Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Limbo

Developer: Playdead
Publisher: Microsoft
Release Date: July 21, 2010
System: Xbox 360
ESRB Rating: T

In a nutshell: The gameplay is much more colorful than the graphics.

0:00 I've been careful to avoid reading any reviews or previews of this game so I can go in as fresh as possible. All I know is that everyone who's touched it seems to love it without exception. Man, I really hope I am not the exception.

0:01 The title screen reminds me of a movie from the '20s or something, with it's black and white and fancy fonts. "Limbo contains elements which may be offensive..." says a tiny disclaimer. I leave the "Gore filter off" and jump on in.

0:02 Fade from black to a gently lit black and white forest, with trees that fade to fuzzy indistinctness as they recede into the background. Um, where's my character? Oh, there he is -- a solid gray person-shaped blob with two glowing eyes. He slowly rises on his hands and knees. I think I'm going to have to shut the blind if I'm to have any hope of making him out. Excuse me.

0:03 I run left along the 2D movement plane, figuring they wouldn't expect that. I end up stepping over a small white egg, which cracks to give me 5 Gamerscore points and an avatar award. Nice!

0:04 I jump off the end of a downed tree and down a sloping hill. The fall is about three times my height, and my body crumples horribly upon landing. Oh, right... this isn't a Mario game.

0:05 This time I slowly edge myself off the tree stump this time and slide down a hill... right into some spikes. OK, I'm learning, I'm learning...

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