Hello to all readers AOG! In August miserable, I suggest you look for was that we did not in the sky on your 360 with the Summer of Arcade and one of its flagship titles, I'm talking about Limbo. In line with Braid or The Misadventures of PB Winterbottom Professor, this game Danes Playdead arises new representative of independent development, having also won two awards at the Independent Game Festival.
Dispel the misunderstanding right away: it is not here to pass under a bar fluttering to the beat of the music. A confession same: I have even been dishonest in promising you to pick the summer. Prepare yourself to black and gray, literally and figuratively. You play by a young boy who decides to find his sister to enter the world of Limbo, Limbo, monochrome world of the most oppressive. But this scenario is merely incidental, entirely absent from the game itself as Limbo quickly becomes a simple tale of horror, cruelty, obstinacy and survival.
Black is black
Difficult to talk about without mentioning his leg Limbo graph so special. A monochrome world, all in silhouette. A truly enchanting beauty, both when is still a sometimes beautiful, often dirty, almost always cruel. Add this bias does not offer any music, just occasional sounds that will blow subtly hot and cold, the ability to Limbo to immediately snap you into his world commands respect. Here you are making your first step into a dark forest whose branches allow only for a few rays of light. A move in this universe calm deaf. When suddenly, without warning, death. The death n'ad'impressionnante its suddenness, its violence in a universe that could almost suggest that it is still beautiful. But on the scale of the universe that you browse, this death seems in fact very minimalist. It was planned, expected. Even the character seemed to be expected, only the player is surprised at the twists, the first vice trap. A simple fade, and you're back in stride just a few seconds of the first trap, that you will now avoid, rich experience of this lesson painfully learned. To fall into the trap. Better hidden. More vicious. More inevitable.
The surprise is both omnipresent: where will the next trap? What new cruel death will I endure? What acts of cruelty should I commit myself to progress? And ephemeral: there is a certainty you will die. Again. And again.
Limbo, a game bimbo?
Let's be clear: Limbo is absolutely irreproachable aesthetic. But does he not on his physique to succeed? Behind this enchanting world, what about the game of Limbo?
You are not playing a hero, you are a simple young boy. No authority here, your capabilities are to jump and interact with a few elements of this world in two dimensions. It was shortly before the treasures of sadism made against you. At the risk of repeating myself, you will die. Often. Maybe even too often.
Limbo actually pushes the trial and error in his most extreme. Point hello in luck and talent: all players will be here in this together, thank you for the full game designers including unfortunately the concept of mystery is sometimes too much to kill the player, thus revealing where it is trap, this knowledge itself is the answer to the riddle. I walk. I'm dying. I know now where's the catch. I avoid. And I begin. If this inevitability is a major constituent of the atmosphere of Limbo, it also becomes monotonous very quickly.
I betray my age, and compare this design philosophy to a venerable ancestor Rick Dangerous. Indiana Jones in the land of architects psychopaths, this game was basically to die impaled by stakes which you had absolutely no way of knowing that they appear suddenly in the position where you stepped. Fortunately, the comparison stops here Limbo, and developers Playdead having avoided a major pitfall, that of frustration. A die as often, one would have expected to want to throw his pad against the wall, but each trap is its own scene, and death will refer you never far away, never takes very long. It remains the player the feeling of being dispossessed, having no control. Whatever he does, the vast majority of the scenes has a good chance of starting with his death. Interactivity is sacrificed in what is gained in demonstration and coherence of the universe.
It is a bit much for you kid!
If they are significant, almost traumatic, Limbo does not, however, boils down to these successions of traps, and some puzzles will also be there you foul up the meninges. Rarely complex, relatively limited opportunities available to you to guide you toward a solution in general, but the last quarter of the game will be more demanding, requiring a minimum of analytical and putting your sense of timing to the test. But still, their staging, their impact on the universe or your character is beautifully orchestrated.
I was talking about puzzles that corns three quarters of the game, take the opportunity here to address another point: Limbo is a short game. The fiercest of the pad will probably finish the game in five hours, people succumbing to the charms or traps in Limbo will perhaps eight or nine, and find some of the achievements particularly well hidden you busy a little longer.
Is this too short? To take the opposite of a common criticism, no. In absolute terms, Limbo is an ideal length. Shorter would have actually left the player on his hunger. Longer, and the extreme perversity of game design would probably have worn your patience. So no, Limbo is not too short. But at 1200 MS points, without doubt it is a bit too expensive.
A great atmosphere that would be able to recommend without second thoughts, Limbo asked, to be enjoyed, whether you yourself show some persistence not to lose patience with the sadism of the creators of this universe. But the discovery of this world whose atmosphere does not leave you long after playing deserves a little perseverance ...
By: Carmichael
Translation : Google Trad
Ten years ago, a silhouetted boy escaped the clutches of a shadowy spider and changed indie game development forever.
10 years already??? Damn. I have this but didn't get a chance to play it yet
KeenGamer: ''Console gaming's 7th generation was a pivotal time in videogame history. Unprecedented changes in the industry helped shape generations to come. The console race was no longer about who had better graphics. Integration of the internet changed everything, as well as a drastic shift in audience taste.''
"Basically, before indie games were cool, there was Limbo. I won’t say it was the original indie game when it was first released on Xbox Live Arcade in 2010, but it’s pretty close. In the same way that Super Mario Bros. is the grandfather of modern platformers, Limbo is one of the grandfathers of the modern mass-market indie title. Its success has spawned ports to virtually every major system to date, including mobile devices," writes Kyle at Game Freaks 365.
lower score than I would give the game, but at least you explained your reasoning eloquently.