You control Gomez in his quest to restore an omnipotent(?) cube, and the dimensions it watches over, to order by collecting said cube's pieces that were scattered throughout the dimensions. You'll accomplish this with timing, jumping, pushing, and using your noggin. You'll especially be using the latter if you want to 100% the game, or rather +200%. You only have to complete "half" of the cube to complete the first playthrough. Quotations because The Cube is also made up of "anti-cubes" as well as the regular cubes. There are also 3 secret "Heart Cube" pieces as well as 4 Artifacts to collect. As you collect pieces, doors to new world/dimensions open up Super Mario style (number on the door = amount you need to collect to open). You need to complete the playthrough at least once as there are some puzzles you need a pair of glasses you acquire from starting the "New Game +". The first pair are just regular sunglass, the second time you hit New Game +, you'll get the stereoscopic 3D glasses seen in teh gif below, which adds a Stereoscopic 3D filter to everything.
FEZ's toughest puzzles actually have little to do with the perspective change but with cryptography. There are 3 codes used in the game for many (more then half) of the collectibles. An alphabet cipher, number cipher, and a directions code. You can figure out how to decipher these in the game itself, but should you feel stumped, there is a nice guide in Steam that tells you how to decipher the codes but not the puzzles that use them. That way you can still try your hand at the puzzles without spoiling everything. I used pencil & paper quite a lot for this game.
Unfortunately, there appears to be a puzzle (for a Heart Cube piece) that you have to seek outside help for. I'm still not certain on this, but the FEZ community members all seemed to be stumped by this one as well and the solution was accidentally discovered. There is one "puzzle" that uses a QR Code so you'll either need a smart device handy, know how to manually decipher a QR Code, or look up the reveal online.
The game has multiple styles and ranges from charming to dingy(in a good way), same for the music. There is even one level where the background is altering tiles from all the styles used in the game and you have to discern where the platforms are since they are mixed up tiles as well. Seizure warning on that on I believe. Though perspective is the main tool, the level designs don't get to M. C. Escher levels of crazy like the mobile game Monument Valley, but still can make one scratch their head at how to proceed.
The map of the game.
Summary: FEZ is a puzzle platformer in which you use perspective and cryptography to collect cubes, to complete bigger cube. Cube-ception! The puzzles, music, and overall art style make it a nice cohesive package. If puzzles, platformers, cute, and or "think outside the box" interest you, I highly recommend you play this. Not recommended if you get motion sickness.
1
RahnalH102the Green Devout, Veteran Monster Hunter, Creature EnthusiastNew MexicoIcrontian
A Hat In Time
A Hat In Time is a 3D platformer collect-a-thon game in the vain of Super Mario series, Banjo & Kazooie series, etc, and justly marketed as "cute-as-heck".
You play as "Hat Kid" a time/space traveling little girl on her way back home. Her dimension traveling ship is powered by special time manipulating hourglasses called "Time Pieces".
Her ship arrives at a planet, and due to a very thorough member of the Mafia of Cooks, her ship's supply of Time Pieces gets scattered all across the planet.
She must now explore 5 areas of the planet, plus some time rifts in order to get back her fuel and continue her trip back home.
The games' marketing got me interested in the first place, so I'll let it do the visual work for this review.
No real need to fluff it up. This game is cute, silly, fun, and accomplishes what it set out to be.
Notes:
The controls feel great, and are easy to learn.
There is enough variety in aesthetics, mechanics, and objectives to keep things fresh as a whole throughout the ~15 or so hour adventure across the world.
Different abilities based on one of 6 hats you can wear.
Many badges that alter abilities or gameplay mechanics.
Some badges and other setting are designed with speedrunners in mind.
The camera badge gives you full control of the screen and some other features while it pauses the game. Hand-tailored screenshots.
2 player splitscreen available.
Generally, each area of the world and sometimes different levels within the areas, will have a specific aesthetic theme.
These are made to fit either the setting itself, or to help accentuate the gameplay for that particular level.
Examples: a sepia toned murder mystery on a train, an ethereal dimension hopping romp through ancient ruins, a cheery parade around a city.
