Viva Piñata - Full Review (Xbox 360 and PC game)

'Viva Piñata' presents a tantalizingly unusual premise that you’ll either love or hate; attract a variety of Piñata creatures into your lovingly crafted garden on Piñata Island then tame, personalize and manage them all. These Piñatas come in all shapes and sizes but are all based off of real creatures though with quirky names that reflect a type of candy and a strange array of colours that may be changed, if you can figure out how. There’s no denying it, this is a very casual game for the causal gamer but despite its childish appearance it’s a charming and addictive game with great creative opportunities for those who enjoying gardening, designing and pet keeping.

Developer: Rare (Xbox 360) Climax Group (PC)
Genre: Life simulation
Release date: November 9th 2006
Platforms: Xbox 360 and PC
ESRB: E - Everyone.

Story and gameplay

There’s not a great deal of storyline though there is some attempt to explain what’s going on; you start by walking through a beautiful haven filled with flourishing flowers, trees and crops with piñatas flying overhead, prancing through the grass or drinking from streams and pools. In the centre of all this fluff however is a tiny plot of hard, cracked earth with a woman sobbing in the middle of it all. After comforting her you’re charged with using this plot of land as your own and to turning it from something that resembles the aftermath of an explosion to something more in tune with the surrounding area. You’re given a watering can that’s practically falling to pieces with rust and a shovel that looks like it’ll snap as soon as it touches the earth, armed with these two devices you’re instructed to get to work. The game is vastly open-ended with very few objectives once the tutorial is finished with and though it may appear to be a simple gardening free for all there’s a hidden structure in the way that you progress. As you begin your gardening career you’ll gradually unlock new titles, better equipment, more garden space and different seeds that allow you to garden in more complex ways.

Whilst initially you’ll attract low level piñatas that simply require you to have a certain amount of grass, dirt or perhaps a particular flower or vegetable you’ll soon catch glimpses of wild, black and white creatures as they prowl the outside border of your garden. Attracting the attention of huge eagles, magnificent lions or clumsy elephants will take time, dedication and maybe even a few sacrifices as, after all, the animal kingdom is not known for its kindness towards smaller, weaker creatures. You start out in a very restricted manner; confined to a tiny plot of dilapidated land that’s in need of some serious maintenance but once you’re removed all the junk, beaten out the cracks and grown a bit of grass you’ll be faced with an empty canvass for you to play with. You’re never thrown too far into the deep end yet you’re given just enough freedom to discover a gardening style by yourself. Do you start with patches of flowers and draw in butterflies and bumblebees or do you opt for a vegetable patch to try and allure some rabbits or mice? Either way they’re all low levelled but the way in which you advance and nurture your garden will have an impact on the creatures you’ll lure inside your newly developing patch. Piñatas will only enter your garden once you’ve met their individual ‘visitor’ requirements and, once inside they’ll develop an additional set of requirements in order for them to actually become a resident. Once you’ve finally convinced them that they should inhabit your garden they’ll move in, change into their true colours and settle down to enjoy themselves. Here, they’ll live, sleep, mate and attract other piñatas to become residents too or, if you choose, entertain people at parties should they be that lucky piñata that gets chosen. It’s, admittedly, a very strange concept but still a very entertaining one once you’ve become enthralled in the everyday drama that comes with managing a horde of cute, but ultimately wild, animals.

Although a huge part of the game consists of attracting and taming Piñatas the game is so much more than that and, if you feel like exercising your creative side, there’s huge opportunity to get inventive with your garden’s design. There’s a surprising amount of content packed into this charming game whether that’s levelling up to unlock new features or dressing up your Piñatas to increase their worth before sending them off to children’s parties. If you enjoy gardening then you’ll be delighted at the whole host of trees, crops and flowers you can nurture and at the vast difference a few drops of fertilizer can make. The variety in trees, flowers and crops is actually quite impressive and there are some lovely elements like the magnificent oak tree that, when fully grown, has a trunk that appears to be carved with the forms of many different species of Piñatas. Whilst the huge range of, not only flora and fauna but buildings to, may seem impossible to fit all into one garden due to a build limit of sorts you can have multiple gardens with the same profile. In this case, chocolate coins and your gardening level all pass over so you will still have access to everything that has been unlocked yet now with a completely empty plot of land. It makes sense to have multiple gardens as many piñatas are specialized creatures who will only live in certain environments that would be extremely difficult to integrate into an already beautified and designed garden. Large piñatas such as hippos require gardens that are mostly consisting of water, for example, so attempting to make 80% of your garden consist of lakes and rivers whilst speckled with bulrushes and water lilies will, quite naturally, naturally destroy any attempt you had at a designing a perfectly crafted flower bed and orchard.

You are not the only non-piñata resident on the island however and throughout the game you’ll be guided and helped by the local residents who offer services in shops and, if you pay for it, services in your garden such as weeding, gathering and as either watchmen or night watchmen. Whilst the first couple are pretty self-explanatory the presence of watchmen in the game is unusual as gardening and virtual pet simulation combinations tend to be of the peaceful variety, not this one. Amidst the everyday scraps and brawls that occur between piñatas that don’t get along you also have to contend with outsider aggressors such as sour piñatas, ruffians and the evil Dastardos who’s the ringleader of all of these. Sour piñatas can be made resident and turned into good variants of their sour selves but ruffians and Dastardos are evil for life. Whilst ruffians simply make a nuisance of themselves by dropping poisonous sweets for your unsuspecting piñatas to eat and throwing up land over rivers and pools you may make, Dastardos is actively violent. When your piñatas get sick, by losing a fight or eating something poisonous, Dastardos will show up and break them open with a stick, effectively killing them. Well, not exactly kill them as this is a nice place so rather than die permanently broken piñatas merely respawn as the black and white variety outside of your garden.

