Category: Platformer

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Game Ramblings #34 – Goodbye! BoxBoy!

Info on the first two titles from Nintendo

  • Genre: Puzzle/Platformer
  • Platform: 3DS (eShop)

So ya, technically speaking this isn’t out in the US yet.  However, that fancy triple pack is out in Japan, so I had to jump at it.  The TL;DR on this series is that you play a Box…Boy that is able to spawn chains of blocks connected to his body.  You use these chains to traverse puzzle-based levels, with each world tending to be built around a series of levels with one new core mechanic.  While the gameplay of this third title is still built around that core, HAL Labs has again managed to bring a lot of new mechanics in to give another 20+ worlds of damn good puzzle solving.

If there’s one core theme that this game was built on, I’d say it was motion.  Sure, the core box chain puzzles from the first two games are there, but a lot of the new mechanics are all based around exploiting motion in some way.  Just a few of the many examples of some of the smart ways they used motion:

  • Forced movement through the use of conveyors, moving platforms, velocity-adding volumes, and water meant that timing became a lot more important puzzle-solving mechanic than just setting up chains of blocks.
  • The inclusion of things like explosives allowed for some fantastic puzzles based around blocks falls.
  • AI-based levels added secondary characters into the mix.  In particular, there were a number of escort levels that were actually fun (I’m being serious here).  There were some smart decisions in the use of AI, in particular the fact that the AI will not move forward if its path is dangerous.  It simply waits for you to makes things safe for it.
  • Gravity-based mechanics also came through a lot, with some really smart levels based around reversal of gravity, as well as levels based on weight through scales.

Each of the first 15 or so worlds tended to have one new mechanic in it.  The last 10 or so worlds and challenge worlds are where things really got interesting.  The final handful of worlds did a great job of taking the individual mechanics, and mixing them into multi-mechanic levels that test both a late night sleep deprived brain, as well as my patience in a lot of areas.  That said, this is some of the best puzzle-platform gameplay that the 3DS has seen.  Of particular note, the challenge worlds offer some mischievous changes, such as not being able to jump, or not being able to fall more than 1 block’s height.

There’s really not much to say here if you’ve played either of the first two titles in the series.  The core of the game is the same, and the new mechanics are fantastic.  If you’ve got a Japanese 3DS, it’s definitely worth picking up the triple pack if you’re a collector.  Otherwise, until this gets to the US, 3DS owners have another great title to look forward to.

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Game Ramblings #24 – Thomas Was Alone

More Info from Mike Bithell

  • Genre: Puzzle/Platformer
  • Platform: PS4
  • Also Available On: Steam, PS3, Vita, Mobile, Xbox One, Wii U

Thomas Was Alone is ostensibly a game about colored blocks.  At its core it takes a relatively simple visual style, and mixes it with simple 2D platformer mechanics in ways that have been done before.  However, by being extremely mechanically tight, and by having a great atmosphere that happens along side of it, it becomes one of the best platformers I’ve played in recent times.

There’s really two things that stood out about Thomas Was Alone compared to most platformers, and both of them directly tie into how the blocks are treated as individual characters.  The title of the game is no mistake, as each block is treated as a separate character within the game’s story.  Each block has its own unique personality that is exposed as the story is told.  Whether it’s the titular Thomas who is always taking note of the world around him and really doesn’t want to be alone, or Chris, who is initially a bit of a grump, but eventually ends up falling in love, or any of the other characters that you meet along the way, each block is elevated to a full character simply through fantastic writing  and great narration.  The overall characterization that is gained just through passive narration is reminiscent of games like Portal, where the depth of the game’s universe is a lot more than expected at first glance.

The individual character traits then extend directly into gameplay, giving each individual character their own style.  The combinations of characters in each level then determine how the puzzles proceed in each level.  For example, Thomas is the base character, and simply jumps a normal height.  James has the same traits as Thomas, but has reversed gravity.  Sarah can double jump, Chris has a short jump, but it also much smaller size and can fit through gaps, Laura can be used as a trampoline, etc.  Each new character introduced adds another layer to the overall experience until you’re eventually completing puzzles using the entire gang’s unique abilities to finish up levels.

All of this is tied together in a package that is extraordinary in how reliable the mechanics all are.  There were no situations in which I felt like I was misjudging my jumps or unsure of where I was trying to get to.  New characters would seamlessly integrate into my puzzle solving experience as soon as I learned what their ability or benefit was.  The game, as is appropriate in puzzle games in general, was never about the where, but the how of finishing each area.

I think in the end the best thing I can really say about Thomas Was Alone is that I accidentally finished it in one sitting.  Sure, it was only about 4 hours long, but there’s not many games that I play for four hours straight, and even fewer where I don’t even realize that four hours had gone by.  I suppose I should have gotten to this one sooner.

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Game Ramblings #20 – Xeodrifter

More info from Renegade Kid

  • Platform: PS4
  • Genre: Action/Platformer, Metroidvania
  • Also Available On: PC, 3DS, Vita, Wii U

I’ve been grabbing a lot of the releases by Limited Run Games for my collection of late, and being a fan of Metroidvania games, this one was at the top of my list.  While this isn’t the best Metroidvania I’ve ever played, it’s one of best in terms of its raw mechanics, and that props up the main issues that I had with the game.  In the end, I really had two main issues with the game; it’s length and repetition of boss battles.

Unlike Metroid’s generally single open world, Xeodrifter takes place on 4 smaller locations.  While there is a bit of revisiting to each location, the small size means there is not much in the way of secret paths to visit.  There are a handful of spots in each world with hidden health or weapon upgrades, but not the breadth of secret areas that the Metroid games use to open up entirely new paths for core traversal.

Like Metroid, each core upgrade is also given after a boss battle.  However, the bosses in Xeodrifter all have the same visual design, other than a color palette swap.  Each battle also builds on top of the previous, with largely the same mechanics, with generally a single addition using the skill learned from the previous battle.  By the end of the game, this makes the boss fights quite a lot easier, as you’ve generally already learned the pattern of how to beat the boss, and can generally make a pretty good guess at what the new mechanic will be.

That said, mechanically this game really does shine.  It’s core shooting and movement is extremely fluid, and at a generally faster pace than would be expected out of the bigger names titles in the genre.  The upgrades also add a lot of flexibility to the game, with the standout probably being the upgrade that allows you to pass between different depths in the scene, not unlike the 3D gameplay used in recent 3DS Kirby titles.  Combined with other abilities, such as the submarine and dashing, you’ll often be juggling movement and shooting across multiple planes of gameplay at the same time.

Also of note is the gun upgrade system.  This game ignores the more standard straight beam upgrades from Metroid in place of a point-based upgrade system.  The guns can be upgraded in 5 ways; bullet size, bullet speed, fire rate, fire spread, and movement wave width.  Because of this, the guns can be upgraded in a way that suits the player’s style, rather than just being a straight upgrade.  For example, I maxed bullet size and fire rate, while putting a few points into the movement wave.  What this gave me was effectively a machine gun shooting large pellets, while moving in a small wave pattern.  I could have just as easily made a powerful slow firing shotgun, or something akin to a rail gun depending on how I wanted to play.  It was a truly fun way for them to handle the hidden upgrades typical of the genre.

Generally speaking, if you’re a fan of Metroidvanias, this is probably worth a try.  The game has its issues, but it has great core mechnicas, and is relatively cheap, so for a bit of a time filler, it’s worth the play.