3D platforming is generally the name of the game, but some levels will add, alter, or outright throw out the platforming.
At one point I thought "Wasn't this supposed to be a 'cute-as-heck' 3D platformer, not Silent Hill?!"
Example: On the aforementioned parade level you gotta keep moving across the rooftops lest the troupe of musicians you're leading bumps into you. All the while meeting different objectives to help spice up the show.
There are stashes of items hidden throughout the levels. These usually give you coins that you can use to unlock various goodies.
These goodies include remixed level music that you can swap out, different skins for your hats, and different color schemes for Hat Kid herself.
This game is #HATS, but more for DigiKid rather then BobbyDigi I think.
There are bonus stages called Time Rifts throughout Hat Kid's ship and the various levels.
These are akin to the bonus stages in Mario Sunshine. A core set of these follow their own aesthetic.
There will be one story rift for each area of the world. The aesthetics and challenges will usually be derived from the area they are in. With some story elements for that area hidden within the rift.
Completing one of these rifts also gives you a free roll at those goodies.
There is great replay value potential for this game on the PC. At the moment Steam workshop support is in open beta.
Users can create new time rift challenges, new hat skins, and even more, and keep adding to the game.
In the time I played it, which was on and shortly after release, there were some notable bugs, but I didn't experience anything game breaking.
In fact I miss a bug that caused Hat Kid to roll in place when hopping on the scooter without using any other input first after spawning into an area.
In summary, A Hat In Time is a relatively modern take on the classic collect-a-thon games of the early polygon era.
Diverse gameplay, aesthetics, and characters help keep your playthrough fresh.
It supports modern trends such as modding, speedrunning, and social media sharing.
Whether you've got a pair of rose-tinted glasses for 3D platformers stashed away somewhere, or like platformers in general you'll likely enjoy this game.
Bonus: This video goes over the history and development of the game. Kinda interesting in my opinion.
2
RahnalH102the Green Devout, Veteran Monster Hunter, Creature EnthusiastNew MexicoIcrontian
I've got another review for one of my finished games almost done, but I have my doubts about it. I know it's something along the lines of "I'm not conveying what I feel I should be conveying.", but why I'm getting that feeling I'm not sure.
Comments
Great review, Rah!
Thanks!
Holy "How the heck did you manage to double post that?" Batman!
(The below post was originally this post, but the below one got more added to it before I realized anything was off.)
Review Catch Up Time!
Starting with: FEZ
FEZ is a clever Puzzle Platformer in which your main tool is controlling the perspective of the level.
(GIF From Polygon)
You control Gomez in his quest to restore an omnipotent(?) cube, and the dimensions it watches over, to order by collecting said cube's pieces that were scattered throughout the dimensions. You'll accomplish this with timing, jumping, pushing, and using your noggin. You'll especially be using the latter if you want to 100% the game, or rather +200%. You only have to complete "half" of the cube to complete the first playthrough. Quotations because The Cube is also made up of "anti-cubes" as well as the regular cubes. There are also 3 secret "Heart Cube" pieces as well as 4 Artifacts to collect. As you collect pieces, doors to new world/dimensions open up Super Mario style (number on the door = amount you need to collect to open). You need to complete the playthrough at least once as there are some puzzles you need a pair of glasses you acquire from starting the "New Game +". The first pair are just regular sunglass, the second time you hit New Game +, you'll get the stereoscopic 3D glasses seen in teh gif below, which adds a Stereoscopic 3D filter to everything.
FEZ's toughest puzzles actually have little to do with the perspective change but with cryptography. There are 3 codes used in the game for many (more then half) of the collectibles. An alphabet cipher, number cipher, and a directions code. You can figure out how to decipher these in the game itself, but should you feel stumped, there is a nice guide in Steam that tells you how to decipher the codes but not the puzzles that use them. That way you can still try your hand at the puzzles without spoiling everything. I used pencil & paper quite a lot for this game.
Unfortunately, there appears to be a puzzle (for a Heart Cube piece) that you have to seek outside help for. I'm still not certain on this, but the FEZ community members all seemed to be stumped by this one as well and the solution was accidentally discovered. There is one "puzzle" that uses a QR Code so you'll either need a smart device handy, know how to manually decipher a QR Code, or look up the reveal online.