Whilst the standard way of keeping these antagonists away from your garden is by taming sour piñatas and using their special abilities to keep Dastardos distracted you can also buy special upgrades. The game’s in-game currency are, quite appropriately, chocolate coins which can be made by selling piñatas, building a mine and selling what you find within it or making and selling produce for profit. Chocolate coins can be put towards a huge variety of things such as garden items, fertilizer, piñata houses, special buildings, hirelings, fashion accessories for your piñatas, seeds, produce or special services like the doctor or the hunter who can capture piñatas for your garden. In order to keep track on everything that’s going on it’s useful to utilize the in-game journal which is there to not only provide backstory about the island and its residents but also to track your accomplishments and statistics such as whether you’ve achieved maximum growth for individual plants or how many piñatas you have in your garden. The journal brings to light several unofficial objectives as it lists each plant and each piñata with several checkboxes beside them all which are checked as you accomplish things such as finding each of the 3 variants for each piñata or romancing a species a certain number of times. A piñata variant occurs when you instruct your pinata to eat something and, after enough experimentation, you’ll find three different items that will change their colour into something else. Whilst this is of course simply aesthetic it’s a pleasant option to be able to discover more hidden elements within the game.

Part of what makes this game so enjoyable is not just the attention to detail and the open-ended, casual gameplay but also the charming personality of your piñatas themselves. It’s quite easy to form opinions on certain piñatas and pick out favourites as the way in which they interact with each other and the environment differs depending on the species. Syrupents, a snake type piñata, for example often start fights and can be quite stubborn to get rid of yet, if you perform special actions with them, can become entirely different creatures that are extremely useful. Many piñatas also enjoy wearing special accessories and, whilst some have the potential to enhance the piñata in some way or form, mostly it’s just to boost their happiness meter or to allow them to ‘romance’ one another. Swananas, for instance, enjoy wearing diamond collars and strutting about, honking snobbishly whilst Cinnamonkey’s are disturbingly human as they sidle about on two legs and who require a fez hat to allow them to breed. As an interesting addition you can also buy domesticated piñatas from one of the several shops as well as put down fencing to enclose them should they be something like chickens or sheep. Amongst all of this is the actual ability to send your piñatas to parties as, now and then, a crate will be given to you with the request for a certain type of piñata or just one of high worth. By packing your piñata off to a party you receive some ‘joy candy’ that makes piñatas happy in return but, what with everything else going on, this apparent ‘objective’ in the game is lost.

Graphics and audio

The artistic style of ‘Viva Piñata’ is both unique and extremely distinctive with its bold, colourful and patterned style. Whilst it may not be to everybody’s taste due to them appearing somewhat childlike it cannot be denied that, visually, ‘Viva Piñata’ is technically impressive and extremely advanced for the time it was brought out. There’s a very fine level of detail in the game that can only really be appreciate when you zoom right in as only then can you witness the growth of plants or admire the little augmentations strewn across buildings and clothing. Every blade of grass can be identified, the clouds roll by as the time ticks by in a well enforced day and night cycle and even your custom designed labels can be seen clearly on the bodies of your piñatas. Not one stone has been left unpolished and everything from the texture of the grass to the beautiful, vibrant scenery has been crafted to maintain that distinctive ‘Viva Piñata’ atmosphere. 

he music of the game is generally very soothing and not at all irritating though, for very long periods of play, it may start to grate a little. All of the Piñatas have their own individual sounds that tend to a little exaggerated such as a ‘peeping’ noise from worms or a strange, haughty honking noise from those uppity swans I mentioned earlier. The personality of the piñatas are all very well addressed in the sounds that they make but truly it’s the overall ambient noises from the gentle swishing of the wind, the hammering of the rain or the combined snuffling of your piñatas. Now and then there are some very abrasive noises such as when a sour piñata enters your garden or drops a poisoned candy but these simply serve as loud, audible warnings that something has happened and so in this sense are not particularly annoying.

Overall

Despite initial reservations ‘Viva Piñata’ is an undeniably good game with a great deal of personality and charm that’s simply hard to resist. With a very solid 30 hours or so playtime the game puts you in a position where you start caring passionately about taming all available piñatas and about making the perfect, piñata paradise. It’s an extremely casual game with some basic multiplayer support where up to four people control the same on-screen cursor and, whilst this is likely to not interest older games, is beneficial for parents and their children. Its very friendly demeanour makes it a great game for beginners with plenty of help at the beginning of the game whereas for those looking for more of a challenge I tell you this; just try and get a hold of a Dragon piñata, then tell me it’s not challenging.

The Good:

• Looks fantastic, very detailed, very vibrant
• Relaxing, casual gameplay 
• Deceptively challenging at later stages 
• Addictive and ‘collection’ orientated mentality of meeting all objectives 
• Fun for all ages 
• Unique and distinctive gameplay 
• Lovely audio and music 
• Multiple gardens a nice addition for allowing themed gardens 
• Piñatas are very charming, huge variety

The Bad:

• Co-op play limited to sharing the same cursor
• A lot less to do as you level up 
• Some autonomy happens as you employ staff making you feel a little redundant 
• Lacks any real storyline and objectives which could have given the game more structure

The Score: 8/10

Final thoughts: "This is quite possibly the best 'gardening' game I have ever played, despite there being an updated version of this game (trouble in paradise) I still find this one to be the most accessible."

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Lilly Looking Through - Quick Review (PC game)

Initially I was looking forward to playing this game due to its charming appearance but all I was met with was a short, shallow and extremely simplistic game more suited to young children than adventure gamers. 

Developer: Geeta Games

Genre: Puzzle adventure

Release date: November 1st 2013

Platforms: PC and Mac

ESRB: E - Everyone

For a game that looks and sounds so beautiful it’s quite simply just not up to par and should be avoided by anybody wanting a game with even a smidgen of substance. There's very little character development, which is a shame, and the story itself is in no way complex or fleshed out. There are no conversations, very little speech and generally the game consists of solving puzzles with Lilly and, sometimes, Row to advance through the game. ‘Lilly Looking Through’ is supposedly a point and click adventure game, meaning it will have some puzzles to be solved that may be inventory based as is typical of the genre but for me it failed to live up to the genre.

To begin with, there’s no inventory, much to my disappointment as it meant they’d be no finding and collecting items for later item combination. The puzzles are instead performed by clicking on a very limited set of locations on the screen before watching Lilly solve the obtuse puzzle herself. In that sense, that you click on things, it's a point and click in the very literal understanding of the phrase but it lacks what makes point and clicks interesting; storyline and substance. There are only a few things you can click on and very few areas in the game leading to what is a very easy and very short game. The solutions to the puzzles tended to be obscure in nature rather than challenging and there were times where, even after finding the solution to the area, I was completely taken aback by the actions that Lilly proceeded to perform. Worse still, the puzzles are extremely repetitive with one particular colour puzzle being repeated three times which results in an increasing frustration of having to repeat the same, mostly guessed, puzzle combination you completed just twenty minutes ago. 

