Get lost in Limbo!

Dark, gritty and an art style that could only be described as the end product if Tim Burton and a 1920’s film maker were to copulate, Playdead’s Limbo XBLA puzzle plat former is one heck of a game. Clocking in at around 3-5 hours completion time, this game has so much charm and unique character that it’s worth every penny of your 1200 Microsoft points. Limbo is one of the most unique looking games on Microsoft’s downloadable platform since Braid, some are describing it as the 2010 Braid, I’d like to think of it as better than Braid myself.

Limbo’s game play doesn’t use any special fandangle concept. It’s game play is simple by design. You can jump, push and pull objects and move your character. Where the games challenge lies is that there are no screen prompts, no hints on how to progress but instead the game relies on you dying to figure out the best method to get past all manner of Spiders, flaming bows and crumbling chasms. Constantly dying is rewarded with painful deaths that aren’t as gore ridden as everything is in black and white. Where the game doesn’t frustrate is the fact that when you do die a painful death you are taken back within yards of where you actually died, no punishment for the learning the error in your ways.

Everything in Limbo is grey and black and the artist has used some blurring to create partial foreground and backgrounds to create a sense of entrapment. The puzzle elements are rather clever, in the opening stages to the game you’ll have to experiment with bear traps to chop the spiders legs or use them to propel you to a higher platform by setting a trap under a bending branch. These elements are very clever to say the least. The game also uses your dexterity by testing your reflexes and quick reaction skills to falling objects, set traps and breaking platforms.

Concept for the Sewer

One of the most impressive elements in the game is the sound. It creates an atmospheric experience using a minimal amount of score. The spiders sharp feet crashing down on you is a jumpy moment, but these subtle touches will be wasted on you if you don’t wear some form of headset or surround sound system. Independent developers never cease to amaze me, without them we would have some very dull experiences indeed. Limbo has given the XBLA platform a real fresh vibe this year and hopefully with any luck we’ll return to Limbo or another world in some fashion by the developers Playdead. If the game lacks anything, it’s a sense of story. Your character wakes up from the ground nursing its head in wonderment of where he is, your job is to find your sister upon the Limbo world but that never seems apparent throughout. Is it that big of a deal? Definitely not! I’d be happy to play this game and not have a single clue about my character. Just to play in this dark and sordid world is a pleasure in itself. Cliché as it sounds your money will not be in ‘Limbo’ by buying this title!