One of the great joys of the gaming world is discovering
some under-appreciated title and enjoying the hell out of it before any of your
friends. I like to keep an eye out for
new releases that aren't accompanied by the multi-million dollar fanfare that big
game companies bring to the table, and I especially like to give smaller
developers a vote of confidence with my wallet.
Naturally, when I saw Contrast’s release yesterday, I was
intrigued. A game that combines clever
manipulation of light and shadow with a gritty noir art style? Of course I’m in! While it starts strong, however, the game
fails to build any serious momentum, so though it’s fun and interesting, it’s
not very exciting. Here’s why:
Contrast gives you control of Dawn, the best friend of a
young girl named Didi. It opens with
Didi’s mother tucking her into bed for the night, only to have Didi immediately
escape her room to go watch her mother’s performance at a local cabaret. What ensues is a somewhat cliché story about
hard times and desperate men, which is awfully disappointing because the plot
could have been much more engrossing.
But that’s ok, because Dawn is invisible to everyone but
Didi, and Didi and Dawn are the only characters the player ever gets to see;
all other characters are represented only by the shadows they cast. That is an incredibly cool storytelling
device, and it makes the otherwise lackluster storyline a lot more entertaining.
That visual element gets mixed into the core components of
the gameplay, too. Dawn has the unique
ability to transform into a shadow on a lighted wall, allowing her to interact
directly with other shadows and maneuver through areas that would otherwise be
inaccessible. As such, the majority of
the game revolves around the manipulation of light and shadow. It’s a really nifty mechanic, allowing for clever
puzzles and surprising interactions with the environment.
The game’s biggest flaw is the lack of difficult
puzzles. I didn't find any of them to be
very hard at all, although there were a couple that took a while because I
couldn't quite figure out what the game wanted me to do (the source of the
worst kind of puzzle frustrations…). The
end result is a mere 3-5 hour experience without a whole lot of challenge,
which just seems way too short for the $15 price tag. It was fun while it lasted, but it was much
too brief.
In the end, Contrast feels like a beautifully-packaged proof
of concept. The wonderful art style and
animation (save for the shadows’ hands – they all look like they’re wearing
Mickey Mouse’s gloves) coupled with subtle music develop a wonderful
atmosphere, and the voice acting is solid, even if the script is a little stereotypical.
With all that said, there are a few plot pieces that appear
in the latter half of the game that hint at a complex back story, but those
ideas aren't really developed. They
either seem like bizarre twists just for the sake of having a twist (i.e.,
twists that don’t really serve a narrative purpose), or they could be
intentionally setting up DLC or a sequel.
I have no idea if there are already plans for new content in the future,
but even if there will be another adventure somewhere down the line, it kind of
feels like a cheap shot to leave those threads hanging.
Contrast is a beautiful game based on a clever
mechanic. It’s interesting to see it in
action, and it requires the player to approach the game world in a somewhat
unusual way, which makes it fairly entertaining. It’s awfully short, it’s pretty easy, and it
has virtually no replay value, so the price of admission seems a bit steep, but
it’s worth a look if you like puzzle games and are hankering for a neat new
mechanic. It may not win any awards, but
it’s a decent way to spend an afternoon.
My Rating: 6/10 – decent.
