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POSTED
20/7/11
OUTLAND
Ubisoft
PS3/PSN (also on Xbox 360/XBLA)
The story goes
something like this. You’re feeling bleurghy, so you consult The
Shamen for medical advice, which basically amounts to “Es are
good!”. Cue stuff about being the 18th pale descendent of some hero
bloke or other who alone can save existence from two sisters who’ve
escaped prison, cracked the sads and just want to end it.
Damn, this be good shit!
OK, we embellished a tad. Not that it matters, as Outland
doesn’t need some cockamamie establishing story – it’s ace anyway.
We’re told reference points are good – oh-oh, reference points are
good - so if you need one think any classic scrolly-world 2D
platformer with an intense injection of original Prince of Persia
and a spattering of Impossible Mission, but in a more verdant
setting.
This is another stunner in a recent 2D platty rebirth. Brink,
Limbo,
The Fancy Pants Adventures –
they’re all obvious nods to the past, but with unique
embellishments. For its part, Outland not only brings
luscious, multilayered, scaling backgrounds and musical ambience to
the club, but a fabulous and often brain-bogglingly challenging
polarity switching thing. Huh? Well, once the abilities are earned,
you’ll need to flip between light and dark powers to progress
through certain bits. A torrent of blue crap may be spewing forth
like R-Type on fast-forward, meaning you’ll need to go blue
to survive. Then you’ll need redness to deal with other assailants,
but the blue crap’s still everywhere. Argh, pressure!
Re-spawn points are reasonably fair, and unlike most old-school
platformers you’ve unlimited lives. Not that this makes things THAT
easy, but when you’re on go number 17 of a hair-tearing boss battle
you’ll be thankful for not being repeatedly ricocheted back to the
absolute beginning (it’s absolutely true...)
Refined, sublime, mischievous and devious, Outland’s kinda
genius. Lovely!
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CLICK
THIS!
CLICK
THIS!
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