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LIMBO (PC)
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Publisher: Playdead.
Developer: Playdead. Released: 2011. Genre: Cinematic Platformer. Other versions: X360; PS3. Posted 18th August 2012. By Alan Passingham © 2012 |
Most modern games are insubstantial shit. Take sandbox adventures for instance. Fun for all of a few minutes until you recognise playing pool is way more fun with real people, in a real bar, with real beer. Meaningless side-games only exist to detract from the fact that mindlessly running over people in stolen vehicles is dull and tedious in the long-term. The Sims; a joy for about a nanosecond until you realise that earning real money, buying your own house and kitting it out with your own stuff is way more fun. Modern Warfare; amazing graphics that simply mask the bland, tedious level design suggesting most gamers are idiots that would somehow prefer style over substance. Oh!
I could go on.
Of course, I say most modern games. There is the odd occasion where a title sneaks out thinking it is still sometime between 1984 and 1998 and that words like ‘challenging’, ‘unique’ and ‘tough as mittens’ remain in common gaming parlance. So, if Portal 2 is the Head Over Heels of the modern age that would make Playdead’s latest title Limbo the natural successor to Delphine Software’s rather memorable Another World. Well, kind of the same, just more macabre, less colourful and with a silhouetted protagonist that you kind of end up caring for rather than a goofy, ginger-haired scientist tossbag.
Limbo’s plot is quite simple: small boy wakes up in a haunting and bleak forest with his sister missing. He has to find her whilst navigating a surreal monochrome landscape and the deadly, brutal traps lurking within its dark underbelly. That’s pretty much it. Playing like a horizontal scrolling platform adventure, Limbo’s roots are aligned with old school retro-gaming conventions. Instant deaths and immaculate timing are routine and hark back to bastard hard single-life Spectrum games like Treasure Island Dizzy. Yet the touch of the modern ensures it’s not insanely frustrating as was the case with games of yonder. The puzzles have been logically and lovingly crafted with the difficulty level spot on, meaning that even the short attention spans of most modern gamers will revel in the challenge (instead of immediately searching for an online walkthrough).
You don't know what's at the bottom, but chances are, it's gonna hurt...
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"Oh buggerbuggerbuggerbugger!"
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The mechanics behind the instant deaths, for example, are actually a quirky design necessity, rather than an infuriating bollock ache, that aids player progression. So, stepping on an unseen pressure pad usually ends with the protagonist getting squashed into mangled little pieces. You’ve now learned not to tread on said pressure pad again. When confronted with blow-dart wielding humanoid figures further on, back-tracking and leaping across the pressure pads leads to their mucky end instead. Likewise, the punishment for making a simple error in judgement when leaping over a circular saw is much more restrained than in the pixel perfect days of Dizzy. After the protagonist’s body is mangled and shredded in an impeccable display of quality gore, you are simply returned to the beginning of that puzzle to try again. Dizzy would have required you to begin all over…
Added to these design mechanics is the games unique style. This, if anything, is what makes Limbo a highly memorable experience. It’s not just a game; Limbo is art. The visuals are utterly compelling in both conveying the surreal dream-like quality of the nightmarish environment and, in the absence of a more elongated plot, generating the emotional high-points that make you care for the little boy's plight. The lack of colour, the foregrounds in shadow tempered by the greys and whites of the parallax scrolling backgrounds, ensures the hazy macabre reality is an unsettling, yet awe-inspiring experience for the eyes. As soon as the protagonist wakes and begins his journey, you’re thrown into a feverish night-terror straight out of a graphic novel. The accompanying silence and minimal sound throughout simply enhances this atmosphere. As do the few segments of lively action that take on a film like quality, especially those sequences involving a giant fecking spider. Running away from that behemoth, whilst applying pin-point timing to every leap, certainly makes for a welcome change of pace to the more plodding puzzling aspects of Limbo.
Added to these design mechanics is the games unique style. This, if anything, is what makes Limbo a highly memorable experience. It’s not just a game; Limbo is art. The visuals are utterly compelling in both conveying the surreal dream-like quality of the nightmarish environment and, in the absence of a more elongated plot, generating the emotional high-points that make you care for the little boy's plight. The lack of colour, the foregrounds in shadow tempered by the greys and whites of the parallax scrolling backgrounds, ensures the hazy macabre reality is an unsettling, yet awe-inspiring experience for the eyes. As soon as the protagonist wakes and begins his journey, you’re thrown into a feverish night-terror straight out of a graphic novel. The accompanying silence and minimal sound throughout simply enhances this atmosphere. As do the few segments of lively action that take on a film like quality, especially those sequences involving a giant fecking spider. Running away from that behemoth, whilst applying pin-point timing to every leap, certainly makes for a welcome change of pace to the more plodding puzzling aspects of Limbo.
