Child of Light Review: Frankly, Mr. Shankly

PLATFORM: Windows – PC ¦ DEVELOPER: Ubisoft Montréal ¦ PUBLISHER: Ubisoft

RELEASE DATE: 29/4/2014

The phrase ‘If looks could kill’ springs to mind when reflecting on my time spent with Ubisoft’s ‘indie’ RPG, Child of Light. Aptly so, as in invoking that cliché I find myself rather relishing the swift death that never came upon first taking in its gorgeous visuals. At least then I wouldn’t have been privy to the paint-drying drudgery and misguided attempts at charm that lay within.

Child of Light is an insidiously average game in that its mediocrity is efficiently masked by the phenomenal art direction. The pastiche storybook environments and character designs are filled with a charm that betrays the amount of care and effort that has gone into their crafting. Sadly, the visual elements are the only part of the game with any real substance – everything else feels, superficial.

The most notable example of this, with no surprise, is in the story. Princess Aurora is dead – stricken down in her sleep by an illness, vaguely characterised as a ‘chill’. However, Instead of passing on to the great beyond, she wakes atop an altar in the mysterious land of Lemuria. Unsure of where she is, or why she is there Aurora, with the help of a new friend, Igniculus the firefly seeks to find a way home. On their journey they will make new friends and together overcome the malevolent creatures of darkness that stand in their way. The narrative structure is fairy-tale simple by design – in keeping with the storybook aesthetic – the hook, and subsequently, the problems come from the stories delivery. Everything, from dialogue to expository collectibles is told in rhyming verse.

At first this seems an interesting and original way of exploring a game narrative. However, after a short time it becomes clear that this is nothing more than a desperate attempt to cover up inadequate design with ‘quirk’ and ‘charm’. The use of poetic verse as a way to make an otherwise simplistic tale more interesting would be fine, but it is executed so poorly. The writing flip-flops between rhyming schemes on a whim, showing no care or consideration to structure or flow, the role of syllables is almost always ignored, leading to clumsy, stunted rhymes, and the pronunciation of words in a few of the narrated sections are broken to fit in a way that would make even Kanye West blush.

Worse still, since the entire cast speaks in broken stanzas it’s impossible to know them as characters. No one has a voice of their own, they stumble all over each other, finishing each other’s sentences in a desperate attempt to fit whichever rhyming scheme is host to the current verse and at the same time come across as whimsical. Ironically, it just comes off as flat, clunky and uninteresting. Child of Light relies entirely on the ‘idea’ of poetry to make it appear charming rather than using actual poetic technique to present an engaging narrative.

Mechanically Child of Light feels just as half-hearted – there is absolutely no fun to be had wandering this wonderfully illustrated world – traversal is a senseless chore. This is due to one silly design choice which renders any kind of level design utterly pointless. Very early on Aurora is granted the power of flight, meaning that she can go anywhere – all the time – with nothing to hinder her progress. From this point on the environments may as well be completely flat. With full access to everywhere in the game, there is no need for exploration, backtracking or platforming. All that is left is to drift from one ungratifying plot point to the next.

As a matter of fact all of the systems are similarly revealed to you at the beginning of the game. There is no gear to obtain or upgrade and you cannot customize the characters in any meaningful way. Even the combat, the only truly RPG element to the game, reveals all of its secrets from the outset.

The battle system is a pretty faithful approximation of the one found in Grandia II, first released for the Dreamcast at the turn of the century. It’s a turn based system where characters stack actions on a timeline that runs along the bottom of the screen, the interesting thing is that all actions have a start-up time and if an enemy is attacked during this period it will cancel their action and knock them back on the timeline. Of course this can happen to you as well but it is a fairly gratifying risk reward system with enough nuance to be entertaining for a short time. It’s a solid system, as it was over a decade ago – the problem is that it doesn’t do anything original with the concept, nor does it develop over the course of the game. The rules of combat at the start are exactly the same as they are at the end. Again, simplicity is fine but when there is no variety it lacks a sense of progression, and without progression it’s just kind of…boring.

