PixelJunk Eden: More So Facebook Than Ninja Roping

March 4th, 2009

Time to come down to earth a little bit and talk about Eden as a bunch of technical mechanics in relation to the feelings it encapsulates. You know, the way I usually swing. If you haven’t played Eden then this article should probably work favourably for you.

Above I have included a gameplay video of Eden, if you haven’t ever seen (much) of Eden then take a quick look, you only need to watch it for a minute to pick up the jist. Even if you have seen some before, just take a quick look for context. Work with me here.

Now, when I originally downloaded video for this game, one of the first things that jumped to mind was the apt ninja rope mechanic from the Worms series. It’s simply so much fun to play around with, like a two dimensional Spiderman. Here’s some more video to jog your memory:

Eden doesn’t really play the same way as Worms does, so it doesn’t necessarily feel the same way either. Eden‘s world is full of smaller goals which ensure that you can’t get too far ahead of yourself. As the video depicts, your little grimp needs to collect pollen from floating containers in the air, obtaining pollen sends them in the direction of the nearest bud which with enough pollen will grow upwards opening more of the level. With the constraint of grip spots (that is, the player has to make the environment grow before they have surfaces to twee from) and a less sporadic and agile rope to content with, Eden is very much different from Worms’ ninja rope experience. They are similar, and definitely appear more similar than they really are, but in reality the games have very different directions and intents from the swinging mechanics.

I’ve been playing Eden entirely in co-operative with my brother and I think that a better analogy for the way Eden plays is to liken it to social networking; either Twitter or Facebook. The vibe imposed on the player is very relaxing – as the last article pointed out. The mood set by the game doesn’t pressure you for result, if anything it pushes you to freestyle it more. You have two players in an environment, working together to build up the world around them. They can work together or just swing around wherever their senses lead them, looking for the next bud to blossom.

Whatever the players do, their worlds are kept together within the scope of the screen. Leaving the screen results in a direction pointer and a short three second timer warning to player to climb back up before a respawn and mild punishment. The two players therefore have to be in the some vicinity of each other. This is similar to setting up your networks in Facebook. Selecting which institutions you attending and becoming part of that game space.

Whatever they do is universally shaping what is happening around them. Creating bursts of pollen, swaying the grip area – the plants around them, pollinating new buds and growing new plants. In a way this is very much like an offline world, with each person doing their own thing, but subtly connected online through the affects their actions are having on the environment.

This is the same way Twitter or Facebook operates. Unless I chat with someone through the service, my actions aren’t imposing but still affecting the people around me. I upload a photo from some event on the weekend, a friend sees this and comments on this. This then ripples onto the profile of that friend’s friend who can see the album as part of an extended network through the updates feed. Although I’m basically going about my business, doing my own thing effectively, it is the flow off effect that make a network like Facebook or Twitter alive, much like the breathing world of Eden. One cannot exist without the other.

As you can see by the two examples, both Eden and Facebook share similarities in the way in which they operate, seemingly likening the networking experiences to one another.

Downloadable Drug

March 2nd, 2009

Pixel Junk Eden‘s most poignant quality is the way it slips you into a mental slumber with its hypnotic chimes, weightless gameplay and pulsating visual charisma. It’s perhaps the best sort of game to play before you go to bed, simply because its natural ambiance, as well as the player created ambiance send your body into peaceful hibernation. It’s an incredible trance like state, similar to the way Ikaruga‘s concentration overload sends your mind through channels of mental breakdown. The main difference being that the come down from Ikaruga almost shatters your brain, as you recover back into a less intensive, less destructive state of mind. One that isn’t demanding twitch from the streams of pattern identification.

Eden is unbound from strain, and hence you relapse slower. During play it gently burrows into your self awareness, before manifesting and shutting off everything bar the plugs that allow your brain remains to become encapsulated with the on screen tight rope act performed by those strange bits of characterized shape. The gameplay demands are minimal, with most of your little effort concentrated on staying afloat rather than any objective goals, like completing the level. The lack of interference allows the visual and aural scapes to stimulate and massage you into this zen state.

The higher you climb, the deeper the hooks sink into you. The superbly instrumental sounds bend back and forth to the on-screen acrobatics of these tiny characters. Music becomes the element in which you flow, you orchestrate on screen with synchronocity to the tunes you are influencing. The visual platform becomes just that; a platform to throw yourself at, a tool to proceed with. It’s an incredible unity of presentation with gameplay that all interweaves with such fidelity. Detached, as something so far from real, so much more than cases with price tags on. Pixel Junk Eden deserves not to sit in the space of “real” games on the shelf of game stores but rather, allow itself to be found, discovered, in a place without physicality.

Syphon Filter:Dark Mirror Design Notes

February 18th, 2009

This is the third and likely final post that I wanted to make regarding Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror. Unlike the other two, this time I want to just jot down a few responses to some of the game’s more prominent design choices.