There's no dialogue, but an undercurrent of ominous happenings...
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You'll need all your gaming nous to stay afloat in Limbo
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Then there’s the little boy; a shadowy, silent silhouette with two piercing bright eyes who is animated superbly. It’s simply remarkable that such a diminutive avatar can create the much needed pathos the longevity of the game relies upon. Of course the range of deaths in store and the discombobulation of his body parts at these junctures kind of helps. Every time he is impaled on sharp spikes, falls long distances before breaking his neck (or legs, depending on which way up he lands), carved into little pieces by circular saws or mashed against the ceiling by hydraulics is one more time you regret your latest action. After all, this is a lost little boy, in a nightmare world, looking for a way out, who has just been killed because of your complete ineptitude. The lack of plot may irk some, but the conditioning Limbo works on the player to find sanctuary for the protagonist (his forlorn, piercing eyes are incredibly affecting) is a compelling driving force throughout. Indeed, Limbo works, in many ways, due to the care and attention afforded to its style, which ultimately becomes the substance. Just watching the game in action is highly rewarding!
Sure, there are complaints. Gradually, the oppressive forest environment is replaced by a detritus strewn, lifeless industrialised shitscape – Limbo starts to lose its way around this point. The puzzles of the last third seem less enjoyable and limp without gigantic spiders, brain slugs and shadowy humanoid figures perpetuating the lurking danger and are more of a grinding chore. And once you do reach the end the ambivalent finale is likely to leave some gamers with an unsatisfied taste in the mouth (although the symmetry and minimalist explanation of the conclusion does make Limbo wonderfully thought-provoking).
Sure, there are complaints. Gradually, the oppressive forest environment is replaced by a detritus strewn, lifeless industrialised shitscape – Limbo starts to lose its way around this point. The puzzles of the last third seem less enjoyable and limp without gigantic spiders, brain slugs and shadowy humanoid figures perpetuating the lurking danger and are more of a grinding chore. And once you do reach the end the ambivalent finale is likely to leave some gamers with an unsatisfied taste in the mouth (although the symmetry and minimalist explanation of the conclusion does make Limbo wonderfully thought-provoking).
Limbo's HUD-less, creative platforming evokes memories of Another World
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Bleak monochrome surrounds make Limbo a stand-out visual experience
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It’s also a relatively
short game and should only take four to five hours for competent gamers to
complete, which brings into question longevity. Although for a tenner you can’t
really complain. Like Portal beforehand, the length of the game is moot when
taking into consideration the unique appeal that Limbo provides. In a medium of
never-ending first person shooters, Limbo is a refreshing change from the norm.
In addition, there is one Steam achievement (complete the game losing only five
lives throughout) which is a full-on old school hardcore gaming convention.
This certainly adds further scope for play; it’s just a shame that Playdead did
not think to include this in Limbo from the outset. That would really have
sorted the men from the boys.
But these are fairly inconsequential points. Limbo remains a highly impressive title and certainly much more than you would expect from an independent developer. Its artistry is beautiful despite the depressing bleakness. The puzzles are challenging and superbly crafted without the unnecessary frustration. The simple 2D platforms are retro enough to give older gamers a reminiscing tingle, yet it remains worlds away from Mario. Witness the traps that are of the skull-crushing until you’re mashed to a pulp variety. Vastly different to dodging Goombas and getting smashed on mushrooms. Limbo is, therefore, the perfect blend of old and new; and with old school ZX81 keyboard controls perhaps that’s why it plays so damn well!
But these are fairly inconsequential points. Limbo remains a highly impressive title and certainly much more than you would expect from an independent developer. Its artistry is beautiful despite the depressing bleakness. The puzzles are challenging and superbly crafted without the unnecessary frustration. The simple 2D platforms are retro enough to give older gamers a reminiscing tingle, yet it remains worlds away from Mario. Witness the traps that are of the skull-crushing until you’re mashed to a pulp variety. Vastly different to dodging Goombas and getting smashed on mushrooms. Limbo is, therefore, the perfect blend of old and new; and with old school ZX81 keyboard controls perhaps that’s why it plays so damn well!