Conclusion

Child of Light is a disappointment. What at first looks to be a beautiful and charming blend of Japanese and Western design turns out to be nothing more than a façade – no amount of artistic talent can distract from what is ultimately a hollow experience. Mechanically unambitious, and poorly conceived, who knew Ubisoft could write such bloody awful poetry?

Picks of The Week: 5/2/2014

SPOTLIGHT

LAZARUS #6

WRITER: Greg Rucka ¦ ARTIST: Michael Lark ¦ COLOURS: Santi Arcas ¦ PUBLISHER: Image Comics

Check this shit if you don’t know what Lazarus is.

Lazarus is a book that appears to be good without even trying. It’s so understated. Nothing is overdone. The pacing and character development is pitch-perfect, while the action and science fiction elements are delivered in small but gratifying doses. Lazarus is a book that knows exactly what it is, and exactly how much it wants you as the reader to know about it.

Issue #6 delves further into Forever Carlyle’s past, revealing more about her in her youth – her training, her role within the family and generally why she has become the person she is – or rather, how she has always been this person. Like everything else about the book, the emotional beats are handled subtly. It will make you feel for Forever Carlyle as a human being. However, Rucka never resorts to some trite, tear jerking mechanism to do this. It’s just a strong issue charged with enough of the right drama to trigger an empathetic response.

As well as learning more about Forever, issue #6 does a fine job of further fleshing out the world of Lazarus. Counter to East of West, which rarely portrays an adequate landscape of the world, we are gradually getting a sense of the world and its inhabitants – how it all works, and more importantly, why.

This is partly due to the introduction of some new, very interesting and very different characters, which by way of their standing in the world are forced to view it in a different way to the Carlyles. But it is also largely thanks to Michael Lark’s sedate and detailed artwork. Lark is a master of anatomy and spacing, but what is really impressive about his work on Lazarus is how much information is in every panel. Characters speak with their bodies and facial expressions, and the backgrounds are full of details and never bare. Every panel has a lot to it, but it is never confusing or cluttered. Larks work is so accomplished that sometimes there is no need for words – a fact that has not escaped Rucka, as he tactfully gives Lark space to breath in Lazarus. It’s an obvious sign of respect that really enriches the book as a whole.

If you are not already reading Lazarus then go to your nearest comic store and buy the first trade and issues 5 and 6. In fact stop reading this and go now – no, wait I still have another comic to tell you about! …hello?

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LOBSTER JOHNSON: GET THE LOBSTER #1 of 5

WRITER: Mike Mignola & John Arcudi ¦ ARTIST: Tonci Zonjic ¦ COLOURS: Dave Stewart ¦ PUBLISHER: Dark Horse

Throwback pulp book based on a character from the Hellboy universe. It’s a little goofy, very fun and a bit sinister. The story is well paced and the art has a great flow to it, especially in the action sequences. Good story, good art, good fun.

A brief summary of the book.

The Banner Saga Review: The Beautiful Struggle

PLATFORM: Windows – PC ¦ DEVELOPER: Stoic ¦ PUBLISHER: Versus Evil

RELEASE DATE: 14/1/2014

Time is the enemy. Fighting time is as futile as fighting air – you cannot win, so why try? The Banner Saga is a fight against time, and sure enough I constantly felt like I was losing. So why did I keep trying? Perhaps it was my innate distaste of fatalism, or perhaps it was simply that losing has never looked so beautiful.

Created by new developer Stoic, The Banner Saga displays a level of visual polish to be revered by indie and mainstream developers alike. This is impressive but not entirely surprising, as while Stoic is a young studio, it is a studio made up of experienced pros, the likes of which have worked for titans such as Bioware, Retro Studios and…NASA?