In case everything is just too damn confusing for you there's also a hint system you can use to highlight objects in the area that tell you what else you can click on. The game itself is incredibly short and the ending is little more than an unsatisfying cliffhanger that I would care more about if I’d found the story interesting, which I did not. Disappointingly, despite the game starting to show potential it felt as though I'd paid for half of a game rather than a full one and that its potential to get better was prematurely cut short. After a brief and unexplained appearance from another character all you'll be left with is confusion over whether the game is now over, and then a credits scene that confirms you just wasted a couple of hours of your life.

Maybe if the developers had spent more time on fleshing out the gameplay rather than focusing on the pretty pictures and ethereal soundtrack then maybe I’d be more interested, but despite raising double what they asked for on Kickstarter it’s clear that for this game beauty is only skin deep. The animations of Lilly are very well done, the environments are varied and beautifully illustrated with real attention to detail and the music is a lovely, mystical and much grander than the game itself. It’s such a shame to say this but this is quite simply not a very good game and I’m actually disappointed that I was fooled into buying it due to positive reviews and deceptive screenshots. You’ll get about an hour or two out of this game depending on how well you are at guessing your way through the puzzles but, despite there being the essence of something greater, I doubt it will be a very enjoyable couple of hours for you. On a positive note, this is a game that young children will love to play provided you are there to help them through some of the more confusing puzzles.

The Good:

• Looks fantastic.
• Very charming.
• Storyline is pleasant.
• Perfect for children.

The Bad:

• Far too easy, just plain weird rather than difficult in places.  
• Few environments.
• Repetitive puzzles.
• Extremely short game.

The Score: 4/10 

Last thoughts: "Disappointing, it didn't feel at all like a real point and click but I guess it's alright for children."

If you don’t mind short and shallow romps through lovely environments, pick up the game for $10/£7 from the developers website here or on Steam here.

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Disney's Hercules: Action Game - Quick Review (PS1 and PC game)

Unless you are an extreme fan of the Hercules Disney film or Disney video games in general I wouldn’t recommend you add this game to your collection any time soon. It breaks my heart a little to say that as this game holds a great deal of nostalgia for me and, at the time, Disney's Hercules: Action Game was one of my PS1 gaming staples. 

Developer: Eurocom
Genre: Platformer

Release date: November 1997

Platforms: PS1 and PC  

ESRB: E - Everyone

When I first played this game I did find it genuinely fun and, on my second playthrough as an adult, I admit it has its charms but only on account of the nostalgia. When judging it based on its merits it’s hard to see beyond the boring and linear gameplay, annoying film clips and rehashed soundbites taken directly from the film. Overall, it’s an extremely short game and has very few levels that look better than they play, and they don’t look particularly exceptional.

The game is almost entirely in 2D though there are times when you have to walk backwards or forwards into an additional layer of the environment, before continuing with the regular side scrolling that the game exists on. There are ten levels overall but the last two, in the Underworld and the Vortex of Souls, are only available if you’re playing the game on either medium or hard difficulty though their addition does help to bulk the game out a little. There are a couple of levels in the game where you are unable to fight and instead must continually run forward, slowing or speeding up, whilst avoiding obstacles. One of the earlier levels features this rush type gameplay where you must avoid Phil’s hero training obstacles such as sharks, sword wielding dummies and giant stone fists that violently drop from above. This is, admittedly, quite fun to play through on the first attempt especially on the higher difficulty levels since it’s such an iconic scene from the film that you kind of enjoy playing through it, even if it is just for kicks.  

There are plenty of power ups and collectibles to collect during the levels. Your energy bar can be increased by picking up Hercules action figure dolls whereas your health can be replenished by drinking ‘Herculade’ that you probably remember from the film. Generally, you’re stuck with a regular old sword but you can also pick up power ups for it to give it magical abilities. I’m not sure where they got this idea from but I guess they can add a little creative embellishment in an attempt to make things more fun. These weapons are called ‘Gifts from the Gods’ which basically adds on stuff like a long stream of lightning that you can move about, fire balls that shoot off in any which direction and a sort of sonic blade that sends out a dangerous circular sonic blast, killing anything nearby. Finally, you can grab an invincibility helmet that makes you impervious to damage from a few seconds. There are two forms of collectibles in the game, for starters there are the letters of the name ‘HERCULES’ which are hidden throughout the level in admittedly really good hiding spots ( I haven’t actually found them all yet). Lastly, there are four vases that when found will give you the password to that level so you can replay it. 

Even when trying to find all these collectibles you’ll probably be able to complete this game in just a few hours, and it won’t necessarily be a fun few hours either. Though the game has its quirky moments that are fun for a bit it’s not really a substantial amount of enjoyment and it’s unlikely you’ll ever want to play the game again. Graphically, the game is reasonable and it has some really nice levels such as the early training levels and the dangerous jaunt through the city called ‘The Big Olive’ which has a few moments where you smile and go, ‘oh yeah’ as you remember the context from the film. The audio is a little irritating and the music is very repetitive, but good quality. The inclusion of low quality clips from the film to help explain the storyline can thankfully be skipped as they’re quite frequent and juts feel like a bulking agent to make the game last longer. Overall, there’s nothing particularly offensive about the game, it basically stands as a good little game for children or for those who enjoy knocking out a couple of hours on an old 90s Disney game without high expectations.

The Good:

• Iconic scenes from film fun to engage in.
• Decent levels, nice variety and very detailed.
• Well animated enemies
• Collectibles for the purists is always a good thing.
• Powerups mean you can cleave through enemies quickly. 
  

The Bad:

• Often you're just running to the side of the screen, continuously. 
• Repetative audio and music.
• Quite a bland experience.
• Very short.
• Lack of analog sticks means your fingers will hurt because of stubborn controls. 
  

The Score: 5/10

If you want to play this you can check out my passwords for all levels in all difficulties here. 