Syphon Filter: Dark Socom

The biggest difference between the PSP and PSone Syphon Filter titles is the reimagining of the control scheme and supportive mechanics built around it. The featured new addition is the ability to cling to walls for cover fire. You’ll need to constantly rely on sturdy cover to shoot your way out of most firefights. With movement fixed on the analog nub, aiming is mapped to the face buttons and can certainly become a slow process when co-ordinating between both axes to line up a shot. It’s an unavoidable hassle that comes with the lack of dual sticks, but minimized to great effect.

These new mechanics cullminate in a much slower, methodical game that rewards smart decision making teamed with solid shooting skills. It feels a bit like a hybrid of Syphon Filter meets the Socom games. The PSone games featured a generous lock on system which turned our secret agent into a highly effective one man army. The system is still present from the originals, but it’s effectiveness is toned down in favour of the duck-and-cover approach. Gabe also seems less able to absorb bullets which supports this grounding. There are rarely ever any situations where you can freely run into an area and win by pure bullet spaming. It’s all slow and methodical. On the flipside to this new upclose combat moves have been included and feel satisfying to kick people in the ass.

Neat Effects

Sony Bend must pride themselves greatly on their use of special effects on the PSP because Dark Mirror will take any excuse to exercise them. This includes explosions, fog, weather affects, smoke, water and so forth. The game constantly turns every moment into a display of technical muscle for the system. It looks great, sometimes feels superfluous but actually becomes a dynamic catalyst for mixing up the gameplay scenarios.

Goggles

The effects aren’t just the only way in which Sony Bend seem keen on showcasing graphical eye candy. Dark Mirror also places a heavy weight on using the 3 goggles and torch functions. EDSU goggles are used to clue you in on where to go next (alerting you of sensative spots) or can be used just to check for trip wire explosives and other nasties. Nightvision explains itself and is used ocassionally, sometimes in vents. Infrared goggles are used to see heat sources through walls and can become a good safe guard when trying to spot out hard to see targets. There is a torch which is also handy sometimes.

syphon-filter-gabe

All four of these items are well integrated into standard play – particularly problem solving.. They are mapped to the left button on the directional pad and hide/cycle nicely just like the weapons.

Super Agent Man

You may remember that it wasn’t too long ago (I guess in the N64/PSone era) when many players started questioning the copious amounts of weapons and ammunition attainable in a typical action game. The argument was that it is physically wasn’t possible for protagonists to carry an armory of weapons, often including larger artilary (eg. Roket launchers). This defied the laws of realism and eventually designers looked at this and discovered a work around; limit the player to two weapons – thanks Halo.

Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror manages to work around this fangled trick while at the same time pouncing on a neat graphical opportunity. All of the items that protagonist Gabe Logan carries are attached to his suit. Small items like a taser and knife as well as ammunition are kept in pockets. Larger items like rifles are mounted at either the upper or lower half of the back of Gabe’s body suit. As you cycle through weapons Gabe will slot them back and forth between the various positions on his suit. When he collects ammo, an animation plays of him storing it in his pockets and so forth.

Since Gabe is never really (once, for a few minutes) given large artilery weapons like rocket launchers he doesn’t have to worry about those weighing him down. The effect of this design decision not only conqueres the realism barrier but it also makes Gabe more visually variant.

The New People

Just as a fan of the series, I figured it was worth mentioning some of the changes in voice acting casts between the PSone and PSP titles. I won’t go into specifics/don’t know the specifics, but the cast is basically completely new. Gabe sounds more or less the same with some slight tonal differences. Lian Xing sounds less American-Chinese and much younger and adolescent. Teressa Lepan and Lawrence Mujari are similar approximations to their original self. Infact the former two don’t feature too frequently in Dark Mirror.

Canisters, Keys and More Rewards

In my last article about Dark Mirror I talked about the rewards system but I actually forgot a few integral examples to back up what I was saying. I’m nearing the end now of my second play through so a few of these have sprung back to mind when I’ve run into them. The first one being in one of the later episodes (group of missions) where weapons can be unlocked by destroying a series of canisters located in the levels. The hint area under the pause menu identifies what can be unlocked and the mechanic overlays ontop of the hidden evidence scavage.

syphon-filter-dark-mirror-psp

In addition to this, some levels contain hidden objectives which open up more hidden objectives to new areas and weapons which string off the main mission. Think of it like Perfect Dark where more objectives are added with each difficulty setting, except in this case those objectives aren’t compulsory. Lastly is the use of night visioned secret messages to hide the codes to doors which contain additional bonuses.

Small Details etc.

Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror is seemingly packed with cool little touches that you probably wouldn’t notice hadn’t it come to you. I just wanted to briefly mention two of them. The first is that you can use your own medkits to heal partners who accompany you in the game. The second is that when you kick a door down (Dark Mirror employs the Resident Evil 4 open door mechanic) with a man on the other side, they will be stunned on the kick back.

Conclusion (yes, I’m done!)

I think I’m fresh out of ideas on Dark Mirror, which is probably a good thing. ^_^ I reckon that I’m slowly moving into deeper territory with every key game that I’m playing. I mean, I managed to draw three solid posts on this game alone and have a similar slew in the pipeline for the next game want to look at. I think I’ve exhausted almost everything worth mentioning about this game without formalizing it in a review manner. And it goes without saying that I’d recommend this title.

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Tags: Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror

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