As would be expected from a team with such an impressive résumé, the world of The Banner Saga is artistically very well realised. It is gorgeous, and the world is dripping with rich, genuinely interesting lore.

Set in an unforgiving snow scape, inhabited by nomadic Vikings, immortal giants called Varl and shambling monstrosities known as Dredge, the story of The Banner Saga is understandably bleak. The main goal is to lead a caravan of warriors and clansmen to safe refuge – managing resources to avoid starvation and fatigue, while simultaneously attempting to outmanoeuvre the ever-present threat of the Dredge. Times are hard, and hard decisions must be made to survive. Amidst this strife it is difficult to perceive a happy ending, which is fortunate, because there is no happy ending. The Banner Saga is a game about struggle, death, loss and resource management.

This point is driven home early. Unfortunately, The Banner Saga fails to deliver on the promise of what could have been an interesting exercise in choice based gameplay. Your decisions, which have a direct impact on who lives and dies, never seem to bear the weight of their consequences. As a result it becomes too easy to switch off emotionally. There are several reasons for this, but the most obvious are the seemingly arbitrary text-based decisions you are required to make when guiding the caravan. These often have something to do with rationing supplies or choosing whether or not to face an enemy head on. But on some occasions they can lead to the permanent death of your battle units – outside of battle. In a game about risk management this would usually be acceptable, but the flavour text describing a possible life and death scenario often does not reflect the impact your decision can have. As a result the experience as a whole comes across as random, like a choose-your-own adventure novel – you picked option C, turn to page 37 to die. The way your heroes can be so casually tossed aside in a text prompt makes them feel like an expendable resource – which is no-doubt the point. However, the same can be said of losses to the caravan. Clansmen, fighters and Varl can all die due to a lack of supplies or during confrontations with Dredge, but the only indicator of this ‘tragic loss’ is that a number at the top of the screen changes. Any obligatory guilt felt from a decision that caused deaths fades almost immediately, as there is no real consequence other than a smaller tally of clansmen and a slight blow to morale. The numbers in your caravan ultimately don’t matter – they don’t contribute anything substantial – so why care? In the end the only number that counts is your renown.

Renown is The Banner Saga’s answer to resource management. It acts as a universal currency – used for everything, from buying food and equipment to levelling up your characters. Because of this, there will never be enough to go around. It is impossible to keep everyone fed and at the same time keep your battle units well equipped. This is obviously an attempt by Stoic to add a sense of consequence to your actions. However, when said consequences are so farcical, there is no reason not to sacrifice lives to be better equipped for combat. And you will want to be better equipped for combat.

Time not spent in dialogue windows, or managing your caravan will be spent fighting in tense, deliberately paced encounters. Opposite to the story, which fails to ever establish a sense of weight to your decisions, the combat insists on it from the very beginning. In battle, every decision matters. Careful positioning and attention to the turn order are essential to achieving victory, and the AI won’t hesitate to punish players who don’t consider these factors – even on normal difficulty. To add further challenge, defeating enemies isn’t as simple as reducing an opponent’s health to zero. All units have a health meter, which doubles as their strength, dictating how much damage they can inflict, as well as an armour rating which must first be lowered to do any substantial damage to their health. This makes for some interesting tactical opportunities, as it is necessary to decide whether to go after an enemy’s strength or armour as the situation dictates. Overall there is a more considered mentality in the design of the combat that harkens back to unforgiving strategy games of old. It has a feel of permanence that makes it a far deeper and more gratifying experience than the story.

CONCLUSION

Stoic have created a world with a wonderful sense of tone and place, and it looks absolutely stunning – I just wish I wanted to spend more time in it. The lore and art are both rich and well-conceived. And the combat has a level of depth that once fully comprehended makes for a rewarding diversion from the narrative. However, the story itself lacks finesse. It never made me feel the weight of my decisions, and so I couldn’t help but feel emotionally disconnected – by the end of the game, I just wanted it to be over. For patient gamers, or those that need to scratch the itch that only a strategy game can, there is something here – a beautiful, shaky journey of promise. But for those seeking something more, perhaps this is a Saga better left untold.

