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Games usually have to try really hard to instill a sense of tension in me. So called "horror"
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games rarely make use of decent story telling and instead, rely on jump scares and loud
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sound effects. So why then, can a side-scrolling action adventure mobile game, with no story
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and no identifiable protagonist, bring those odd feelings to the surface?
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Like all well-designed action platformers, the controls are simple and slick. You tap
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the screen to make your little guy flap and keep that tap held to make him continuously
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flap upwards. Your goal? To navigate the dangerous terrain and reach the escape pipe at the end
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of each level. The game has what can best be referred to as a loose auto-scrolling mechanism.
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Occasionally, the screen itself will catch up to you and end your journey - but this
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isn't too frustrating. While it is forced, it is somewhat based on the speed of your
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little fluff ball and is quite manageable.
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Along your way, you'll encounter spikes, crushers, explosive spores, saw blades, gears and so
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many other nasty, horrible things. To make matters worse, each of these elements has
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a kind of creepy, spindly feel to them, as though the terrain itself is alive.
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It's not all darkness and pain in BADLAND however. To assist you, there's various powerups
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that transform your little creature. Become sticky to uhh.. stick to things which is really
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helpful when it comes to saw blade encounters. Change size to squeeze in to tight areas or
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push things out of your way. You can even pick up a spinning power that can enable you
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to travel quickly through certain segments or navigate along the ceiling to avoid danger.
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You're able to change the game speed to make things a bit easier during some pretty intense
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sections and.... without giving too much away, you can even change shape!
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The game's hallmark is the ability to clone yourself. You can pick up little buddies along
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the way that travel with you. In a pack, these little creatures are stronger than the sum
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of their individual selves. They can push objects that might have otherwise been impossible
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by yourself. Of course, trying to fit a lot of little things in to a small space isn't
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necessarily a good idea and you can often find yourself getting stuck along the way.
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But that's the beauty of the physics system in the game. It allows for some very interesting
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and unusual things to happen.
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While it is possible to save quite a few of these curious things, BADLAND's clever level
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design will see that outcome almost never happen. Time after time, I've seen myself
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amass upwards of 30 floaters only for something bad happen to 29 of them and find my last
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surviving fuzzy scrape through by the skin of its.. er.. skin. Of course, not all of
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these upgrades are mandatory. If you, willingly or not, skip over some of these, you can end
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up in a completely different situation than if you did pick them up. The game is quite
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versatile and the puzzles are all designed to be reflex based rather than head scratchers.
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The single player campaign will launch with 40 levels. These levels are divided up in
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to four stages of 10: Dawn, Noon, Dusk and Night. Each of the stages is colored according
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to their relative time of day: Yellow, green, red and blue respectively. You need to complete
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a stage in order to progress on to the next, however these can be replayed at any time
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to attempt the challenges set forth in each. BADLAND even lets you play in "flow mode"
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where the level breaks are taken out and you can play the game seamlessly travelling between
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levels with no menu or introductory screens.
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There are more levels planned for future updates and if that's not enough, the game comes complete
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with a local multiplayer survival mode where you and up to three friends can go head to
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head on the same device. On an iPhone this isn't necessarily a practicality, however
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on the iPad's larger screen, is truly a joy... particularly if you're able to pull of a satisfyingly
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cheap victory!
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Overall, what stands out most about BADLAND is the ambience. The silhouette technique
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that we saw in Limbo has been elevated to the next level. The colorful, painted background
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artwork is simply some of the best I've seen.. not just for a mobile game, but perhaps any
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game I've seen in recent times. Headphones are definitely recommended for this one as
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the sound effects are amazing.. and I'm not talking the noises of the little creatures
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and how they interact with the environment, but the ambient sounds of the jungle.. haunting
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noises of bubbling swamps, insects and unseen beasties mix with grinding machinery far off
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in the distance. It all makes for a feeling of danger and isolation.
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BADLAND will release later this month as a universal app and the price is yet to be announced.
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This has been top priority on my radar for quite some time and I'm extremely excited
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to see it come out. I don't use this term often, but "Instabuy" springs to mind.
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Thanks for joining me for today's look at BADLAND. Be sure to subscribe for a look at
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some of the latest mobile games. This has been Alex for Game Mob. That's www.gamemob.com
