Something I wanted to love a lot more than I did.
First the positives: ThorHighHeels/Adolf Nomura created a fantastic, irreverent soundtrack for this thing that surprised me constantly. The Jet Set Radio influences are apparent and that's certainly not a bad thing, funky beats abound. The soundtrack can also be surprisingly funny at points, oftentimes when a new track started I would pause for a moment just to listen to its weird off kilter groove or the often hilarious text to speech stuff.
The visual aesthetic is also great. I was one of those people who not so long ago thought "who would ever make retro games with a PS1/N64 aesthetic as we do with NES/SNES games, the early 3D era has aged so poorly graphically" and I have to say I was an absolute fool. The more recent crop of early 3D inspired indie games have tons of charm and especially in its later levels this game does some incredible things with its aesthetic.
The story here is a mixed bag for me. I think the critiques on display here of neoliberalism and concerns over climate change are pointed for sure, but pretty surface level too. On a personal level the game really never made me feel much of anything except for in the final level. I do appreciate the insights into New Zealand history that this game provides and felt those elements were some of the most personally interesting (I already know the world is fucked, give me an actual take on it). But this brings me to my biggest problem...
The gameplay and the context. The game's tutorial emphasizes that art is subjective and then the actual game design is so railroaded. For each level the game gives you a list of things you must take photos of, often with a specific type of lens. This is so infuriatingly arbitrary and not interesting, especially in the later levels. I think the intent for some of those later levels was for it to be a "puzzle" of sorts to figure out what sort of insane angle you'll need to line up 3 lanterns with a telephoto lens, but this runs totally counter to all the game's punk sensibilities! It's not enjoyable or engaging and most of the bounties aren't even getting you to think of your surroundings in a different way or getting you to engage with the story. They feel so forced.
This is why I think the context is also a problem. Who am I in this world and why am I doing any of this? If I had the freedom to express myself through photographing this place I certainly wouldn't be choosing to take a picture of 3 lanterns. You have a 10 minute time limit to get a bonus on each level, which also runs counter to the game's design (how am I supposed to explore and soak in all the details of this world if I'm constantly under time pressure) but even worse, it's not justified? Once you've taken all the photos you have to "deliver the parcel" to complete the level. Who am I delivering these photos to? Are they the ones paying me? Why do they want these arbitrary pictures and why do they want them in 10 minutes? The actual gameplay of this game feels so far removed from the world the game takes place in.
So this ended up being a bit of a long one. It was a game I really vibed with but had so many frustrating choices that it ended up disappointing me a bit. The biggest indictment I think is that the game felt shockingly limp emotionally despite it's charged messages. I am still glad I played it though and plan to play the Macro DLC in the near future, which people seem to have very polarizing opinions about. Hope I enjoy that more!!
EDIT: I did not :/ review for Macro can be found here (a lot shorter) https://www.backloggd.com/u/Hylianhero777/review/156218/
First the positives: ThorHighHeels/Adolf Nomura created a fantastic, irreverent soundtrack for this thing that surprised me constantly. The Jet Set Radio influences are apparent and that's certainly not a bad thing, funky beats abound. The soundtrack can also be surprisingly funny at points, oftentimes when a new track started I would pause for a moment just to listen to its weird off kilter groove or the often hilarious text to speech stuff.
The visual aesthetic is also great. I was one of those people who not so long ago thought "who would ever make retro games with a PS1/N64 aesthetic as we do with NES/SNES games, the early 3D era has aged so poorly graphically" and I have to say I was an absolute fool. The more recent crop of early 3D inspired indie games have tons of charm and especially in its later levels this game does some incredible things with its aesthetic.
The story here is a mixed bag for me. I think the critiques on display here of neoliberalism and concerns over climate change are pointed for sure, but pretty surface level too. On a personal level the game really never made me feel much of anything except for in the final level. I do appreciate the insights into New Zealand history that this game provides and felt those elements were some of the most personally interesting (I already know the world is fucked, give me an actual take on it). But this brings me to my biggest problem...
The gameplay and the context. The game's tutorial emphasizes that art is subjective and then the actual game design is so railroaded. For each level the game gives you a list of things you must take photos of, often with a specific type of lens. This is so infuriatingly arbitrary and not interesting, especially in the later levels. I think the intent for some of those later levels was for it to be a "puzzle" of sorts to figure out what sort of insane angle you'll need to line up 3 lanterns with a telephoto lens, but this runs totally counter to all the game's punk sensibilities! It's not enjoyable or engaging and most of the bounties aren't even getting you to think of your surroundings in a different way or getting you to engage with the story. They feel so forced.
This is why I think the context is also a problem. Who am I in this world and why am I doing any of this? If I had the freedom to express myself through photographing this place I certainly wouldn't be choosing to take a picture of 3 lanterns. You have a 10 minute time limit to get a bonus on each level, which also runs counter to the game's design (how am I supposed to explore and soak in all the details of this world if I'm constantly under time pressure) but even worse, it's not justified? Once you've taken all the photos you have to "deliver the parcel" to complete the level. Who am I delivering these photos to? Are they the ones paying me? Why do they want these arbitrary pictures and why do they want them in 10 minutes? The actual gameplay of this game feels so far removed from the world the game takes place in.
So this ended up being a bit of a long one. It was a game I really vibed with but had so many frustrating choices that it ended up disappointing me a bit. The biggest indictment I think is that the game felt shockingly limp emotionally despite it's charged messages. I am still glad I played it though and plan to play the Macro DLC in the near future, which people seem to have very polarizing opinions about. Hope I enjoy that more!!
EDIT: I did not :/ review for Macro can be found here (a lot shorter) https://www.backloggd.com/u/Hylianhero777/review/156218/