Teslagrad Review: Laws of Attraction

PLATFORM: PC – Windows ¦ DEVELOPER: Rain Games ¦ RELEASE DATE: 13/12/2013

Teslagrad says everything it needs to say within the first five minutes. The fact that in spite of this you will play for the next five hours is a testament to the games design.

This is the first outing for indie developer Rain Games, but in Teslagrad, they have shown the design prowess of veterans. 2D puzzle and skill based platformers have become a crowded genre in the indie scene, even so Teslagrad manages to stand out with a combination of new wave aesthetic and old school functionality. The visuals reek of modern indie charm and the narrative is told in an all too familiar minimalist build. However, at its core, Teslagrad functions with the trial and error, fidelity based gameplay of a classic platformer.

Set in an indistinguishable time period that is visually reminiscent of both Eastern Europe and a steampunk fantasy, an unnamed young boy flees home amidst an invasion, to a mysterious, seemingly abandoned tower. Inside he must navigate the treacherous architecture of the tower and its magnetism based trials by utilising the tools he finds within.

The narrative is vague, but the premise is simple – within seconds of entering the tower the rules of Teslagrad’s magnetism mechanics are explained. There are blue surfaces and there are red surfaces. Opposites attract while surfaces of the same colour repel one another – every puzzle from this point on is built upon this very basic foundation. The rules are simple. However, playing around with magnetism never gets dull. This is due to an increasing curve in difficulty in how the player has to manipulate magnetism. The core idea remains the same but, due to an increasing tool set, puzzles become more intricate. Different tools affect the environment and the player’s role within it in different ways. For example, the gauntlet makes it possible to change a platform’s colour from red to blue, or vice versa, while the cloak sheaths the player in a field of red or blue energy, making it possible to repel or attract to surfaces as the situation dictates. As the game progresses, the necessity for these abilities to be used in conjunction with one another becomes more and more common. This is never more evident than in the boss encounters – each encounter asks a little more of the player, building to a point where it is necessary to utilise every available skill to survive. Conquering increasingly difficult puzzles is satisfying, and the gradation of Teslagrad’s difficulty is so well structured that I felt consistently challenged, yet never punished. This is how all puzzle platformers should work.

As well as providing the means to progress further, the revelation of new abilities naturally lends itself to some back tracking, as previously inaccessible areas become accessible. This is largely perfunctory as the only reason to do so is to gather the hard to reach, and often hidden scrolls – the main purpose of which is to open a door late in the game. They do also add a little context to Teslagrad’s already simple plot. However, it is possible to piece most of the narrative together just by playing the game. Not only is gathering the scrolls unrewarding, but it also forces you to make use of the games map which, like the narrative, is vague. It offers nothing but the broadest sense of where you are or where you have been, a location marker or the ability to scroll around the map would be a welcome addition. Super Metroid got this right in 1994 so there is no reason for lacklustre map design in a 2D platformer.

The carelessness shown in the design of this aspect of the UI is surprising, as everything else about Teslagrad’s design is both aesthetically and mechanically stunning. The intricately rendered environments are both beautiful and readable, meaning that the virtuosity of the art stands out but never overshadows the need to clearly show the correct path to the player. Lighting plays a similarly pivotal role in this regard – environmental lighting adds a sense of weight to the often sombre mood of the game, whereas a brightly lit magnetic panel will usually give a clue as to how to progress, even in areas of total darkness.

CONCLUSION

Teslagrad is an accomplished puzzle platformer, and should not be allowed to get lost amidst the ever-increasing catalogue of games in the genre. The attention paid to mechanical design should be lauded, and the satisfaction felt when conquering the games progressively difficult challenges taps into something core to any gaming experience. It is a little short, but one wonders, due to the quality of the game, if this isn’t just some primal craving for more of a good thing.