Not so much a game, more of a short story. For less than the price of snack it is an experience worth witnessing
The Good:
-Loaded with a range of varying art styles
-Epic music score
-Loaded with soul
The Bad:
-Short lifespan
I do consider myself a lover of a art and was curious to see what this title was about from the trailer I had seen. I have seen artistic short movies and elements of art in movies but I have never encountered digital moving art and the second the Store opened on the release day I made it my first ever PSN download.
This is going to be a brief review (which is completely unlike me if you look at my post ones and how I waffle on for an eternity) as the game is mostly structured around the art and the story that emerges to each individual person who witnesses it and I don't want to get into lengthy discussions about it and for my views to influence you before you experience it. That is where the most fun can be found in the world of art, what the particular piece says to YOU.
Before we can start we have to endure a lengthy start up and loading screen which is never the best start to a game.
There is two modes here, Linger and Watch. The watch mode allows you to watch the movie from start to finish where the Linger mode tries to pull you into the experience a bit more and participate.
When you are on the Linger mode the scene plays out more like a Blu-Ray disk with scenes (or chapters if you will) in which you must find out how to progress to the next one. It is far from challenging but it is capitulating. When you get to the end of the scene it rewinds and shows the HUD.
The HUD has all the Six Axis controllers mapped out for it and has the timer in the bottom and a unlock bar on the top. When you are scanning through the scene investigating look for when the bar raises slightly and stop there, then follow the highlighted action either it being shaking the Six Axis controller in a particular fashion or holding a button. The more the progress bar raises the more and more the screen distorts beautifully and cut from the action to take you to another clip before putting you back in the action. When you are using the L2 and R2 buttons to scan the scene the music stops and only the sound effects play which is a hundred times better than it sounds and my English skills can't quite do it justice.
The graphics aren't at the cutting edge by any stretch of the imagination. It goes for a more paint brush style of presentation and the 2D back drop in the distance of a decaying city that looks like a canvas convinces you that this is an aesthetic choice. Don't be fooled, a lot of work has still gone on here. Look at the dog and the cat with their rendered fur.
The music score here is incredible, if you don't think you are going to purchase this title I do highly recommend that you go to the PlayStation Store and download it for free. It is a awesome orchestral piece that compliments the game and the scenes perfectly. The way you here astringed instrument being hit violently on scenes of interest sounds amazing and delivers real impact.
The opening moments for the games for example; the way the music captures the creation life, mans natural curiousity as he ages with the slight imperfection inherrant in us all and the final moments of our existance in such a short period of time. Inspiring stuff.
This piece doesn't just stop at the visual and verbal. There is some clever stuff in here that many people miss. The way the rumble feature works on some scenes isn't a miss able one but when and why it is used sneaks past almost everyone.
There is a lot of hidden things in here too. Apart from having to find segments of art from the artists portfolio hidden in the game there is other stuff here too, look for the Panda and the mannequin. Physics are present in this game too. There is some items in the game world that you can control by using the Six Axis controller or the left analogue stick and they are very impressive (the highlight being the cubes around the tower).
The ability to pause the action and capture screenshots that download to your HDD instantlly is unused by most but the fact is you can get some great stills. I have many that I keep changing on my XMB background.
There is a lot of bad press out there because this game doesn't conform to any of videos architects or stereotypes. But the fact is that this never sets out to be a game and more of an interactive experience. I may have my arm twisted into believing that I would of loved the experience just as much as downloading the video in HD and playing it on my PS3 but a piece of media that you could into pages and pages of detail regarding the art for less than the price of a snack and this will stay with you for a lot longer.