Screenshots :.
Lucidity
PC
Jay
13-10-2009
"That's it Nana, you knit like a demon you..."
"Bless... she sprained her ankle"
"Loving the artwork"
"Loads of environments to make your way over"
They say that history repeats itself, so is it any wonder that games of the platform flavour are coming back to tempt our ever insatiable appetites? Not really. To make things a little easier on developers, having a giant like Steam or Live! Arcade backing you is always a bonus. It does mean we have to get a little pickier when it comes to cream of the crop. Particularly after the likes of Braid, Trine and Shadow Complex – the heat is on!
Lucidity is somewhat of a conundrum in my book. While gracing us with artwork resembling our favourite childhood storybooks – it then introduces us to gameplay that will probably stunt the expected age group...
Lucidity features a girl who has fallen asleep while reading her favourite bedtime story. She then wonders off into these magical lands, and as with always when faced with the stuff of dreams, there are wonders and dangers a plenty. Although she should be happy she doesn't wonder around one of mine as last night I convinced myself that Barack Obama had been eaten by his own dog...
If you imagine what would happen if you crossed Tetris with Lemmings you'd come close to what's covered in Lucidity. The girl will continuously walk across the screen and it's up to you to help her not only avoid the hazards presented in each level, but collect stars along the way and open up new levels of her... well psyche I guess. To help her avoid these hazards you'll be given an infinite number of random objects to place in the level. You can only ever store one at a time and so between the object in your hand and the one stored you have decisions to make.
These objects vary in their usefulness. You might be given a set of stairs for her to walk up or a slingshot to catapult her over a short distance. The balance comes in trying to gauge how far ahead you can go with the objects you've been given and dispense with the objects you don't need somewhere she won't interact with them.
Considering how Lucidity opens up, with her sat in bed having a quiet read next to Nana; the ever doting grandparent with decades of wisdom to share – the game soon shows you that this was all false hope as it plummets you into levels where quick thinking is an understatement. To add to that, each level contains stars that you won't get all in one go so have to come back to get those usually more difficult places to reach. Hey, that's a tick in the replayability box at least seeing as they're parts of the level you were unlikely to have seen.
As I would've expected with a title that relies less on physics and more on set pieces; animations that methodically play when required, it can get a little clunky at times. Sometimes this works in your favour as she'll just catch the lip of something and step up onto it, whereas other times she'll miss it completely and fall to her impending doom. This combined with how fast you have to place objects in certain sections, particularly if you don't have the objects you actually need, can mean restarting the level more often than not – and without checkpoints that can really sting.
I loved the atmosphere though and so the blow of repeating levels was softened somewhat. The artwork looks fantastic and the sound and music compliment it really well in it's childish and atmospheric approach to her dream state. All plinky and non-intrusive – yet another way to calm our nerves at the silly bint falling into some brambles... yet again.
Something else that leads me to believe this game was intended for an older audience than it looks is that you get to check where you are on a leaderboard. Of course you do. What better way to break our mental composure than by providing a reason to replay the same level 50 times because one of your friends has a higher score than you. And as well all know, getting to this level of competitiveness doesn't kick in until secondary school (“Highschool” to our readers from the Big Country).
On the whole? Enjoyable and addictive with perhaps a teensy bit too much frustration at times. Still, if crazy, good-looking platform challenges are your thing – you'll do alright here!
Lucidity is somewhat of a conundrum in my book. While gracing us with artwork resembling our favourite childhood storybooks – it then introduces us to gameplay that will probably stunt the expected age group...
Lucidity features a girl who has fallen asleep while reading her favourite bedtime story. She then wonders off into these magical lands, and as with always when faced with the stuff of dreams, there are wonders and dangers a plenty. Although she should be happy she doesn't wonder around one of mine as last night I convinced myself that Barack Obama had been eaten by his own dog...
If you imagine what would happen if you crossed Tetris with Lemmings you'd come close to what's covered in Lucidity. The girl will continuously walk across the screen and it's up to you to help her not only avoid the hazards presented in each level, but collect stars along the way and open up new levels of her... well psyche I guess. To help her avoid these hazards you'll be given an infinite number of random objects to place in the level. You can only ever store one at a time and so between the object in your hand and the one stored you have decisions to make.
These objects vary in their usefulness. You might be given a set of stairs for her to walk up or a slingshot to catapult her over a short distance. The balance comes in trying to gauge how far ahead you can go with the objects you've been given and dispense with the objects you don't need somewhere she won't interact with them.
Considering how Lucidity opens up, with her sat in bed having a quiet read next to Nana; the ever doting grandparent with decades of wisdom to share – the game soon shows you that this was all false hope as it plummets you into levels where quick thinking is an understatement. To add to that, each level contains stars that you won't get all in one go so have to come back to get those usually more difficult places to reach. Hey, that's a tick in the replayability box at least seeing as they're parts of the level you were unlikely to have seen.
As I would've expected with a title that relies less on physics and more on set pieces; animations that methodically play when required, it can get a little clunky at times. Sometimes this works in your favour as she'll just catch the lip of something and step up onto it, whereas other times she'll miss it completely and fall to her impending doom. This combined with how fast you have to place objects in certain sections, particularly if you don't have the objects you actually need, can mean restarting the level more often than not – and without checkpoints that can really sting.
I loved the atmosphere though and so the blow of repeating levels was softened somewhat. The artwork looks fantastic and the sound and music compliment it really well in it's childish and atmospheric approach to her dream state. All plinky and non-intrusive – yet another way to calm our nerves at the silly bint falling into some brambles... yet again.
Something else that leads me to believe this game was intended for an older audience than it looks is that you get to check where you are on a leaderboard. Of course you do. What better way to break our mental composure than by providing a reason to replay the same level 50 times because one of your friends has a higher score than you. And as well all know, getting to this level of competitiveness doesn't kick in until secondary school (“Highschool” to our readers from the Big Country).
On the whole? Enjoyable and addictive with perhaps a teensy bit too much frustration at times. Still, if crazy, good-looking platform challenges are your thing – you'll do alright here!
7/10