Gish

Developer: Cryptic Sea
Publisher: Chronic Logic
Release Date: May 10, 2004
System: PC
ESRB Rating: N/A
Official Web site

In a nutshell: It ain't easy being a tar ball... or controlling one.

0:00 I was convinced I had actually played this game before, but apparently I had just watched the trailer video and remembered controlling it directly. Now I'm actually getting around to trying it out as part of the Humble Indie Bundle I downloaded last month.

0:01 I'm not including the five minutes it took to configure the controls for the PS3 joypad, or the five more minutes it took to do it again once my computer mysteriously blue-screened for no apparent reason.

0:02 As the game loads I get to look at a fake movie poster that's obviously parodying a movie I don't recognize. Nice hi-hat heavy music on the title screen. I set the window to full screen and start a new game on Normal difficulty.

0:03 "Gish isn't your average hero. In fact he's not your average anything. Gish is a ball of tar." Um, a ball of tar is an "anything," isn't it? Anyway, "while on a Sunday stroll with his lady friend Brea a shadowy figure emerged from an open manhole pulling her away and into the ground below. Quickly, Gish jumps into action..." Yada yada yada. The simple story is illiustrated with manic, shaky lined drawings that remind me of static versions of those awful CD-i Zelda games.

0:05 The Sewers of Dross is level 1-1. I have five lives and zero points. Nice jazzy background music as I roll gish around some atmospheric sewers. The simple animation on his mouth and eyes makes him seem almost alive.

***-->CONTINUE READING AT<--***
***-->JOYSTICK DIVISION<-***
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