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The Unfinished Swan - Full Review (PS3 game)

The Unfinished Swan is a game of childish wonderment and discovery where everything along its path is a new and intriguing curiosity for you to explore. This game is flawless, enriching and deeply enjoyable and has the ability to keep you wanting more even after you’ve completed it. The Unfinished Swan is a beautifully captivating tale that’s told in a storybook manner by a softly spoken woman who straight away manages to captures your attention as though you were back in nursery school. You’re first introduced to a young boy called Monroe and his mother who loved to paint but who was always better at starting things than finishing them. Her most favourite of all her paintings was the Unfinished Swan who’s missing a bit of his neck. When Monroe’s mother dies, leaving Monroe alone in an orphanage, the only thing Monroe has left of her is this single painting. One night, the young boy awakens to find a door in his room that he’d never seen before. The swan in the painting has someone mysteriously disappeared leaving nothing but a blank canvass. Figuring the swan must have gone through this door, Monroe enters it too; and that’s where the story really begins.

Gameplay

This game had me confused when I first played it because you’re quite literally left staring at a blank white screen with a tiny, barely noticeable crosshair in the middle. There’s a grey balloon in one corner and apart from that, no HUD. I wasn’t even sure if the game had started or not but after a tentative press of the controls I heard my own feet on the ground, I pressed X and heard myself jump and land. I was intrigued. After some running about on this blank canvass I found that you could launch what seemed to be large balls of ink and suddenly; I had found a wall, made apparent the large splatter of ink now staining the white abyss in front of me. I did the only natural thing; I spun in a circle and splattered ink in every which direction, revealing above me beams of wood and on one of the walls a door, it’s shape just about recognizable through the contrast of black and white. The door couldn’t be opened and it took me a little longer before I found a corner to the room. I could only see where I was going by splattering ink in front of me and where the very edges of the splat met with the white canvass revealed to me detail; a bench, bamboo, tiny black blades of grass . I could hear birds tweeting and distant the distant twinkling of what sounded like a wind chime. I almost stepped into a lake, so intent I was at exploring this strange new world, but was saved when the embankment was suddenly made visible in front of me. Experimentally I threw some black balls of ink in front of me, revealing a few grasses and whilst some of the ink balls plopped into the white water and sunk beneath the water's surface, those that remained were eaten by a few large fish that leapt from the murky white water before me. A frog croaked and I saw it briefly before a huge sea monster dived out of the lake and snapped it up right before diving back down and out of sight again. Stumbling backwards dramatically I suddenly felt incredibly vulnerable in this blank, white world.

The entire game isn’t like this; a blank white canvass for you to splatter ink on, but the first few areas are and it’s so satisfying to reveal things like iron gates, a castle, the boardwalks over the lake as you carefully tread only where you’ve uncovered. The game changes things up just when it’s about to start feeling repetitive by adding in very simplistic additions like painted on shadows to help you find your way around. Later on there are some really interesting puzzle elements and environments such as a terrifyingly dark forest where you can activate glowing baubles of coloured light to temporarily illuminate the area before you’re injured by unseen creatures. Every time you’re introduced to a new mechanic for traversing the landscape you’ll be fascinated and amused at this new feature and the sudden contrasts that it has caused in the surrounding environment.

The gameplay is not challenging and it’s not really supposed to be. There were a few times where I was unsure about how to continue or go about something but after some wandering about and looking around it becomes pretty apparent what you’re supposed to do. It’s not a negative thing that the gameplay is unchallenging because you’re there to experience a journey, not a struggle, and the constant shifting of puzzles means it doesn’t feel boring or one-dimensional. As an added gameplay element there are hidden balloons to find in each level which you activate by throwing balls at. It sounds like a silly, childish thing to find but they’re actually extremely difficult to locate due of the nature of the environments. For instance, balloons early on in the story are pure white to blend in with the blank white canvass of your surroundings and the only way you’ll find them is by seeing them shift against a partially splattered black and white backdrop. Finding and unlocking the balloons is purely optional and you can always go back to levels you’ve already completed to try and track them down. The purpose of them is that you can unlock special abilities such as a balloon locator, a water hose used for throwing ink in a long stream or the ability to stop time, put down a lot of ink balls that remain suspended in the air, then restarting time and allowing them to splatter the scenery all at once. This last one is particularly useful for when you’re throwing water that fades away quickly instead of the permanent black ink of the earlier levels. 

Though there are no other characters in the game, other than the swan himself, you don’t feel entirely alone due to the narrative and the storyline that you’re following. The story itself is primarily told through simplistic, hand drawn storyboards that are very basic in appearance; black and white outlines with a little delicate colouring in here and there. Some areas have large storyboards on a wall or piece of scenery that, when you throw a ball at them, they melt away into the page of a book with an accompanying image. The same woman who tells the story before and after levels will read out the page in gentle, soothing tones as though reading a children’s book and it’s such a quaint way of finding out what’s going on that you actively search for each and every page so you don’t miss a thing. If you enjoy a good plot then this is the storyline that will keep you playing as more and more is revealed about the unusual, dreamlike world you’ve entered and the ending is a curious, but lovely, thing.

Graphics and audio

Though the graphics are simplistic and understated they are extremely pleasing to the eye. The entire world is so perfectly pieced together that the simplistic nature of the graphics merely showcases the confidence of the developers. This game doesn’t need incredibly high definition graphics because it’s a world of paint and canvas and in this world less is more. Colour is done perfectly and there’s a great emphasis on making things stand out like the black on the white, bright vibrant colours on a black canvass and the shocking green of life in a dead city. Nothing looks unappealing or boring and there’s just enough detail to make something feel full yet not overcrowded which is a mistake that could have been very easily happened in the city environments. Overall the game has a lot of levels that it feels really substantial and each chapter has a different element that keeps it really fresh and interesting. What’s even better is that that starting level’s world isn’t just white out of random decision; the storyline explains it as you progress through the game so it’s not just a game where you play at being an artist. There’s a reason and a good, solid narrative behind everything and also lots of interesting little bits that makes every new area worth exploring and appreciating. 