The game has multiple styles and ranges from charming to dingy(in a good way), same for the music. There is even one level where the background is altering tiles from all the styles used in the game and you have to discern where the platforms are since they are mixed up tiles as well. Seizure warning on that on I believe. Though perspective is the main tool, the level designs don't get to M. C. Escher levels of crazy like the mobile game Monument Valley, but still can make one scratch their head at how to proceed.
The map of the game.
Summary: FEZ is a puzzle platformer in which you use perspective and cryptography to collect cubes, to complete bigger cube. Cube-ception! The puzzles, music, and overall art style make it a nice cohesive package. If puzzles, platformers, cute, and or "think outside the box" interest you, I highly recommend you play this. Not recommended if you get motion sickness.
A Hat In Time
A Hat In Time is a 3D platformer collect-a-thon game in the vain of Super Mario series, Banjo & Kazooie series, etc, and justly marketed as "cute-as-heck".
You play as "Hat Kid" a time/space traveling little girl on her way back home. Her dimension traveling ship is powered by special time manipulating hourglasses called "Time Pieces".
Her ship arrives at a planet, and due to a very thorough member of the Mafia of Cooks, her ship's supply of Time Pieces gets scattered all across the planet.
She must now explore 5 areas of the planet, plus some time rifts in order to get back her fuel and continue her trip back home.
The games' marketing got me interested in the first place, so I'll let it do the visual work for this review.
No real need to fluff it up. This game is cute, silly, fun, and accomplishes what it set out to be.
Notes:
The controls feel great, and are easy to learn.
There is enough variety in aesthetics, mechanics, and objectives to keep things fresh as a whole throughout the ~15 or so hour adventure across the world.
Different abilities based on one of 6 hats you can wear.
Many badges that alter abilities or gameplay mechanics.
Some badges and other setting are designed with speedrunners in mind.
The camera badge gives you full control of the screen and some other features while it pauses the game. Hand-tailored screenshots.
2 player splitscreen available.
Generally, each area of the world and sometimes different levels within the areas, will have a specific aesthetic theme.
These are made to fit either the setting itself, or to help accentuate the gameplay for that particular level.
Examples: a sepia toned murder mystery on a train, an ethereal dimension hopping romp through ancient ruins, a cheery parade around a city.
3D platforming is generally the name of the game, but some levels will add, alter, or outright throw out the platforming.
There are stashes of items hidden throughout the levels. These usually give you coins that you can use to unlock various goodies.
These goodies include remixed level music that you can swap out, different skins for your hats, and different color schemes for Hat Kid herself.
This game is #HATS, but more for DigiKid rather then BobbyDigi I think.
There are bonus stages called Time Rifts throughout Hat Kid's ship and the various levels.
These are akin to the bonus stages in Mario Sunshine. A core set of these follow their own aesthetic.
There will be one story rift for each area of the world. The aesthetics and challenges will usually be derived from the area they are in. With some story elements for that area hidden within the rift.
Completing one of these rifts also gives you a free roll at those goodies.
There is great replay value potential for this game on the PC. At the moment Steam workshop support is in open beta.
Users can create new time rift challenges, new hat skins, and even more, and keep adding to the game.
In the time I played it, which was on and shortly after release, there were some notable bugs, but I didn't experience anything game breaking.
In fact I miss a bug that caused Hat Kid to roll in place when hopping on the scooter without using any other input first after spawning into an area.
In summary, A Hat In Time is a relatively modern take on the classic collect-a-thon games of the early polygon era.
Diverse gameplay, aesthetics, and characters help keep your playthrough fresh.
It supports modern trends such as modding, speedrunning, and social media sharing.
Whether you've got a pair of rose-tinted glasses for 3D platformers stashed away somewhere, or like platformers in general you'll likely enjoy this game.
Bonus: This video goes over the history and development of the game. Kinda interesting in my opinion.
I've got another review for one of my finished games almost done, but I have my doubts about it. I know it's something along the lines of "I'm not conveying what I feel I should be conveying.", but why I'm getting that feeling I'm not sure.