Review: "Thomas Was Alone"

Cubist Colony

Review for Thomas Was Alone (PC)

1-player puzzle/platformer, Developed by Mike Bithell

When a game called Thomas Was Alone opens its blurb with "and then he wasn't," you know you're in for a treat. Before you're even playing it, Thomas Was Alone provides both a dry wit and a tongue-in-cheek, self-aware charm. What it doesn't hint at, however, is that there's a deep, emotional core buried in Thomas Was Alone. I think.

Y'see, Thomas Was Alone is one of those minimalist platformers that has you (well, me, at any rate) digging for a deeper meaning. Digging for something that you're convinced the game provides. So minimalist and open to interpretation is Thomas Was Alone, that it definitely convinces me there is, at least, something to interpret. It's one of those art games - and it is an art game, make no mistake - that provides hints at meaning without being overtly pretentious in presenting it to you. So, fair warning - Thomas Was Alone, for how delightfully presented it is, may actually not be as deep as I think it is. That's exactly what I like about art, though - not everyone sees the same thing in any particular work. With that in mind - let's see what Thomas Was Alone provides for those who will only look for what's there, and then maybe later I'll get into why I love it so much, not just as a videogame, but as art.

...won't that be thrilling, boys 'n girls?

Review: "Hotline Miami"

Welcome to Another Vice City

Review for Hotline Miami (PC)

1-player action/puzzle, Developed by Dennaton Games

There's something to be said for the kind of game that can truly get its hooks into you. From the very title screen of Hotline Miami, its rubbing your skin preparing to pierce - the psychedelic colours, the dreamy soundscape, the utterly captivating bobbing Russian title text, and the bizarre 16-bit-esque pixel aesthetic. Less than ten seconds in, you hit "start game," and Hotline Miami has its rusty, bloody hooks in your arms. All it has to do now is to pull firmly and gently. You now belong to the Hotline Miami.

The tutorial is adequate as a way of teaching you the basic controls, but what it does better is to establish the tone of this dark, unbelievably violent videogame. An unseen man barks instructions at you as you smash men's skulls in with a baseball bat, the surroundings - a dimly lit, murky basement - concealed of their true terror though the captivating, and often times trippy, faux-16-bit art style. The background flashes slowly through several gradients of gaudy colours, the screen wobbles back and forth like you're drunk (or high), and there's a very subtle film-grain effect that creates the illusion that you're viewing the whole thing through a busted VHS player. In other words - its the 80s, baby, viewed through the murky rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia, but recreated from memory, resulting in a setting that is both wholly authentic and unsettlingly off.

Review: "Thirty Flights of Loving"

Fifteen Minutes of Fame

Review for Thirty Flights of Loving (PC)

PC - 1 player linear storytelling art cube thing, Out Now

I just finished Gravity Bone and Thirty Flights of Loving. They last roughly fifteen minutes each, and they're little vignettes out of some people's lives. Whether they be interactive storytelling, miniature adventure games, or just a whole bunch of cubist nonsense, I can wholeheartedly recommend you play at least the free Gravity Bone immediately. Like, right now. Go. Now. Download it and play it, and come back when you're done.

Okay, are you done? Good. We can move on.