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Games => General Gaming => Topic started by: sirean_syan on Monday, July 19, 2010, 11:16:43 AM

Title: Limbo
Post by: sirean_syan on Monday, July 19, 2010, 11:16:43 AM
Looks like we have another little download only gem on our hands: http://www.giantbomb.com/limbo/61-30380/reviews/

I think this comes out Wednesday or so. I'll be needing to fire up the 360 again soon.
Title: Re: Limbo
Post by: idolminds on Monday, July 19, 2010, 11:39:31 AM
Quote
You won't manage to avoid most of those dangers the first time, because so much of Limbo's action centers on brutally immediate, unforgiving environmental hazards. A blade might come swinging out of nowhere and slice you in half, or a gigantic spider could impale you on a wickedly sharp leg almost before you realize it's there. There's really never a moment when you're not in danger of meeting some grisly end or other, and most of those ends you will not see coming. Note however that the timing and triggers in each scenario are the same every time, so getting through the game requires a lot of trial and error, dying to some unforeseen menace two, three, four times before you work out exactly what you need to do and how fast you need to do it to keep yourself alive and continue on.
This sounds like something I totally don't want to play.
Title: Re: Limbo
Post by: Cobra951 on Monday, July 19, 2010, 11:46:12 AM
Hmmph.  They (http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/limbo) are certainly heaping on the praise.  But my misgivings are similar to idol's.  It seems there is very little game here for the money, and the play length is more a function of brutal difficulty.  For now, DeathSpank seems the better buy.
Title: Re: Limbo
Post by: W7RE on Tuesday, August 10, 2010, 03:17:54 AM
Yea I went with Deathspank over Limbo, but only because I could only really afford one right now. (if only I could buy 700 MS points instead of 800)
Title: Re: Limbo
Post by: Cobra951 on Tuesday, August 10, 2010, 07:20:40 AM
I tried the demo, and didn't even finish it.  It may as well be called Out of This World 2010.  I got to this hard part where I kept dying.  I knew what I had to do.  It was a matter of figuring out timing and positions.  I just didn't care enough to keep trying.
Title: Re: Limbo
Post by: PyroMenace on Thursday, August 12, 2010, 11:25:42 PM
I finished it last night. Interesting game but pretty frustrating, towards the end it becomes a nightmare. Just a bunch of physics stuff where your timing has to be exact. I dont really understand the praise reviewers keep giving it. I talked to idol about this and theres been games that have done this and evoked more immersion than Limbo did, like the first two Oddworld games, and that free PC game the was made a ways back called Knytt. It's a cool little game to checkout, but only if you're really curious.
Title: Re: Limbo
Post by: W7RE on Saturday, August 14, 2010, 12:02:11 AM
Well I went ahead and bought Limbo, and I beat already. It's hard to say how long it took me, because I did a lot of it while distracted by TV or during raid downtime in WoW. It did feel pretty short. By the time the puzzles and obstacles start to get tough, the game ends. I was hoping for a little more ramp up in difficulty, especially with regard to figuring out the puzzles. The only real challenging ones are based on preformance though.

The fail and try again gameplay didn't bother me though. With very few exceptions, I at least cracked a smile at the death animations of my character even after the 3rd or 4th death to the same thing. For $15 I was expecting it to be at least 50% longer than it was though. If you took the same gameplay and same basic concepts, and built a sequel that tried to top it all by being crazier and harder, that's about what I was expecting from the first one. I'm glad I had a chance to play it, but I just wish there was more.
Title: Re: Limbo
Post by: Cobra951 on Saturday, August 14, 2010, 08:04:07 AM
So the game is either a short ripoff for highly proficient gamers, or a source of frustration for the less adept.  Wow.  What a recommendation.
Title: Re: Limbo
Post by: idolminds on Saturday, August 14, 2010, 08:15:48 AM
But Cobra, its black & white! It doesn't have any text or speaking to tell a story! Its "indie"! That means its artistic and we must hold it up as a shining beacon of gaming as an artform.

...

Yeah.
Title: Re: Limbo
Post by: Cobra951 on Saturday, August 14, 2010, 08:30:21 AM
I bought an indie game on XBLA once: I Maed a Game with Zombies In It (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzoMcbpxil0).  It's a fun little diversion for a day or two, and the difficulty ramps way up rather quickly.  I paid one dollar for it.  Let me know when Limbo really goes into the indie category.
Title: Re: Limbo
Post by: W7RE on Saturday, August 14, 2010, 09:03:57 AM
Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy Limbo, and will probably play though it again at some point. It just felt like it needed to be longer, or maybe cost less. The challenge part is more of a nitpick than a real problem. I didn't really have any problems with the game at all while I was playing it. It wasn't until the end that I said "wait, that's it? it's not gonna get harder? or go on longer?" The time I actually had with it was great, and I really looked forward to seeing what it did next.