The game not only looks stunning but it sounds brilliant too. In those early moments of the game sound is all you’ve got to go on to find your way around. That clang of hitting an iron gate with a ball of ink as it suddenly appears before you; strikingly black, now partially swung open is wonderful. The tell-tale clacking of your feet on a tiled roof and the creaking and groaning from an unseen construction tower is all incredibly atmospheric and it’s these little things that you really notice. The music is lovely too. Initially subtle and pleasant, childlike almost, the music dips and dives into something a little more sinister or a little more majestic as your environment changes and the game progresses. The voice acting is also quite simply spot on. The soft tones of the storyteller drops you straight into ‘bedtime story’ mode whilst the odd little grunts and noises that your character plays are cute, simple but effective and really do make Monroe come to life. 

Overall

There’s plenty of artistic indie games out there on the market but none of them quite like The Unfinished Swan. The healthy mixture of storybook narration and the constant engagement with your imagination makes this a game that bucks the trend and encourages you to look at the world from a different perspective. If you enjoy games that are different, imaginative and beautifully refined then this game is for you where every new challenge and puzzle is more creative and original than the last. Though it may be a short game it has plenty in it to keep you occupied and it will take a good handful of hours to finish everything and, even then, it’s an experience you’ll really enjoy playing through again. This is quite simply a gorgeous game. 

Score: 10/10

To discover more of my PS3 game reviews, check out this page here.

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Child of Light - Full Review (Xbox One/360, PS4/PS3, PC and Wii-U)

“Come, tuck yourself into bed. Let me tell a story. Of Lemuria, a kingdom past. And a girl born for glory.” 

Child of Light is a beautiful piece of poetic artwork that stands as a solid nod to traditional RPG gaming yet with its own clear sense of identity. It’s not a joyful tale as the artwork suggests but instead an incredibly moving and deeply saddening story of a lost young girl and a grieving father.Through the use of the fantastic UbiArt Framework, an engine that helped to create the stunning ‘Rayman Origins’ and ‘Rayman Legends’, Child of Light now stands proudly as Ubisoft’s latest artistic masterpiece. The game boasts an unusual, but curious, combination of turn based RPG and 2D side scrolling platformer gameplay that gives it an immediate edge over the competition. Somehow the blending of these two genres have led to the creation of something incredibly creative and incredibly original but which suffers from a lack of any real challenge and a very predictable, short storyline. Regardless, this is a tale that unfolds itself before you with such grace and beauty that you simply cannot abandon it before its time. This casual game carries itself with such style and confidence that it doesn’t take long for you to fall victim to its charms and, before you know it, you’ve been pattering around the beautiful landscapes of Lemuria for hours.

Gameplay and plot

The true nature of this game is revealed in its earliest moments when a young girl, the daughter of a powerful ruler, is stricken down by some unexplained illness. The close relationship this girl had with her father is not only apparent but utterly destroyed when, one morning, she doesn’t wake. The king is thrown into despair and, rather than care for the kingdom that needs him, instead chooses to shut himself away in his grief. But he is not the only one who is lost; somewhere else his daughter has awakened only to find herself in an unfamiliar place, far away from the comfort of her home. This beautiful but haunting land is called Lemuria and it has lately fallen victim to a mysterious character known only as the Queen of the Night. This evil queen has stolen away the sun, moon and stars of the land and it now falls to Aurora, aided by her ethereal companion, to not only recover these stolen celestial bodies but to also be reunited with her father. This is a coming of age story with a difference that will show the lengths this young princess needs to go to become the woman she needs to be to tackle adversary and save the ones she loves. 

Taking on the role of this lost young girl you’ll be transported into a beautiful hand drawn world that seems to exist entirely from a child’s perspective, from its poetic narrative to its picture book appearance this waking dream will leave you feeling utterly enchanted. Feeding into the undernourished concept of artistic gaming Ubisoft have bucked the trends of traditional gaming and instead veered down a route usually only travelled by indie developers such as Thatgamecompany, Playdead and Giant Sparrow. Not only this, the game has been designed with a cross-generational appeal in mind in order to fight back against the negative stereotype that video games damage children. What with the media trotting out the idea that games are harmful, violent and something to be avoided ‘Child of Light’ has instead produced a game that parents would be proud to, not only give to their children, but to play with them too. You can immediately see the appeal to parents and their children however as the storybook design, rhyming verses and lack of complicated menus means that even very young children will find this game engaging.  

A bit problem with these sorts of co-op RPG games is that they can often result in a restricted second player who can do no more than exist as a spectator and maybe even grab some coins or experience during battle, such as in ‘Super Mario Galaxy’. Rather than this though the developers have ensured that the supporting character of Igniculus, Aurora’s firefly companion, is able to help at every stage of the game from exploring the environment to aiding in battle. Whilst Aurora is the one doing most of the fighting Igniculus is also incredibly useful and thankfully doesn’t just sit around on the side-lines. Igniculus can slow down enemies during battles by hovering over them and slowing down their personal timer which delays their attack. Igniculus can also heal party members by absorbing magic and energy from the surrounding environment making Igniculus more of a supporting role than a defined party member. Outside of battle Igniculus can also access certain treasure chests, switches and also help Aurora progress through some very simple puzzles.

The battle system of Child of Light is very familiar to those who play RPG and JRPG games. The combat is turn based with active time, meaning that a lot of tactics are involved in order to use your time efficiently. The battle system is very similar to what you’d find in a Final Fantasy game with your standard levelling up, increasing your stats and also an upgrade tree. The upgrade tree is fairly problematic with far too many choices that all offer more or less the same minor bonuses that you can achieve by simply levelling up. Your party has a maximum size of six members by the time you reach the end of the game but during combat you are limited to just two of these characters, though you can switch them in and out which is handy. Prior to battle enemies are encountered in a very standard JRPG manner; battles trigger whilst exploring the environment and coming across an enemy but with Igniculus’ help you can bypass these encounters entirely. If Igniculus runs ahead and shines his light on the enemy he can temporarily blind them, allowing Aurora to run through unscathed.

The battles themselves generally boil down to the individual resistances and vulnerabilities of each character so whereas one may be particularly resistant to fire characters another may  be weak to them, requiring you to bolster their fire defence or just switch them out entirely. What this results in is quite a bit of character juggling as you move through the areas but it’s still a manageable amount due to the limited number of party members. The means in which you can buff your party members falls down to crafting special gems called Oculi which are really the games only crafting resource. Oculi are used to buff attacks, defences and also provide other benefits like additional experience and an increased chance of dodging. There are ten base gems such as sapphire and rubies which all have their individual properties so, diamonds increase your speed, earn additional experience from battle and also increase your casting speed. You can then combine gems of roughly the same quality, be that rough, tumbled or faceted to then create other gems of higher quality. Three rough gems of the same kind, for example, will produce one tumbled gem.  Unfortunately there’s no in game recipe chart or any form of guide so it can be quite difficult to remember how to make a particular gem without the use of pen and paper or just having to memorize everything .  

