With a name as long and confounding as Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, it is hard to imagine that players would have any kind of a read on the experience that awaits them on the other side of the title screen. Almost as if followed verbatim off a list, within the first minute of the intro cut scene everything that you would expect from a shadow planet of the insanely twisted variety has played out on screen. Are you a fan of darkly veiled tentacle monsters? Check. How do you feel about kamikaze aliens with no regard for their own lives? Present and accounted for. Hell, even crazy environmental puzzles rear up to show their ugly faces. Let’s just hope these parts mesh as well as its absurdly spectacular name.
Game: Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Developer: Shadow Planet Productions
Genre: Action-Adventure / Side-Scrolling Shooter
Price: $15.00 / 1200MSP
Pros: An awesome new take on several tried and true game designs
Cons: It can be somewhat difficult to determine mission objectives
Verdict: A great homage to the PixelJunk style of game design, while still making it their own
Acquired via Purchase
Borrowing from the school of Pixeljunk Eden and Shooter, the game features a very minimalist art style, including shadowed characters and figures in the foreground set against a primarily bright florescent backdrop. The shameless “homage” to the Pixeljunk franchise seems a bit shady considering that they are currently exclusive to the PlayStation Network downloadable platform, but the execution is as flawless as one could achieve without having to call in legal counsel. Almost the entirety of the game is conducted without a more than a word or two of dialog being spoken or shown on screen, further emphasizing the minimalistic design. What’s even more amazing is that despite the limited direct character interaction, there is always some sort of clue about what the player is supposed to do next hidden within the environment. It speaks volumes of the fantastic art direction and stage design that the universe can impart so much influence on the gameplay experience, while still maintaining silence.
Players will set off in their trusty spaceship into a strange new word with virtually no directions to follow and very little understanding of the objectives that must be completed in order to progress through the game. This is where the title’s genius is shown, because instead of inundating gamers with useless tutorials they are left to their own devices and allowed to explore. Only by messing around in the environment and experimenting with within the confines of the world do the objectives become begin to become more clear.
Each stage introduces a series of new and different tools that can be used to interact with the environment in a variety of different ways. Early examples of these tool include a ray gun, pincher arm, and tractor beam. These items have a multitude of different uses–some more straightforward than others. Imagine that there is a vacuum tube obstructing your path. How could you get by? The obvious choice of shooting the ray gun at the tube has no effect and the tractor beam would be useless against the suction of the vacuum. Try using your pincher arm, grabbing a nearby boulder, then jamming it in the end of the suction tube. Successfully doing this will cause the tube to retract into the ground. Critical reasoning and thinking outside the box will be a necessity in order to complete the expansive five hour campaign. Unfortunately this is also be a double-edged sword, because little is done to help a player who is completely missing a step in the puzzle.
Progressing through each massive level forces players into interactions with semi-mechanical, semi-organic creatures that are bent on reducing your poor little spaceship into shimmering chunks of space bits. Fortunately there are a generous amount of checkpoints located throughout, which respawn the vessel with little to no true negative consequences. One thing to particularly note early on is that there is no real build up to what could be considered mini or even full on boss encounters. Many times they will seemingly appear out of the ether and lay wake with no warning. This is why always keeping the ship in tip-top heath and condition is a major key to success. Just be sure not to take failures too personally because unexpected deaths are something that will happen on a very frequent basis.
The element of exploration is a common thread that persists through the entirety of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet‘s campaign. Zero-G space settings don’t necessarily scream out Metroid or Castlevania, but the deeper that one delves into the experience, the more that backtracking and experimentation begins to show itself. Players that enjoyed other similarly structured games like the Summer of Arcade predecessor Shadow Complex will no doubt be instantly entranced by the shared gameplay mechanic touchstones.
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is an amalgamation of many different genres and styles of game design, combined into a genuinely unique product. The title is well worthy of the special attention it will receive as being part of the Summer of Arcade. Though many neat ideas and concepts stand tall on their own merit, at times the glaring lack of direction and guidance through the single player experience can also prove to be a hindrance. Regardless of any criticism, this is still an outstanding experience that every gamer can find enjoyable.
GrE Grade: B+
Popularity: 4% [?]