As far as indie games on Xbox. I browse them for new ones on a regular basis and have bought a few. The indie channel is littered with complete garbage, but you can find some real gems in there too. I recently read a thread on the developer community forums where someone was trying to defend their avatar zombie massage game and how their using the lure of avatars and zombies to lure in casual sales to fund their twin stick shooter. If you can wade though all the shit though, there's some nice stuff. I own several XBLA indie games.
Title: Re: Limbo
Post by: Cobra951 on Saturday, August 14, 2010, 09:11:41 AM
It's the pile of garbage I have to wade through that keeps me from hunting for the gems.  The highly misspelled zombie title is the one exception, because I heard of it elsewhere.  What other indie games are really worthwhile?
Title: Re: Limbo
Post by: W7RE on Saturday, August 14, 2010, 06:58:43 PM
Quote from: Cobra951 on Saturday, August 14, 2010, 09:11:41 AM
What other indie games are really worthwhile?

Apple Jack Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmjyicJ6_1M)
In this platformer, you play as Apple Jack, who's lost his dog. Ride enemies, pick them up, throw them at eachother for coins. This may be the best game on the XBL Indie games channel.

Arkedo Series - 01 JUMP! Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxlvAuJPtHI)
Platformer where the goal is to collect coins and bombs. The bombs each have a timer on them and you lose a life if one blows up. Once all bombs are collected an exit door opens.

Arkedo Series - 02 SWAP! Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTTbgvF6kTw)
A puzzle game. Blocks of different colors move up the screen, and you arrange 4 in a single line to destroy them.

Arkedo Series - 03 PIXEL Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mdrag9lynQ)
Another platformer. This one you play a cat named Pixel. There's a puzzle mini game too, where you zoom into a block and then it plays like a maze, where you have to find the right pixel.

Breath of Death VII Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDAj48iq4w8)
Old school NES RPG, like Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior. The game is sort of a parody on other RPGs, with lots of references.

Kaleidoscope Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kR9qZMqR6I)
Jump on enemies and collect color pellets to return color to the world.

Lumi Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEv3BOyjmnw)
Sort of a platformer where you fling yourself from floating object to floating object. There's blue things to attach to, and red ones. You use one trigger for blue, the other for red, and fling yourself past obstacles.

Ophidian Wars: Opacs Journey Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h6M9uvlRtQ)
Platformer with no enemies. Focus is on the platforming and collecting powerups that let you glide, double jump, etc.

Platformance: Castle Pain Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h6M9uvlRtQ)
A platformer where you have to get through a large sprawling level full of traps and obstacles. A giant ghost chases you the whole way to keep you moving. The focus here is on speed runs, though the easy difficulty is good for learning how to get past the obstacles.

Prismatic Solid Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OHO-1oihDc)
Shoot 'em up. You have like 6 different bullet spread configurations, and these little things that surround your ship that you can block bullets with.

Radiangames JoyJoy Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck3e315CCVk)
A very stylish looking twin stick shooter with lots of weapons and powerups. As you go you get more weapons, and then upgraded versions of those weapons.

Radiangames Crossfire Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEaBHWmxtXo)
Basically it's Space Invaders with a graphics style similar to Geometry Wars. The major difference is that you can launch yourself to the ceiling, turning the game upside down.

Soul Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtM9Ai_GwQU)
You're a soul that has recently vacated it's body, and must float through the hospital avoiding traps and demons to get to the exit. It's sort of like Operation (the board game) int hat you can't touch the walls. Warning: There's a "creepy girl" face that shows up on the screen at some points and it plays a loud scream, much like those things that have you stare at your monitor intently then try to scare you. It's annoying, even when you're expecting it.

Space Milkman Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHABsIQGxcM)
A platformer where you spend a lot of time sliding to kill enemies, break blocks, etc.

Square Off Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phMS3B3U5Tk)
Twin Stick shooter where you play as a floating square, and must destroy the enemy spaceships. It has sort of a Castle Crashers look to the visuals. It has multiplayer too, I think up to 4 players.

The Shadows in the Underworld Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idzogDRQzKU)
Sort of a twin stick cave crawler. You play as a submarine with a flashlight exploring an underwater labyrinth.

Twin Blades Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYi6_q-K5ps)
Sidescrolling hack and slash. You play a nun with a scythe and you walk around slashing seemingly endless hordes of zombies. It can get a bit repetitive, but there are bosses to mix things up too. You can upgrade your scythe, jumping abilities, or your gun. Your gun can get upgrades to shoot fire, holy beams, and a few others. The responsiveness of the controls can be a little lacking at times, but it's not a huge problem.