Graphics and audio

The first thing you immediately notice about this game is the stunning visuals. Whether that’s the beautiful and intricately hand drawn environments or the simple but delicately tailored HUD and font that compliments the overall feel of the game.  The environments and landscapes are incredibly varied with some very lovely visual elements such as droplets of colour rising from the ground to the sky as though a wet watercoloured painting was turned completely upside down. The game holds classic fantasy imagery everywhere you go and the childlike picture book quality does wonders for the atmosphere of this strange place. You really only need to look at the screenshots to see what a visual masterpiece this game truly is but what the screens don’t show is how beautiful the game not only looks, but sounds. The music is striking but gentle and provides a wonderfully relaxed, almost whimsical sense to the entire game though it can often dip into the melancholic and subdued as the story addresses more saddening issues.  It is clearly apparent that much loving care and craft has been poured into making sure this game punches you with the right visuals as they uplifting your spirits, swell your heart then drop you back down again with its melancholic, orchestrated melodies the leave you feeling emotionally tied up with the story. 

Overall

What let this game down was the simplistic gameplay and overly predictable storyline. It may be unfair to dismiss this game as far too easy because, and the developers have admitted as much, it’s aimed at parents and their children. The rhyming structure of the game, whilst intriguing at first, quickly becomes more of a limitation on narrative than an enhancement and sometimes you can sense that the writers struggling to keep in pace with this difficult task. The game is also very short with only about 12 hours of gameplay within it and though it is an enjoyable 12 hours it could have done with a lot of additional content. Despite the spattering of side quests alongside the main storyline the game still feels a little barren. With a game that looks and sounds so perfect and which provides such a promising concept and storyline it's hard not to feel let down as you realize the game is already drawing to a close after just several hours of play time. Despite its problems the game is a nice addition to artistic games, especially considering it’s from such a well-known developer. I can only hope that, in the future, Ubisoft try again but with something a little more fleshed out and with more effort put into the actual structure of the game. For a game that costs just £12 though it's very difficult to see these complaints through and, honestly, I only wish there was more of it because what was there was so enjoyable and so endearing.

Score: 8/10

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Rugrats: Search for Reptar - Full Review (PS1 game)

Note: This was my April Fools Day post.The rest of the review is overly positive but does contain real info :D

Rugrats, Search for Reptar is a gem among all the other PS1 games of its time. If you love the television show or watched one of the films then I’m sure you’re familiar with the characters; this game brings back all that childhood charm into a well formulated little puzzle game with three great game modes and numerous storylines that will keep you entranced. Ok so the camera is a little odd and it doesn’t recognize the analog sticks on my PS2 controller but who needs forward facing vision and working fingers anyway? Years of retro gaming have deformed my hands to that of extreme double jointed-ness and partial muscle damage anyway so I barely feel the strain of mashing on the D-pad to navigate difficult terrains in this incredibly clever game.

Gameplay and plot

So the game starts out with Tommy, chief baby guy, losing all his Reptar puzzle pieces out of his Reptar shaped puzzle holder. Oh no! You have to find all the puzzle pieces by completing a series of mini-games and earning them back. There are other game modes though and the puzzle piece main storyline makes up a large chunk of gameplay. The main game includes the storyline, side storylines and the occasional mini-game type activity. This is the game mode you want to play because, let’s face it, you just can’t wait to play so you don’t want to waste time on the mini-games. The other two game modes include a training level which is a mish-mash of some of the episodes along with advice on dealing with things like ice and lobsters, essential information as the game is really difficult in some parts and you need all the help you can get. The final game mode is the mini-games which I mentioned above, these are four bonus levels that are technically available in the main game and includes modes like an Easter egg hunt, a race against Angelica and two types of game that’s like playing piggy in the middle with chocolate milk or cookies.

Incredibly realistic Pickles house makes you feel as though you're a part of the episode.

You start the main game in your play pen in the Pickles house and from that point on you have free run of the house and garden. You can only open the doors to the garden but any closed doors only like that temporarily and open up when the side stories are taking place. All around the house are some sparkling items and by interacting with them you can start an episode which is what the side stories are called. There’s quite a few of them, one for every room of the hosue so approximately 12 episodes to play through as that’s how many puzzle pieces you need. After the puzzle is complete you get a special level where you play Reptar himself, destroying a city in a Godzilla type fashion. During the episodes you will control different characters including the dog, at one point you’re able to ride Spike like some kind of stubby horse and, in another episode, you will float through a space station so the variety is good and I like how you’re not restricted to just playing Tommy.

The game takes a decidedly weird twist when you’re in the episodes as they are very surreal. At one point I had been transported into an upside down version of the house and had to traverse the ceiling and climb up the stairs to go to the ground floor. The episodes vary in difficulty and some of the harder ones include floating about through a space station with creepy talking aliens, chasing down a goose that’s stolen Grandpa’s teeth in a weird hedge maze as Tommy and trying to avoid a creepy robot doll who wants to be your friend. Easier episodes includes a game of hide and seek, playing Chuckie who had his glasses stolen and a golf course that is toy and sweet themed, aptly named ‘Ice Cream Mountain' because when you win the gold tournament you win an actual geological wonder, I never knew people took Crazy Golf so seriously until this game!

It looks as though they're trying to decide which mount is more efficient.

