Limbo

    Anyone else played it? (skdr? ) Finished it earlier today. Although I'd say the entire trial and error nature of the gameplay did start to rub me the wrong way at a few points, then overall the game as a whole is just an amazing achievement in it's execution. Some really clever puzzles and adrenaline pumping platform and action bits. Plus the the entire presentation, from the visuals to the audio just feels like it's exactly like they wanted it to be, and just has such a dense and deep look like I've never seen in a 2D side scroller. There's more atmosphere crammed into 5 minutes of Limbo than what most games have throughout.

    I really hope it sells well, being a danish game that had government funding and something of a test case in the regard, If it does well it'll be good for the entire danish games industry. Also plenty of ex-IO folks worked on it, so there's also that

    Anyway, be sure to check it out. Oh and I don't get the people that whine about it being to short. Took me about 4-5 hours to get through it, and for 1200 MS points I'd say that's money well spent.

    No PSN

    And yeah, gametrailers.com often whine about short games on their reviews. I remember they also said portal was 3 hours, and took me 5/6, i dunno how they play their games or if their watches are just broken.

    Quote from Mazy

    Anyone else played it? (skdr? )

    Yes my xbl friend!

    Finished it last night, I loved it. I think it's the best money spent ever on XBLA.

    You're right about the "trial / error" scheme they have going on. Some of the puzzles come out from nowhere and you'll only realize them once you die.

    I knew I was gonna be snapping up Limbo as soon as I saw the first trailer; it's easily amongst the most beautiful games I've ever played. Anybody with an Xbox should play this game, and even if it isn't to their taste in terms of gameplay they should absolutely grab the trial just to experience the visuals.

    That said, the gameplay is top notch too. Some head-scratching puzzles in places but never cheap or frustrating, and although I do have to agree that it relies on trial and error quite frequently, it is through those inevitable deaths that I found much of the emotional impact of the game. You see it coming but only just, and it's that split-second of panic - that realisation of impending doom - that got me every time. I found myself tip-toeing forwards in places, fearful of what was coming next. Seeing a button embedded in the floor and thinking "I know I have to step on this...but I don't want to!". For me, that is ultimately the emotion that sums up Limbo. Dread. You don't clear a section and think "ah, relief!" like in so many other games. Instead you think "oh shit, it's only going to get worse!".

    It's also a great game to play with a non-gamer. My girlfriend isn't into games at all, but when I showed her a trailer for Limbo a while ago she instantly took a liking to it, so we played through most of it together. She had a lot of fun just soaking in the atmosphere and helping with the puzzles, without ever touching the control pad. She's now asking if there are similar games that I can show her, so I have an excuse to introduce her to Braid and Ico soon

    And in reference to those games, I'd have to say that Limbo *almost* surpasses both, but ultimately fails to. It absolutely lives up to their atmosphere and gameplay, but despite undoubtedly managing to evoke strong emotional responses through its gameplay, visuals and setting, the minimalistic story left me surprisingly cold.

    SPOILERS!!!

    The problem for me was that the storyline didn't build in any meaningful way. At all. I had no idea I was approaching the end of the game when all of a sudden I hit the credits. In fact, the game actively misleads you about your progress by giving you a "cleared" percentage that DOESN'T RELATE TO THE GAME LENGTH. How cheap is that? You finish the game at 80%, and then suddenly realise they included getting all the achievements in hitting 100% completion. I'd seen my clear percentage right before the end scene, meaning I watched it thinking "still 20% of the game to go", and as such felt horrendously robbed when the credits rolled. I don't mind the short length of the game at all, I'm happy to pay for short, high quality games, but that ending and the deception in their progress percentage really knocked me for six.

    Not only that, but in many ways it feels like the maliciousness of this "limbo" diminishes as the game goes on, which is the opposite to what you'd expect. That giant spider was surprisingly early in the game, and then the attacking boys with their darts or arrows or whatever around a 3rd in. After that, although the puzzles got harder, there was basically nothing beyond environmental hazards to deal with. I kept expecting some other "foe" to face in a similar manner to the boys or the spider, but nothing really came. Those weird bug things that clamp into your head don't count

    /SPOILERS

    Anyway, enough said. Great game, highly recommended. I'll probably play through again to try and gleam a bit more from the story - I think there's more hidden in the environment than I appreciated first time through.

    boughed it played it loved it !

    i have been following the development of this game for many years since that first teaser trailer on that minimalistic webpage showed up !

    + fantastic atmosphere

    + tight controls

    + great water cooler moments

    + brain slugs

    + puzzle design is nothing short of genius

    + beautiful simplicity all around

    + seamless experience

    -lots of trial and error deaths (also reload times differ greatly form level to level ... not cool)

    -no story arc

    verdict: 9/10 go get it if you love one or more games from this list:

    -heart of darkness

    -ico

    -the misadventures of pb winterbotom

    -shadow of the colossus

    -braid

    -oddworld (any)

    -flashback

    -another world

    -little big planet

    -rick dangerous

    also works the other way around if you loved limbo check out those games ^^

    Oh man, very nice choices!

    Freaking heart of darkness bro! Good old times.

    heh someone made a limbo LittleBigPlanet thingy

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    Quote from SpicyTanuki

    heh someone made a limbo LittleBigPlanet thingy

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    Fantastic!

    Yeh, this needs to come out on steam and PSN!

    I had a brief chat with the 2 guys that made this at GDC, and their really great persons too!

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