Have in common Super Meat Boy, Cave Story + and Stealth Bastard Deluxe? For starters, all three are independent games, as it is raining now regularly on the PC, and to a lesser extent, on consoles. Then, each in its own way a tribute to the era of large pixels that less than twenty years can not know. Finally, all began their careers as free games available free of charge by the authors in Flash or downloadable version. And against all odds, the first two managed a brilliant way to pay mode offering refined mechanisms or graphics justify spending heavily to the point of becoming classic essential for any self-respecting gaming collection. Threes?
SUPER BOY SPLINTER PORTAL
It is a point that Stealth Bastard Deluxe is not likely to raise the crowds, this is undoubtedly its scenario. And for good reason: he did not. To be quite honest, the game opens with a short sequence of ten seconds explaining our status clone designed to eat the test room like so many others before us, and many others after our death. And in that short time, the title already allows to show finer than many rivals big budget while paying the luxury of displaying clearly an inspiration rather nice. This pretext of scientific experience calls to mind the legendary Portal, which is good since it is a puzzle game in which we gratify the Curve studios. Our little character is itself adorned with a slinky black suit and binoculars emitting a green light in the darkness. A bit like a Sam Fisher. This still falls once timely, given that overcoming the game involves playing hide and seek with enemies determined to reduce you to shreds as they perceive you.
In less time than we need to finish in small bloody pieces scattered on the floor, and believe that the thing is quickly arrival, Stealth Bastard Deluxe therefore able to define its genre and throw a nice tackle his models for clues as subtle qu'amusants. What you ask? A small ladle platformer uncompromising perhaps? The first levels are invariably think Super Meat Boy, forcing the player to jump over chasms that house ready to slice salami like a common circular saws. As the small piece of meat square, super agent must traverse levels requiring him millimiters jumps and a good dose of common sense if it does not want to end his career prematurely. To help him in his task, and especially to fuck openly failures, point Glados but contextual messages directly projected onto the walls of rooms traversed. Thus, the first meeting with the bionic sentinels will be accompanied by a "Robots do not love you" followed in the same place "Did I not make myself clear?" after being atomized by their laser.
WALLS HAVE EARS THAT
Also friendly as it is, this multiplication of references could also go with more suspicious as a skilled fig leaf, hiding a lack of personality and poorly operated mechanisms. But when promises are kept, one saber champagne and party favors lot, more so during the festive season. In this case, it seems a small cut is needed. Rather than throw them in front of the player without further ado, the ideas are distilled slowly, level by level, to allow time to assimilate. We first learned to jump and hack computers, which allow to unlock the exit door. Then we discover that it is possible to cling to the edge of the platform and some switches open new passages. Finally, the cameras are entering and with them, camouflage and light management take on new meaning.
Mechanical eyes will be one way to slow us down, closing parts if you meet their short beam, but soon, they will trigger lasers will be closer to the walls better we crush. The glasses are then used to determine our exposure. As long as they remain green, our little character is in shadow and everything is fine. It can make a pas de deux before any optical unnoticed. If they pass the orange, better be careful and gently remove any aggressive element that could be alerted by our figure and decide to investigate. When they turn red, projector illuminates our face doll and it is absolutely essential to stay away from detection equipment.
In this situation, they will not only to question but will shoot for, and the leak becomes futile. Lasers are fly whenever and punishment is irrevocable. What frustrate anyone when disintegration occurs five meters out following a handling error. Nobody wants to retype entire sessions hacking dodging revealing light fifty times in a row. For although most levels fold in one breath, the more twisted can easily take more than five minutes, the time to understand the sequences to achieve. This is why a checkpoint will activate each terminal fully activated. Difficult to fault ...
HEAD AND LEGS
Such a choice could still upset the extremists masochists, enthusiasts and hardcore perfect run. No need to worry, S Rank is dedicated, and the online present at the end of each level. To answer the first, it will finish the course without being detected or kill and a minimum of time. And world ranking will spellbound the fiercest competitors. To encourage others to repeat levels several times, each attempt completed will be rewarded with a gadget to use when the next test: first a temporary camouflage and a visual illusion, another sound ... Six tools are all unlockable and can improve his time or find new solutions to puzzles offered, although the results obtained by using them are listed in a separate ranking. Better yet, provided they obtain improved three challenges in the same chapter, it becomes available for all levels of the latter. But despite all the good we can think of rewards, this method of allocation based on ad nauseam repetition rather than performance is probably the biggest disappointment of the title. Probably should be preferred, while maintaining the same pattern for the less effective the rank S accelerates progression by offering two items at once, for example.
It has also an aspect speedrun very well done, Stealth Bastard offers some arguments against a Super Meat Boy or Dustforce. Where these two titles are content with gusto, to consider the environment as an obstacle, he prefers to see a tool. Since the second world, some decorative elements must be involved to reach the extraction chamber. Totems will be moved to press the pressure plate opening doors or cast a shadow on a judiciously posted under the watchful eye of a camera device. Then the mobile enemies appear and it will guide them from the shadows they activate switches in spite of themselves. The possibilities are numerous and continue to grow as new mechanisms are exposed. Each is highlighted by an absolutely brilliant level design from beginning to end of the game The eighty levels gradually gaining momentum and begin to maliciously get tougher from the third world. The first parts of each chapter introduce the new soft in the following independent puzzles and take care of every thing go crazy shaker in combinations.
THE END OF THE BEGINNING
The the best for last: these eight worlds are a preamble, the opportunity to discover all the tools at our disposal before diving into the deep end. Stealth Bastard Deluxe comes with a built-in level editor and the first designs are already available. A menu is dedicated to them where we can note, mark as favorite and sort according to our pleasure. And the least we can say is that developers do not have the privilege of sadism twisted. The creative minds compete well with them and sometimes even grow Vice further by creating monsters infested with hostile units, where the least number of moves and the ball must be timed to take out the head. How easily turn the brain and nab some thumb cramps before seeing the end. In this regard, note that if the keyboard is possible to browse levels, nothing can replace a good old controller for a game platform, especially when it requires great precision. The developers also seem to have understood and analog sticks are perfectly used to regulate the speed of the race.
Still one last complaint, the second so, issue before concluding on the graphics, specifically the options. It is not the art direction, which in addition to being very successful in many sympathetically retro highlight obstacles, interactive objects and shadow shades essential to the smooth running of the game, but rather the inability to choose resolution and very poor performance which follows the use of the vertical synchronization. Although it is unclear what it might be used in a game of platform where the decor finally moves very little, we would have liked its activation does not make rowing a fairly decent bike. As for the resolution, stretched full screen mode fills his contract and rendering will not hinder the players, but its small value requires testers to dig through the depths of the net to find the solution to accompany a text and screenshots videos playable. Damage especially to the latter, because speedruns posted on social networking sites are terribly effective to know what kind of game and provide the commercial success they deserve.
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