often unleash multiple streams of light.

Other than what might be the best “secret discovered” noise in game history, the sound effects aren’t particularly notable. The soundtrack, on the other hand, is great. It’s composed of an eclectic mix of Residents-style creepy carnival music, marching tunes, and an oddball mixture of chunky guitar licks and chanting. There are even some riffs on themes from classic platformers.

The game features a 34-level story mode that comes complete with five boss battles, 23 “collection” levels (in which you must grab as many coins as you can within a given time limit), and at least four secret bonus levels. There’s also a set of six two-player modes that milk the Gish concept for all it’s worth. These modes include such activities as tar blob drag racing, moving a football across a field, and a variation on logrolling wherein each player attempts to maneuver the other off of a seesawlike platform. The only drawback is that both players need to be at the same computer, because Internet and LAN connectivity is not supported.

“Physics” is quickly gaining currency as the newest “must-have” game industry buzzword. Gish is one of those rare games that actually manages to integrate realistic physics into its gameplay in a way that’s both meaningful and, more importantly, enjoyable. That it does this with humor and style, and without the benefit of a large budget, is a small miracle.

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Knytt Stories

admin — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:39:36 +0000

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By: Nifflas

Genre: Platformer

Rating: 9.5/10

Cost: Free

“Here’s the proof that a game doesn’t need fancy 3D graphics or complex gameplay to instill amazement.” Satori78

It’s the game’s athmosphere and small details that draw you in and make you play.

Excellent music and environmental sounds backed-up by well-thought colour schemes and level design create a fairytale immersive world, that seems believable despite it’s flat blocky 2d graphics. And you’re playing as a tiny swift qute-footstep-sounding pixellated thingie (a girl, actually)

If the first game (Knytt) was really good, Knytt Stories is even better. It’s more focused. The designer came up with ways of fitting more visual amazemant within the game’s limited graphical capabilities. It’s got more “thingies” you can find to upgrade your character. Overall, a better gameplay experience. And it ships with a level editor. Don’t forget to get the extra maps from the net - they’re worth it.

This game is all about appreciating the beauty of minimalism and simplicity. And the kind of things you can’t exactly pinpoint with words. Did you ever stopped in a game just to look at the environment? Did you ever back-tracked to an area only to listen to the soundtrack? Did you ever thought that the colors used in a game scene belong rightfully to the history of art? Do you think that a master can be recognized by what he can accomplish with few things? Can you appreciate something that is pixel-perfect? — Then you’ll appreciate this game.

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