Child of Eden could probably be better described as an experience rather than a game. Instead of focusing on gameplay their is a much heavier focus on sound, music, and wild visuals. If you are familiar with Rez, another game from Q Entertainment, you'll instantly recognize the similarities between that and Child of Eden. As you play you'll fly around abstract landscapes shooting at obstacles along the way. The gameplay is simple enough for almost anyone to understand however you'll need to concentrate to get a good score. Definitely not a game for everyone this is an experience for those who are drawn to music and artistic impression.
This game offers very little as far as the narrative goes. Humanity created an artificial being in the form of a girl named Lumi. We stored are of our knowledge and experiences into Lumi as a means of preserving our history. Lumi seems to be living a tranquil, if not joyous, life until a foreign agent invades her program. Shortly afterwards her memory starts to get corrupted. It spirals to the point where she starts forgetting things and becomes engulfed in darkness. It is up to you to help Lumi restore her memories and bring back the blissful harmonies of her past existence.
Child of Eden plays like an on-the-rails shooter. You move your cruiser around the screen and if you see any targets you hold down the attack button. You can highlight up to eight targets before releasing the attack button to take them out simultaneously. Some enemies and hazards require you to use a different attack button that works more like a machine gun. If you are in danger or just want to quickly clear the screen you can find a limited number of bombs in each stage. Be careful to watch your health in the low right side of your HUD because if you collide with too many hazards you'll have to retry the stage from the beginning.
This game offers five different levels each about 10 minutes long. At the end of each level there is something resembling a boss fight. Each level is very cinematic, almost as if watching an abstract short films. You'll be helping whales, watching atoms fight, shooting eels, and god knows what else. When you complete a stage you'll get a score and rank based on how many obstacles you took down and how many support items you collected. Trying to improve you're rank gives you a small incentive to replay levels as you wait for new ones to open up.
Child of Eden is a very unique experience really only comparable to the cult hit REZ. It can be fun to fly around and chain together big combos in this surreal world. The electronic music that powers each stage makes the gameplay feel more exciting than it honestly probably is. Obviously this game is short on content as it strives for more of an arcade inspired high-score feeling rather than a content packed modern console game. I found this game mostly enjoyable but a difficultly spike on the last stage annoyed me enough to just stop playing. If you can find a cheap copy and you enjoy rhythm games you may want to check this out otherwise it probably won't be worth you time.