| 28 July 2010
For the purpose of describing Limbo, it's perhaps easiest to label it as a 2D platform-puzzler. However, to do so is really selling the game short, as for their debut effort, Danish studio Playdead Games have hand-crafted a bold and unique experience that borders on being an interactive work of art.
To see images of the game's striking art style will give you an idea as to how beautiful the game can be, but to see it in motion is another matter entirely. At times the game looks like a shadow play, though it's the small touches, and the attention to detail which stand out the most, such as the way long grass rustles and bends as you run past it, the way clods of dirt fly into the air when a heavy object falls, or the way dust and debris settles on top of stagnant water. Playdead Games have – somewhat ironically given the subject matter – given the environment such a vivid sense of life.
This sense of artistry isn't just limited to the graphics, as the games audio also plays a crucial part in creating a well-realised world with a persistent atmosphere. This is mainly due to the fact that Limbo employs a strict less-is-more approach to its audio, and only uses diegetic sound; that is, sounds for which the origin can be explained naturally by what is happening on-screen. This means that you'll be able to hear sound effects, such as water splashing or machinery rumbling, but there is nothing which takes you out of the experience, such as narration or mood music, and this helps keep you immersed in the on-screen action.
In any narrative piece, the inclusion of mood music often provides a measure of comfort for the viewer, and so the complete absence of music in Limbo serves to isolate the player, and to make them feel vulnerable. This feeling of vulnerability is enhanced even further by the fact that nearly everything in the environment can kill you. All of this leads to an atmosphere of menace and foreboding, and this atmosphere is easily the thing that Limbo does best.
In contrast to this though, the developers have seen fit to include a number of bizarre design choices which work against the game in maintaining a consistent game world, mainly for the sake of creating a compelling game. Most of these poor design choices seem like nothing more than concessions to gamers; such as finding bear traps hidden in tree boughs, a spider which kills its prey by skewering it with its legs, and enemies who attack you with blow darts co-existing in a world with laser-activated sentry guns. Whilst many of these things can be explained away by the game's setting, their inclusion still feels counteractive to the atmosphere the developers worked so hard to create.
In addition to this, there is almost no backstory or explanation to the events in Limbo, and aside from the allure of figuring out the solution to the next puzzle, there's very little to drive you through the game. Throughout its duration, Limbo makes no attempt to reconcile any of the on-screen action with any form of story, and without exposition or context (other than that implied by the title) it becomes difficult to form any real sense of attachment to the games protagonist – a young boy. Whilst it is initially quite unsettling to watch him die, the exaggerated way he falls apart in some of the more gruesome death animations (which are largely at odds with the game's otherwise mature and artistic presentation), coupled with the fact that the game intentionally makes death such an integral part of the gameplay, mean that this tends to lose its impact very quickly. Ultimately, this lack of narrative, and detachment from the protagonist, end up leaving what should be a charismatic game feeling a little cold, and devoid of character.
These faults are all made harder to swallow by the fact that the puzzles in Limbo are genuinely very well done, and the game introduces enough new mechanics, at regular enough intervals, to keep the experience feeling fresh. The difficulty of the puzzles is also well balanced, and while there are a number of fairly difficult puzzles, they never feel insurmountable, and the solutions are always logical.
In terms of pure presentation, Limbo is bold, beautiful and unique, and is a game which needs to be seen in motion to really be appreciated. However, in spite of some thought-provoking puzzles and a clever concept, the lack of narrative, and the expendable nature of the game's protagonist leave it feeling a little soulless. Limbo's biggest downfall seems to be its own inability to decide whether it is a game or an experience, and as such, it seems to sit uncomfortably between the two. Oh, the irony!
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
