Review: Limbo (Xbox 360)
A charming independent game that surpasses the art direction of blockbuster titles, Limbo's developer sets the bar high, while making questionable business decisions.
The indie developer Playdead's maiden game, Limbo, has been blessed and burdened by four years of expectation preceding its release.
Concept videos since 2006 whetted the appetites of games writers, "mature gamers" and design types eager to keep their finger on the pulse. The teasers were bold and full of the trademark whimsy that independent games often promise.
Four years on — a limited, Xbox 360 download-only release seems a relatively modest way to introduce such a title. What is Limbo, then?
The striking thing about Limbo is its silhouette art style, not that it is a platform game. This speaks well of how far console gaming has come in 10 years, and what we as players expect of it.
It is a game played through a screen, on a screen, but this is one of its great strengths. Grass sways in the way that it should, a box falls in a satisfyingly tactile way, falling boulders and spiders threaten just as if they were projected on a wall by a candle.
Objects in the background interact with the foreground to add considerable depth to the game world. Girders rock as the player navigates their closer cousins and tethers follow machinery as it is nudged into place.
This is an achingly gorgeous visual experience, without equal. Braid, which will be called a precursor even as both games were developed in parallel, is a similar thing of beauty but is without the same attentive animation.
No Princesses
Limbo doesn't have a story and the player isn't asked to follow any kind of imperative, which is strange in the two-dimensional world of Mario, Flashback or Ecco. The character is a small boy, and there is some mention of a quest to find a missing sister, although that seems to have been an early idea made peripheral over time.
Storytelling is stripped of text or dialogue, and any meaning that players take from the game, they bring to it themselves. For example, the Catholic concepts of "limbo" are often of an afterlife for the blameless. From the art style, I thought about Aeneas' journey through the kingdom of Hades, a land of shadow, in Greek myth (there's even a boat journey). One encounter brought Peter Pan or Swallows and Amazons to mind — there is that much in there.
I don't think there is any real meaning for the player to take away, just a collection of influences. This is another slight advantage the game has over Braid, which is full of sixth-form poetry and exposition, and dents a great plot twist.
Limbo's sound is spare, without music and dramatic effects. A rustle of grass or some ragged breathing is often the only soundtrack. What the player does get is an audio cue when there is danger or something of interest — the giant spiders, bear traps and giant cogs make satisfying noises.
On the subject of traps, I would say that for being in two dimensions, Limbo is not for children. Everything that can go wrong for the character will do so, and the game's shadow world is full of unseen horrors. Cogs, spider legs, rolling boulders, bear traps, falls, water and arrows all bring their own sticky ends.
Where Limbo departs from conventional platform games is in its collection of puzzles which must be navigated, often against time pressure or the player's reflexes. A 2D game, like any of the Castlevania titles, or Dizzy, or Donkey Kong, relies on constant action. Defeating or avoiding hordes of enemies is the key to success.
10.01pm - 22.07.2010 John - Las Vegas, NV, USA Report This
Oh please, your knock on this game is it's not released on the PS3? Give me a break. What of "Little Big Planet"? Should that title suffer too cause it's only on Sony? Microsoft is allowed to have exclusives and they are allowed to have those exclusives be great. Stop whining.
05.04pm - 23.07.2010 Ann Stow - Shropshire, England Report This
A student of mine showed artwork like this to me and I was intrigued to find out more. A very thorough and well-written article!
10.55am - 31.07.2010 Hugo - Leiria, Portugal Report This
ohh come on... that is a little big planet clone.. you can do that game on little big planet...
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