Perspective (DigiPen)
Platform: Windows
Hwelp, the students of DigiPen have done it again. A class of the game design school has released Perspective, a game that combines platforming with an intriguing first-person puzzle twist, where how you look at the world directly affects how you can move. Perspective will undoubtedly give to you a pleasant afternoon of wrapping your head around cleverly-designed puzzles where you attempt to move your blue fellow to the exit by tweaking your perspective, and to the students who designed the game, ridiculous resume fodder for when they graduate. All we ask is that they wear proper safety equipment when they're invited to go paintballing with Kim Swift, Jonathan Blow, and Tim Schafer. (I maaaay be a bit jealous.)
The movement in Perspective takes place in two modes. In one mode (which you will experience first), you can use [WASD] to move your blue fellow around the level, preferably toward the exit. As you'll learn quickly, it's safe to jump on blue platforms, but red objects must be avoided, and moving (or falling) outside the frame of view is as deadly as touching red. However, if you click the mouse, you switch to a first-person control mode, where you can walk around the space you're in with the [WASD] keys and look around using your mouse. Once you're in a good position (and make sure your fellow is not obscured by any wall), you can click to return to platformer mode. By alternating between these two control modes, you can guide the fellow to the exit, where more challenges await you. (The [E] key is also used to access these challenges while in a level select room.)
Part of the challenge of this game is figuring out new ways to use the movement mechanics to reach the exit, so I won't divulge too much here, but if I had to offer one hint, it's the age-old cliche of "try looking at things from a new perspective." Each room is carefully designed to force you to solve its challenges in a certain way, so take advantage of unique room layouts. If there's a portion of the map that you can see but can't access, or perhaps some extra depth to a room you wouldn't think is necessary if you were just walking through it, explore what you can do with it.
Even though there's barely any text beyond the level titles and some tutorial messages, you can almost feel a story developing as you explore the worlds that house the levels. The universe of Perspective is bizarre and surprising, but easy to fall into. Give Perspective a try and see what you can discover when you look at things in a whole new way.
Windows:
Download the free full version
Mac OS X:
Not available.
Try Boot Camp or Parallels or CrossOver Games.
This. Is. AWESOME!!!
Every other game that I've played that tried to combine 2D platforming and 3D prospective manipulation has been disappointing. But this game got it right. The puzzles are clever. The 3D perspective is familiar. And switching between perspectives seems very natural in its simplicity. It was a very fun, cool, unique game.
This is indeed a unique game. The ending in particular caught me off guard.
It did seem somewhat buggy, though. In the tutorial levels, the jump button only seemed to work about 5% of the time, seemingly at random (the other 95%, it still made the sound, but nothing happened). Fortunately, once I got past that level jumping worked fine. But the game did crash several times over the course of the game.
So it's finally out! I got linked to the trailer on YouTube a while back, and have been waiting eagerly ever since.
Now, if only there was a Mac version...
This game is amazing! I showed it to a friend while I was playing it, and he ended up beating it faster than I did. The ending was unexpected.
I think one trick of the game is figuring out that
once you transition out of 2D platforming into 3D first person, the platforming avatar is then fixed to the nearest point to your camera in the 3D map to where you left him. Knowing this helps a great deal with
the later levels involving moving parts, where the point he is fixed to is not stationary and thus neither is he.
About the game's pacing:
The game begins by quickly showing you the platforming mechanics, the perspective shift mechanic, and the enter/exit mechanic. This is a nice way to start off, by not shoving too much "tutorial" content at the player.
Then the game establishes a nice flow by continually introducing new puzzles and new ways you have to think about them. Around the Corner and Earth and Sky were particularly important, I think.
Then you exit The Arcade.
That was a point of legitimate surprise for me. I wondered how it would top itself after that.
Then you enter the_a_r_c_a_d_e.
Now there's legitimate fear, especially with the theming in the later areas of the_a_r_c_a_d_e. And in addition to the change of music, all the levels now involve motion, which sets a higher bar for difficulty. In [Population Room] I wondered, "How can I get to the exit?" and then looked at the ceiling, which is rotating. My jaw dropped.
So now you have this greater difficulty, and levels are starting to have multiple significant moving parts, ultimately leading up to The Machine, which is the most complicated level. And once you finish it, you wonder, "What's next?"
You then exit that hub room and see the credits. If you can still see "Perspective" and the hub room's floor on the screen, you can actually quit through the menu with no other effects.
But if you try to exit through the portal, you go down the rabbit hole.
The game says "needs more meta" and tells you that you're still in a game inside a game inside a game, etc. And so you eventually tire of going through the portal repeatedly because there's no visible difference on the screens, and you quit through the menu, probably not noticing you have no other choice (unless you Ctrl+Shift+Esc, in which case you miss out on the real ending).
You don't even know the definition of "meta".
(I'm sure you do, but that was for effect.)
You try to click on your computer screen and move your mouse and realize that either the game has taken over your computer or you're still not back in Kansas yet.
You see the other screens on the walls, ceiling, and floor, and eventually turn around and see the platforming avatar. You see nothing else to do, so you click.
Then you freak out, probably. I know I did.
Then you walk down the hallway to the portal, past the final credits, and wonder what awaits you.
Thankfully it's the end.
But it was an awesome ending to an awesome game nonetheless. As I said before, my friend beat it before I did, and said, without saying anything else, that the game would "freak you out in the best way". I think it did that.
Also:
I think the level Super Octagon is supposed to be a shout-out to Terry Cavanagh's Super Hexagon. If it was, it worked!
5/5!
I'd love to see a sequel, too.
If there could conceivably be one after that ending.
I've been so excited to play this game because it seems like a ''game changer''. But wondering if anyone can help me out...
I've tried downloading it several times using different mirrors and such, but every time I go to run the game it says there's a texture error or it couldn't load the game graphics or something like that and does not let me play the game. Could my computer just be too old? (It's a Toshiba Satellite about 4 years old.) Or is there something I can do to fix this. Thanks so much :)
Same here VanellopeVonShweetz , can't load the game because of some graphics/texture error and then "sends an error report". On the download page it says 'requires Windows and DirectX 11', both of which I have.... so what's the issue? Anyone know? Thanks in advance.
Update