game
REVIEW: Year Walk
For Something a Little Bit Different: The Creepy Beauty of the Swedish Countryside
In days long since past, man tried to catch a glimpse of the future in the strangest of ways. After playing Year Walk, I walked away with two things: I can appreciate how incredible the artistry of ‘Simogo’s’ creative team and I have learned how to have hallucinations without taking acid…
But the game is incredible on so many levels.
The premise of this game is a little different – it is based on an old Swedish folklore that if you wanted your fortune told, instead of visiting the local gypsy, people would lock themselves in dark rooms without eating and walk out in the forest at the stroke of midnight. Whatever you came across whilst tripping was supposably a symbol of your future. Swedish folklore is full of strange, dark creatures and a foreboding mythology. These were apparent symbols of the dangers and fortunes ahead in a person’s life. It’s a very cool concept.
Right from the start, the design of this game is freaking incredible. Every cut scene is old silent-movie styled, and reveals that your character is caught up in a love story, wanting to know his future. How adorable. There is also a free side-app companion to accompany the game, allowing you to read through the Swedish folklore behind every creature or image you encounter. The game actually tells you where to go to achieve the best ending through these symbols.
Once the Year Walk actually begins, things begin to become much more ominous. I’m going to admit, I expected a jump-scare every time I found the next step forward. And that music! Jeepers, creepers – so beautiful and so horrifying at the same time. They have deliberately used the ill-lighting contrast to bright, white snow and the jump between the two states is frightening. Every view can be manipulated, so you will spend many minutes zooming around the three-dimensional landscape, trying to figure out which way to wander in the snow.
Occasionally you’ll find creepy spirits who will lead you to an early death. You know, things happen. Sometimes you’ll run into small, quite tricky puzzles in the darkness. It will really put you on edge. As you collect the keys to your future, the game only becomes more macabre and sinister.
Not to mention, the deaths will give you a heart attack every time. There is some very undignified shrieking involved when playing this game.
The only drawbacks are the IOS controls and the necessity to use the side-app. Sometimes scrolling sideways to view the entire scene is awkward; there are some sections where you are required to hold an item with one finger and move with the other. I spent many minutes feeling stupid, trying to move anywhere, without success. Without the use of the side-app you can wander about without a clue what on earth you are doing, or why you’re trying to do it, when the answer is staring you in the face through a creepy man with a horse-head. Obviously, there are some difficulties if you choose not to read the folklore.
So I reached the point where a goat-faced man stood in front of me, with the galaxy under his coat and a floating, bleeding heart. It was here I realised something. Year Walk is as gorgeous as it is grotesque. I didn’t play to decipher the storyline (which was very adorable and heart-wrenching), I didn’t play to be challenged by puzzles; I was sitting there astounded by how beautiful the gameplay was. I was sitting there waiting to scream and instead was captivated by the artwork. Well, how about that.
My final verdict on Year Walk is that it is worth playing solely for the incredible mixture of terrors and art. I never thought 19th century Sweden could be as intriguing as this game made it to be. Sure, it can be a little awkward to move around at times and yes, it is much more understandable with the companion but I really enjoy anything that can make me stare in wonder and creep back in fear at the same time. It is a glorious concept; one I hope will be expanded upon in the future.
REVIEW: Lego Marvel Superheroes on PS3
I will state from the outset that I am unabashedly a huge fan of nearly all of the Lego games, mainly because there is something exceedingly satisfying in making one of your favourite characters tear the scenery into absolute shreds and being rewarded in showers of coloured bricks. The Harry Potter Lego games however weren’t nearly as good because you had to use your wand to do everything and I resorted to screaming at Harry, begging him to forget his wizarding ways and just kick the furniture apart with one of his plastic feet. I’m pleased to say that from this perspective Marvel Lego Superheroes fits the bill.
As far as characters go, you can play as all of your standard big-franchise names – what with the Avengers, Thor, Captain America, Ironman, X-Men and the Fantastic Four being in the spotlight of movie madness at the moment. Marvel’s popularity is certainly winning favourites with the cinema-goers and the Lego variation of these characters are simply too adorable for words. You get all of the associated famous villains and heroes for your block-decimating pleasure. There are also some minor Marvel faces that I thoroughly enjoyed, although I still have only a limited knowledge of who they are in the expansive Marvel-verse.
The game itself is bright, colourful, doesn’t take itself too seriously and only requires a low level of skill to get through the main story mode but there’s enough to do wandering around and replaying in free mode that it can be an exceedingly lengthy game to complete to 100%.
Another major plus is that the open world is the entirety of ‘comic book’ New York. I’m not going to lie and try to convince you that the inner nerd which resides in my heart did not skip for glee when I realised I could not only fly to the summit of Stark Tower but also the Empire State building. The mechanics of flying with different characters is extraordinarily good fun. And you can drive any vehicle you encounter along the way (my sister and I had a brief interlude of hijacking cars GTA style and running into other road users until their vehicles simply exploded, giggling like maniacs and driving off to complete every race through the streets we could find). There are random civilians that barrage you with their problems and often that just entails running off into the subway, beating up some foes and rescuing someone’s favourite shovel but the effort is worth the bonuses of accumulating enough gold bricks to unlock other areas and challenges. Deadpool has some fantastic comic-book-styled levels that are scattered all over the city as well, some of which involve fighting other villains and some of which mean setting up a party in Tony Stark’s pad for all the heroes. The means by which you find the entire staggering amount of characters are suitably comic-book and none of the vehicles are particularly difficult to unlock and buy but are fantastic to get around in.
But the game isn’t without issues. Firstly, it is primarily a two-player co-op game and while this is great if you have a friend who is considerate and kind and won’t murder you constantly, it can become irritating; however it is tedious to attempt it all on your own. There are additional problems too – the damn split-screen camera is extremely temperamental and just when you are standing completely still so your mate can set something on fire as the Human Torch it lurches away and you must attempt the section utterly blind. Unlike in the Batman games it is also harder to switch characters, so if you and your friend want to try another character in story mode one person has to drop out, you switch and then drop back in. The sheer amount of possibilities in the game in terms of characters and their abilities has its drawbacks; often the solution to getting into a secret area is absurdly simple, meanwhile you’re there jamming all the buttons on several characters trying to figure out who on earth you’re supposed to use to get past an obstacle. Here’s a hint if you get stuck in this situation – usually the way forward is via a dumbly placed lever. Once again those cameras work against you, hiding the obvious. And don’t get me started on the glitches. They’re primarily in story mode and if your poor character gets squished up against a wall say goodbye to your progress. Do it all over again. Expect to Hulk out multiple times in frustrated fury.
But it’s fun and gimmicky and it’s so Marvel – from the ridiculous puns, hilarious cut-scene interactions to the signature character fighting styles. The story is good and the cut scenes are well-done and the attention to detail is commendable. It’s a children’s game but there’s a little child in all of us, who re-watches all the Marvel films (expect for the original Spider-man movies, I cannot think of these abominations without an instantaneous surge of bile rising to the back of my throat) and digs out all the comics and dreams of being a superhero. Just for a bit. You can fly or hover or drive or ram through things with the Hulk, you can sail through the Bifrost, you can find Stan Lee on every level and that’s the way Marvel should be. Uncomplicated and glorious.
Anyway, that’s off my desk. Not sure if I’ll do these consistently – if you like my stuff send me a message on Twitter or something. Follow if you have even more faith in me. Whack a comment down below if you’re especially kind and I’ll get back to you just as soon as I watch the new Lego movie. It looks amazing.
soph manion 