Mid-Month Update: March!

Been quite busy with work and trying to manage my spending since it turns out I may be a bit impulsive when it comes to buying certain things, who would’ve guessed. Also trying to not let my recent anxiety and depression issues impact my work though it’s not always possible. Anyway, seems I was on a bit of a platformer binge these past couple weeks and please ask me any questions you have!

• Ori and the Blind Forest
  

  14 hours playtime

  35 of 50 achievements

• VVVVVV
  

  2 hours playtime

  1 of 19 achievements

• Oscura: Lost Light
  

  4 hours playtime

  5 of 7 achievements

• iZBOT
  

  4 hours playtime

  5 of 9 achievements

Ori and the Blind Forest

Please note that this is the Standard Edition, not the Definitive Edition which has some extra content and probably fixes some of my complaints. Anyway, this is a beautiful looking game, the artwork is simply fantastic and is a really good example of what the Unity engine can do with 2D graphics. The gameplay seems to flow very well, though I found some of the abilities to be a bit redundant (such as climb and wall jump, they serve the same functionality, just that climb is less annoying to use). Overall I really liked the level design, especially with how some areas were able to be completed before gaining certain skills but it would just be harder or more time consuming to do so. Exploration is often rewarded as there are tons of secrets and stat boosts to find. The only part that really got to me was a puzzle near the beginning that I felt was a bit too difficult for how early in the game it is and for how little practice you have at that point with the ability needed to complete it. I did feel that the end level of the game, Mount Haru, was amazing. It tested my skill with pretty much every ability that I had acquired throughout the game and was actually challenging enough to feel like it was an end level. As for the story, it was just kind of there and really would have benefitted from some more attention. All in all, I really enjoyed Ori and the Blind Forest and I mostly just had a lot of small complaints about it. I also don’t think it was as great as people told me it was, though I still think I will try to pick up the Definitive Edition in the future and play through that.

VVVVVV

A cute little puzzle platformer that I’m sure almost everyone here has played by now. First time through this I remember giving up on Victoria’s (the dark blue one’s) intermission level as she kept wanting to move forward just a little bit too far or not quite far enough and I just got frustrated and quit. There are plenty of little collectibles to find, though I didn’t get them all (though I felt like I explored just about everything) and wasn’t very interested in finding them all anyway. Also, crying cow? I’m assuming it’s a reference to something? Anyway, worth a play as it’s fairly short and has some replay value if only for the achievements.

Oscura: Lost Light

Another little puzzle platformer albeit a bit buggy and annoying at times due to poor level design. Oscura definitely does a few interesting things with its mechanics though I found these to be few and no section of this game really made me have to think about what I needed to do to continue on with the level. The graphical style is a bit odd, yet appealing, and makes it hard to determine what can and can’t be stood upon at times. The store is minimal, but makes sense enough, though the payoff at the end is pretty much nonexistant. I’d say pick it up on sale or in a bundle if you really want to give it a go.

iZBOT

I really liked iZBOT. It’s a platformer reminiscent of Super Meat Boy, though not as difficult. I found it to be challenging enough to keep me engaged while not so challenging as to begin to frustrate me. The controls are very smooth and responsive and made (most) mistakes feel like my fault. The graphics are simple, yet appealing and the sound design is minimal (though I do like how the pitch of your jump sound changes when you do the double jump). The story is unimportant and is pretty much just a short slide show at the beginning with another slide at the end. The only issues I had was that some of the hitboxes felt a bit off and wallsliding is supposed to reset both of your jumps except when it doesn’t for some reason, though neither of these really affected my overall enjoyment of the game.