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    Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

    This is an archive review, from the olden days of The Game Show. Enjoy!

    Genuinely original games are thin on the ground these days. Games which force us to look at video games from another viewpoint or to challenge our preconceptions of the medium are even less so. Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet might be such a game. The mission is simple: to explore a bleak, surreal landscape, to meet strange new creatures and then kill them – all in the goal of saving your homeworld.

    The story – if you want to call it that – is as simple as the very inception of the game. Shadowy, malevolent forces have destroyed the sun and invaded your planet, covering its once-lush pastures with black, organic mass. Akin to a giant parasitic infection, this dark menace quickly devours the entire world in it’s fanged visage. Apparently the last surviving entity on its planet, the protagonist of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is an adorable little flying saucer. Taking the task upon itself, the gamer is challenged with eradicating the planet-sized enemy and its myriad spawn.

    Straight off the bat, one of the most impressive elements of this game is the sparse use of dialogue, spoken or otherwise. The entire first act is a lengthy cutscene with no voiceover, no narration and not even the leanest of on-screen messages. The entire narrative is illustrated with an incredibly beautiful animation – putting such a great amount of information over in a purely visually manner is an incredible achievement and is immediately impressive; this is before you’ve even picked up the controller.
    The opening FMV sets the tone for the game and the game proper follows through with aplomb. The incredible attention to detail and jaunty use of colour make for a game that is visually joyful – both the moving, detailed backgrounds and the wonderfully-animated saucer character keep the gamer’s attention throughout the experience. This reviewer is particularly fulsome in his appreciation of a non-human character who, despite his robotic nature, is still able to draw empathy from the user. The aforementioned backgrounds are hypnotic in some areas – so much so that you may find enemy creatures sneaking in for a hit whilst you admire the blurry, swaying imagery. For a two-dimensional game, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet has a deceptive feeling of depth.

    The mesmerising art style belies true talent in the staff of Shadow Planet Productions – you will struggle to find a game with as much originality and ingenuity anywhere in this current generation. One of the more rakish observations is despite everything having such aesthetic beauty, nothing is remotely human or Earth-based. The landscape is bereft of anything homely or comforting, eschewing green fields and blue skies for twisted black oesophagi and acid-flooded chambers inhabited by extraneous fauna.
    These visuals are twinned beautifully with an equally-impressive soundscape. The subtle soundtrack to your adventure quickly becomes as important to the game as the visuals. Your ship itself has a staggering array of noises which it emits at various junctures throughout the game from the innocuous bleeps and blips it makes whilst traversing the game to the adorable clanking and whining when the little fellow takes damage. The stage bosses boast booming bass notes as your high-frequency saucer battles them but the soundtrack soon scales back to the eerie ambience once combat is over.

    I’m sure many of our readers have heard the word MetroidVania. Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is a near-perfect example of this style of game. There is a sizeable map to explore with ample secret areas and pickups to find. Throughout its quest to free the planet our plate-shaped hero will upgrade its weapon systems and unlock a myriad of new abilities. Each newly-acquired ability enables access to new sections of the map, areas which were previously unreachable due to impassable borders. If you’re the kind of gamer who relishes backtracking and exploration there’s plenty of mileage for it in Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet as the gamer is encouraged to find a wide array of unlockable extra content and upgrade the ship with gear scattered around the various locations. Each new tool is well thought-out, fun to play with and doesn’t feel throwaway or tagged on. Each new upgrade arrives just before a boss who’s only weakness is the item you just collected – reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda. The boss fights themselves are challenging, fun and well-designed. Overall the combat throughout the game is well-balanaced and is nicely peppered around so you’re spending more time exploring than you are blasting.

    The end boss does creep up a little quickly. The game is admittedly a fairly short experience but that shouldn’t be held against it – Super Metroid is a game that can be completed in two hours after all. If anything the game feels stronger for its short and sweet ethos. The game doesn’t have time to become stale or to repeat itself – it goes out on a high whilst the gamer’s zeal is at its highest.
    Once the main game is over the player can always indulge in Lantern Run, a multiplayer mode where the ship is tasked with dragging a huge lantern through a Viet-Cong-esque interconnecting series of tunnels whilst the Cthulu-like giant squid from earlier in the game chases you. It’s not much of an experience but at least there’s a little something to keep you interested after you’ve completed the main quest. Me, I’d just start the game right over from the beginning. The joy with games like Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is the many ways of completion; 100%, lowest amount of upgrades, speed running and more. That should give you all the longevity you need.

    Exit mobile version