Urban Space Squirrels Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3ZNnCSwOi8)
Platformer where you play as a squirrel, and use bombs to unlocks doors, or project yourself upward. You can shoot a bomb, then jump up just past it and detonate it to propel yourself higher, or bounce a bomb off a few walls to hit a switch with it.

いれかえまほちゃん (Japanese text) Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLlZx1ivK1M) - Marketplace Link (http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8025855056c)
This one was sort of annoying to find since I don't read/speak Japanese and don't know of an English translation of the name. I included a marketplace link too, since I don't know exactly where to look for in on the Xbox dashboard (I picked it up when it was on the new release list)
Anyway, it's a puzzle platformer where you shoot a star out and if it hits an enemy, you swap places with it. You can shoot horizontally or at a 45 degree angle. Each level is one screen and pretty short, but there are 50 of them (I think).



Maybe I should have just made an Xbox Live Indie games thread haha.
Title: Re: Limbo
Post by: Quemaqua on Saturday, August 14, 2010, 09:55:53 PM
I have no idea what that means, but it says "irekaemaho-chan".
Title: Re: Limbo
Post by: Cobra951 on Sunday, August 15, 2010, 12:15:27 AM
Damn, W7re, thanks for compiling that list!  I'm impressed especially with Apple Jack and Lumi (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX_dvoEBMI8) (better vid).  Joy Joy and Arkedo 02 SWAP also grabbed my attention.  I'll be checking these out at some point.
Title: Re: Limbo
Post by: Cobra951 on Thursday, August 26, 2010, 09:03:01 AM
Dammit!  Deal breaker.  I just found out today that you can't play these offline.  Unlike everything else on XBL, you need to be tethered to mama Microsoft to play the indie games.  You know me.  That's the kiss of death.  Too bad so sad.
Title: Re: Limbo
Post by: W7RE on Thursday, August 26, 2010, 11:15:44 AM
Yea, I really hate that, but I'm usually connected anyway. It still bugs me though.

Apparently it's so they can get past the ESRB. That line "online interactions not rated by the ESRB" allows them to push stuff out without waiting for ESRB review.
Title: Re: Limbo
Post by: Cobra951 on Thursday, August 26, 2010, 11:24:38 AM
What I read said pretty much the same thing.  They can pull content that is found to be inappropriate after release too.  That only validates my hardline stance even more.  No one can tell me what I can do with my software after it's on my system.
Title: Re: Limbo
Post by: idolminds on Thursday, August 26, 2010, 03:28:57 PM
Thats weird for me, if not just because...who is the ESRB? Can they fine you for releasing games without a rating on consoles? Who cares if its not rated? They could just release "Unrated Version" like they do for shitty movies so people think there are more boobs in them. Or maybe the entire indie games section could be "unrated" and if they were worried, cant be played on systems with a greater than M restriction.

Anything would be better than requiring you be online to play these.
Title: Re: Limbo
Post by: iPPi on Wednesday, January 05, 2011, 09:38:29 PM
Got a chance to try the demo over the Christmas holidays and really liked it.  I think I will buy it when I finish up my studies for the year.
Title: Re: Limbo
Post by: MysterD on Thursday, June 30, 2011, 02:12:45 PM
Limbo is coming to both PC and PSN next month. (http://ps3.ign.com/articles/118/1180008p1.html)
Title: Re: Limbo
Post by: iPPi on Thursday, June 30, 2011, 06:05:57 PM
Quote from: MysterD on Thursday, June 30, 2011, 02:12:45 PM
Limbo is coming to both PC and PSN next month. (http://ps3.ign.com/articles/118/1180008p1.html)

Sweet... good thing I held out and didn't purchase it yet.  I guess I'll get it for PSN now.
Title: Re: Limbo
Post by: iPPi on Tuesday, July 19, 2011, 10:35:00 PM
So it's out on PSN.  Picked it up and playing it right now.
Title: Re: Limbo
Post by: idolminds on Sunday, June 17, 2012, 10:57:30 PM
I'm just bumping old threads lately.

Got this in an indie bundle, so why not play it? And...I liked it. I think I have to disagree with the Giantbomb review a little. I didnt find it that hard, or the puzzles particularly challenging. I got stuck in one spot where they introduced a new mechanic that I quickly looked up in a guide.
(click to show/hide)
Other than that most everything was just timing. Not a lot of "instant unforseen deaths" either. One or two that were kind of funny when they happened.
(click to show/hide)
But those felt like they were few and far between. Maybe I was playing cautiously but I saw most dangers before they could do anything to me.

Overall I thought it was pretty good.
Title: Re: Limbo
Post by: Xessive on Sunday, June 17, 2012, 11:28:08 PM
I love it. It definitely stands out from the crowd.

It's not tough, it's the right amount of challenge without being frustrating.

Speaking of which, I have to jump back into it.