The interactivity in the game is brilliant! You can pick up and throw a variety of items and all of them make an appropriate noise like the guitar or the ball bouncing. If you’re not feeling so agile you can also just put stuff down again without throwing it, essential skills for a baby to learn. If you’re feeling particularly creative you can play a miniature piano or if you feel quite athletic play fetch with Spike in the back garden. There’s a couple of curious things in the Pickles’ house like an overactive popcorn machine and a weird bubble maker in the garden. Wandering around the place Tommy usually has a fair bit to say about his surroundings but the Pickles house is just kind of the menu in between the games. Just like the television series the missions of the game are pleasantly set from a child’s point of view where you, as an adult, can see what’s really going on that makes the game so enjoyable. Any game can string together a few mini-games and call it a game but this one has such a weird perspective and series of storylines that it’s pretty intriguing, if not plain trippy. The ghosts in the house are just Tommy being afraid of the dark and, as he desperately searches for the light in the fridge, his kiddies flashlight is the only thing that will make them disappear. Fail to get rid of them and your health will deplete until Tommy gets too scared and starts crying; forcing you to restart the level.

Graphics and environment

This game is for the PS1 and though the Rugrats doesn’t exactly stretch it to its capabilities it’s still amazing to look at. The areas are all designed in perfect correlation with the original 1991 – 1999 television show, even the starting cutscene is the same, and the house is as close as you’re going to get to being in the actual TV series. The colours are great; playful, fun and accurate and all the characters look just like the real thing so the transition between watching the show to playing this game is absolutely seamless. It's basically as though they made the TV program interactive with a controller it's so realistic.

I never thought I'd see a flying fish, this game makes fantasy reality!

The game takes place in several different areas depending on which side storyline you’re playing. Whilst a lot of the game is set in the Pickles house and garden you’ll also visit the supermarket, a toy shop, the park, a space station, an upside down version of Tommy’s house after going into ‘mirror land’, a golf course and a sort of sewage plant where you play Spike, the dog. The environments are pretty varied and even though several side quests are set in the Pickles house they’re all under completely different circumstances. In one instance you’ll be exploring the house at night whilst ghosts roam the hallways, in another you’re confined to the basement where Tommy’s inventor father has accidentally created lots and lots of Mr Friend toys who just want to befriend Tommy.

For some reason, Tommy doesn't seem keen on the idea.

Overall

The game sounds great; the theme music is the same and the voice actors are the same as the television series and the films so everything will be just the way you remembered it; only with edges so sharp you could cut yourself on them. All in all though it’s a fun, silly and weird game that will give you many, many hours of entertainment and frankly I’m still working on it because some of the levels are too hard for me to get past! Even though it’s really frustrating trying to kill those ghosts I keep playing because the storyline is so appealing to me and quite complicated that, by skipping a level, I’m sure I’d lose track of what was happening. This game deserves much more attention than it’s been getting and for that reason, I highly recommend you play this right now.

Score: 4/10

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Rayman Origins - Full Review (PC, PS3, Vita, 3DS, Xbox 360 and Wii game)

I very rarely try out demos as I usually know what kind of game I will or won’t enjoy but this one threw me a little; I’d played the old Rayman games and I didn’t want the image spoiled which is very common with remakes of original classics. I played through that one level of the demo with my girlfriend and we were both so impressed we bought it there and then on Amazon with next day delivery so we could keep on playing. That weekend, we barely left the sofa never mind the house. 

Developer: Ubisoft Montpellier
Genre: Platformer
Release date: 15th November 2011
Platforms: Windows, OS X, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation Vita
ESRB: E - Everyone

The great thing about Rayman Origins is that brings back all the original fun of the old PS1 games but with incredibly charming, hand drawn graphics and enough new content to not make it feel like a remake. It’s such an engaging game that’s simple and fun to play yet with enough of a challenge to not make it feel like a child’s game. The simple controls are especially appealing though as it means you can have all generations of people get the hang of it and it’s just suitable for everybody; provided they can keep up of course.

Gameplay and storyline

If you’re familiar with Rayman then you’re most likely familiar with the Glade of Dreams. In Rayman Origins we return to the Glade of Dreams, a usually idyllic universe, only Rayman and his buddies accidentally ticked off their next door neighbour; the Land of the Livid Dead, by snoring too loudly. You’ll have to traverse through this magical world and beat back the incarnations of the Bubble Dreamer’s (creator of the Glade) nightmares which are some pretty nasty beasts in order to save the Glade of Dreams from being taken over by these creatures. Along the way you’ll save the Nymphs who have been captured by the nightmarish creatures, rescue the electoons and earn back some essential powers like hovering and shrinking.

The game itself is a side scrolling platforming game, just like the original, with over 60 levels for you to play through. As you progress through the game you’ll fight enemies, locate and rescue caged electoons, collect lums and earn new abilities.  The game is separated into themed areas such as musical, polar or jungle and each of these areas further have a breakdown of several separate levels. Each level has a certain number of challenge/objective type goals that will earn you additional electoons which are required for progressing through the game. Each level has one cage at the end of it that you need to break in order to end that level and this cage counts for one objective. Other challenges include finding the other hidden cages in the level which are usually concealed by things that appear to be a part of the landscape but which actually fade upon approaching. Each level also has a Time Trial challenge which requires you to race through the level at top speed and to reach a checkpoint within very harsh time constraints. If you slip more than a couple of times then you’ve almost certainly failed it and will have to try again. Completing the time trial can earn you a Speed Trophy if you’re fast enough.

For a slower, more relaxed approach to the level there’s also the lum challenge which will require you to go through the level very carefully since you require a whopping 350 lums to earn that level’s medallion. Some levels only require 200 or so because they’re shorter, more laid back levels. This usually means popping every single enemy bubble and finding every additional little lum that’s out there to be grabbed before they float away out of reach and there’s nothing more frustrating to find you’ve missed the medalion by only a couple of lums. By earning all these electoons you can unlock additional levels that require you to chase down a runaway treasure chest. By catching it you can get a special ‘Skull tooth’ and by collecting all these teeth you unlock an extremely challenging level that’s set in the Land of the Livid Dead itself. All in all, there’s a lot to keep you busy in the levels and you’ll likely sink many hours into the game trying to complete everything.

Rayman Origins is one of the few games out there that is a local co-op game. It has a great local co-op system that allows you to play with up to four characters with no split screen so you can still see the beautifully drawn backgrounds in all their glory. The only downside of trying to play this game in co-op is the tendency to get frustrated with one another if someone’s not being fast enough. Co-op has the great addition of not dying immediately upon being bubbilized; if your co-op partner whacks your bloated bubble body then you’ll be returned to the game, ready to keep on playing. I can guarantee though that you will drive yourself partway to insanity trying to complete all of the challenges in the game, and the timed trials in particular are the cause of numerous arguments between me and my girlfriend. I think it’s safe to say that you should only play this game with someone you’d also play Monopoly with. Since the game supports multiplayer you’ll be glad to know there’s a lot of characters you can pick from, though they are just different versions of the three friends, and you can unlock more as you earn more electoons, so if you are unhappy with Rayman’s default look you can always try him out in his blue version and see if you like that better.

