Though my focus here will be generally pointed at games that fully leverage the stand-out features of the Shield tablet, for now I’m controller-less so I decided to poke around the Tegra Zone in search of a more simply controlled game. Since Badland was the first one I ran into and, hey, it was free, I gave it a quick download and started out knowing absolutely nothing about what I was in for.
Without a shred of instruction you start your game in a very stylized environment, with a beautifully detailed art backdrop and a silhouetted foreground where all of the action takes place. You’re brought up to speed in the game through the classic experience of trial and error. Best of all, it is the brutal kind of lessons involving a lot of dying. Your little creature(s) will die by explosion, being smashed, shredded by spinning blades, and a host of other methods. Never fear, you’ll start back at a checkpoint that is often close by (though there are numerous brutal examples in the game where you’ll curse having to start again THAT far back… but it’s all good) and you’ll try again… and again… and again.
Finally, the game will end up taking pity on you (or so I’ve heard, of course we game reviewers are the picture of perfection and unstoppable) and offer to let you move on to the next checkpoint. Trust me, the offer will be very tempting at times but let me assure you there is no challenge that is insurmountable. Though there are quite a number that require delicate precision and nerves of steel… and it here that the game goes from amusing distraction to hardcore, nail-biting, delicious agony. If there were a game to compare it to, I’d say the aesthetics and aspect of brutal discovery remind me most of another excellent indie game, LIMBO.
You see, Badland, to me, is two very different games. There’s the game that you can try for free, and it is well worth your time and limited bandwidth requirements. You’ll be sucked in by the gorgeous visuals, the simple and soothing sounds, your cute puffball of a creature who endures all sorts of indignities, and a few clever sequences where you’ll learn the game mechanics and tricks to the environment as you go. If there’s a mistake the developer made, though, it is in the free portion of the game not giving an impression of the true game that awaits some distance past the point where the free game starts to throw ads at you to continue playing. At some point the game gets a lot more clever, requiring some brain power as obstacles and devices that once were to be avoided are now tools to be used to help you advance. New combinations of skills and tactics begin to be required to navigate increasingly complex puzzles within the environment. Sometimes the answer is applied physics, requiring that you become heavier and hit a structure in a certain spot. Sometimes you need to clone yourself many times and attack a problem with sheer numbers, hoping that maybe a handful of (or even just one) creature(s) can make it through. On top of that, brutally difficult sequences begin to periodically sneak into the game, first requiring you to simply figure out what it is you need to do to proceed but then demanding that you execute your plan to near perfection.
In particular, in the last levels of Day 1, as I neared its completion, the game seemed to become a series of challenges that often had me frazzled, getting SO close to finishing a sequence but then having it all fall apart near the end. About half of the time in these situations I actually found I had to take a step back and consider that the most intuitive way to get through the challenge before me was also the wrong way. A few times I literally thought to myself, “But that can’t be the way, that’s absolutely nuts”. Sure enough, sometimes the game requires you to try things that are so crazy they somehow work. I have found these sequences then to be the most rewarding, forcing me out of my comfort zone of pre-conceived notions of what is safe or makes sense.
The developer (Frogmind, BTW) seems to have started out with a collection of ideas for obstacles, power-ups, and situations and rather than go for the traditional and simple “tweak the formula repeatedly” method to finish out the game they have instead done so much more; they’ve come up with some devilish combinations of power-ups and challenges in the scenery that demand you show some creativity and skill to determine, and then execute, a plan of action. Will that involve growing very large or small to barge, or even squeak, through an environment? Will it force you to use a mob of clones to lift or move an object by swarming under it? Will you need to divert clones on different paths in parallel in order to activate multiple switches? What is reassuring is that in all scenarios the game always provides you the means to proceed. Granted, sometimes the trick is not to grab a specific power-up but you can assume that anything that stands out in what you can see has a purpose and even if you can’t get to it diectly there must be a way to work with something in the environment to help you progress.
While I started out with this game not expecting much, thinking “Surely my brand new uber-tablet and my seasoned gaming skills will make short work of this casual-gamer fare”, I couldn’t be more pleased than to tell you it has made me a believer. While the controls may be incredibly simple, the developer has done a phenomenal job of progressively cranking up what you’ll be asked to accomplish with them. Add a diabolical puzzler element to all of that action and you have a game that stands head and shoulders above many games out there. Since the free version of the game is out there to let you get your feet wet, by all means, try before you buy. Please keep in mind, though, that the free content is generally a relaxing cake walk compared to what is to come, so don’t poo poo it for being too simple… you could miss a deep and rewarding experience in the process.
Scoring: (out of 5)
Graphics: 4.5 – Though it may not be asking for much in terms of horsepower the game’s stand-out look is certainly eye-catching. The backgrounds a wonderfully lush and colorful, and the foreground elements, even if only seen in silhouette, are very detailed and always easy to identify
Sound: 4 – Perhaps the lack of much more than some ambient jungle sounds and those tied to the on-screen action bring this down for some, but having played the game quite a bit I also can’t say that it feels like there’s something specifically missing. Aside from the game not making excellent use of my front-facing speakers I have no real complaints
Gameplay: 5 – This is a score that continued to evolve the deeper I got into the game. What started as enjoyable casual gaming fare in the appetizer phase quickly got into a meaty main course of challenges for both your reflexes and your mind. The puzzle-like aspect of some of the levels helps Badland stand out in a crowd of far less inventive titles
Control: 4 – I won’t lie, there are times when the ability to dictate which direction you’re moving in (aside from when you’re spinning) or even have use of analog control would be highly preferable. Thing is, all you get is simple touch is on, release is off, and the game’s challenges are very much constructed around that limitation. For being so (ultimately frustratingly) simple, it is executed magnificently
Lastability: 5 – Failing to get more than a few hours out of this game would have nothing to do with the developer not trying their damndest. There are many, many hours of challenges awaiting you to progress through the main game’s 2 days and then you have extra levels beyond that. If you’re truly a masochistic perfectionist they’re more than willing to accommodate as well, specifying a variety of challenges on each level to unlock trophies. They have even thrown in both co-op and competitive multi-player modes that would be fun for a while if you have an opponent of equivalent skill. For a game that can be acquired at a reasonable cost you’d struggle to find a comparable, let alone better, value
Overall: 4.5 – Bearing in mind I have a hardware consideration in my focus the only fault that I can really find in the game is that it doesn’t do enough to take full advantage of my investment in awesome gaming hardware. I’ll admit that the style of play may not suit everyone (probably true of every game ever made) but Badland went the extra mile and more to make even a jaded gamer like me take notice and smile.