Finally, there are the bosses that are encountered at the end of each area. These bosses were originally the Kings of each Land in the Glade but have unfortunately fallen under the influence of the nightmarish forces that have taken over Rayman’s usually idyllic universe. In order to bring them back to their senses you must defeat them and, truthfully, these boss battles are the highlight of the entire game. each boss looks fantastic, often quite terrifying yet playfully charming at the same time. You’ll need to employ a recently taught skill to defeat them and it will involve a lot of quick thinking and, if playing in co-op, teamwork and coordination if you’re to bring down these maddened beasties. Trust me when I say that these are boss battles worth fighting and each one of them is original and fascinating to look upon. They are most certainly not some rehash of an old enemy that’s been made a little stronger or a little bigger that some games are guilty of trotting out. 

I remember the original PS1 Rayman game as being really frustrating because you needed to have such control over where you were moving and jumping to and that’s not a bad thing. Games that are challenging are infinitely more rewarding and enjoyable than their simplistic counterparts and what’s great about Rayman Origins is it brings back that feeling of infuriation then of great relief when you finally get past the bit you’re stuck at. I love that this version of Rayman is almost in fast forward as you’re able to sprint and jump in a very Mario-esque manner so you feel so cool and slick when completing the speed run levels.

Graphics and environment

Rayman origins features a type of stylized environment that is difficult to find in side scrolling platform games. The maps are flawlessly crafted with exquisite attention to detail that truly makes this game feel as though it’s been crafted with passion and love. You only need take a look at the screenshots to see how gorgeous the game looks with its stunning cell shaded animation and incredibly bold colours. Every single level is something to behold and you will not get bored of how fantastic everything looks as it’s all so incredibly varied and diverse. Though levels are themed they do not feel repetitive just because two levels are set in a jungle which is such a relief as platformers can sometimes feel monotonous simply due to the rehashing of backgrounds and environmental features.  All in all, everything feels innovative and fresh from the moment you begin to the moment you finish.

There are over 60 levels but, not only are they numerous, they’re also incredibly interactive. You’ll find yourself sprinting and jumping through lava filled caverns, up icy slopes and through lush jungles to name only a few places. You’re not just restricted to the ground however as you’ll often be soaring through the air on giant wasps or swimming in deep oceans. Levels like these are particularly memorable, especially the ominous, underwater ones. Here, you must swim in almost total darkness, lit only by a small light on your body, whilst the twisted, elongated arms from an unseen creature reach out from rocks or the abyss below to drag you from safety.

It’s impossible to describe all the little bits of detail that the game developers have included because everything has been thought of and everything is beautifully done. There are levels dedicated to being in a kind of giant, boiling hot kitchen that has faintly visible stacks of wobbling plates in the background, zipwires with tiny red hot chillis dangling all down them and bottles of squeezy hot sauce you can jump on to boil a pot; sending its lid shooting into the air on a billow of steam for you to reach new heights. In the cold, icy areas it’s like being inside a giant freezer with lemon slices on gossiping forks and slices of lime to bounce off of. Cans of frozen food drop precariously as you slam through layers of ice cubes and, if caught under one, you’ll be instantaneously bubbelized. Each area has such neat little features like this it’s impossible to deny that this game has been very carefully thought through and planned so that players can get the best experience possible out of it.

Music and audio

Just to top off this game, along with everything else, the audio and music is flawless. The music has many faces depending on which level you’re on and can change between dreamy violin music to fast, intensive jazz style music. Some audio tracks are quite simply someone whistling with some lazy ukulele playing in the background. There are some great musical features like furious kazoo playing and the ragged chimes of super high pitched lums singing every time you grab one of the lum king bubbles. It sounds as though this ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’ style singing would drive you crazy but it’s so cutesy and happy-go-lucky you can’t help but love it, that and it’s really catchy. 

What I love about the soundtrack of this game is the sheer variety of instruments you don’t often hear from. Ukuleles, kazoos, dijiridoos, the piano, the violin, drums and the Jew’s harp all have a place in the musical tracks and it’s great to hear such a unique combination of instruments that all work so perfectly for the environment. The dijiridoos played in the warm sands of the musical levels fit so perfectly with the environment that it adds a lot to the gameplay experience, without it the level would certainly not have the same feel to it. My personal favourite is the ethereal, haunting melodies that are found within the deep sea exploration levels. That partial silence coupled with the near-by threat of a lurking creature does wonders for the atmosphere and it’s as addictive as the exhilarating surface levels. I don’t know how he managed it, but the composer has managed perfectly to make the music of Rayman Origins playful but not cheap or silly sounding, which is impressive given that he appears to have employed a plastic kazoo as a core part of the instrumentals.

Overall

This game just drips in simplicity yet sophistication and is an essential part of any gamer’s collection provided they can appreciate fantastic artwork, great music and a good chunk of playful humour to go with it. Fans of the original Rayman should not hold back from playing Rayman Origins as it only enhances what made the original Rayman so brilliant. It’s a rare thing to see a 90s game pulled into the modern gaming world and for it to fit in so nicely as something traditional yet upgraded. This is a humorous, light hearted game that can be enjoyed by the entire family from the comfort of your own sofa. Not only that, but it provides a damn good challenge and enough content for you to get many enjoyable hours out of it.

The Good:

• Brilliant co-op intergration
• Looks incredible
• Fantastic, varied, light hearted music
• Very fun boss battles, each one is different
• Good range of non-generic enemies
• Extremely challenging
• Lots of re-playability
• Huge variety of themed levels
• Very easy to get into
• Fast paced or slow paced, depending on which challenges
• Holds great respect for the original Rayman games

The Bad:

• Sometimes a little too challenging
• Often frustrating

The Score: 9/10


Final Thoughts: "This game does my bloody head in trying to be a completionist in it, but it's just so flawless in every aspect that I can forgive it."

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