Michal Ždanský From time to time, a game from independent developers appears that can turn the game genre upside down, or demonstrate something completely unprecedented within it, usually in terms of visuals and game mechanics. Titles are great examples Limbo, Braid, but also Czech Machinarium. They keep reminding us that the line between a work of art and a computer game can be very thin.
B is one such game. Its genre could be defined as a scrolling platformer with horror elements, one would like to say a combination of Tiny Wings and Limbo, but no categorization will completely tell what Badland really is. In fact, even at the end of the game, you won't be entirely sure what actually happened on the screen of your iOS device in the past three hours.
The game draws you in at the first touch with its exceptional graphics, which in an almost bizarre way combines the colorful cartoon background of the flourishing flora with the game environment depicted in the form of silhouettes that so strikingly resemble Limbo, all colored by ambient music. The whole middle one is so playful and at the same time it will give you a little chills, especially when looking at the silhouette of the hanged bunny that was cheerfully peeking out from behind the tree ten levels ago. The game is divided into four periods of the day, and the environment also unfolds according to it, which ends in the evening with a kind of alien invasion. We gradually get from the colorful forest to the cold industrial environment at night.
The main protagonist of the game is a kind of feathered creature resembling a bird only remotely, who will try to reach the end of each level and survive by flapping his wings. This will seem fairly easy during the first few levels, the only real threat to life being the left side of the screen, which at other times will relentlessly catch up with you. However, as the game progresses, you will come across more and more deadly pitfalls and traps that will force even skilled players to repeat the sequence or the entire level again.
Although death is a regular part of the game, it comes rather non-violently. Geared wheels, shooting spears or mysterious poisoned bushes will try to shorten the flight and the life of the little bird, and in the second half of the game we will have to start being resourceful to avoid the deadly traps. Omnipresent power-ups will help you with this. Initially, they will change the size of the main "hero", who will have to get into very narrow spaces or, on the contrary, break through roots and pipes, where he cannot do without the appropriate size and the associated weights.
Later, the power-ups will become even more interesting - they can change the flow of time, the speed of the screen, change the feathers to something very bouncy or, on the contrary, very sticky, or the hero will start rolling on one side. By far the most interesting is the cloning power-up, when one feather becomes a whole flock. While it is still relatively easy to stalk a pair or trio, it will no longer be so easy to stalk a group of twenty to thirty individuals. Especially when you control them all by holding a single finger on the screen.
of five feathered creatures, after passing through a more difficult obstacle, only one survivor will remain, and that by a hair's breadth. In some levels you will have to make sacrifices voluntarily. For example, in one section, the flock needs to be split into two groups, where the group flying below flips a switch on their way so that the group above can continue flying, but certain death awaits them just a few meters away. Elsewhere, you can use the power of the flock to lift a chain that an individual would not move.
While you will actually use most of the power-ups, even minutes of them can cost you a life, in some situations they can be damaging. As soon as the overgrown feather gets stuck in a narrow corridor, you realize that you probably shouldn't have collected that growth boost power-up. And there are many such surprising situations in the game, while the brisk pace will force the player to make very quick decisions to solve a physical puzzle or overcome a deadly trap.
A total of forty unique levels of different lengths await the player, all of which can be completed in about two to two and a half hours. However, each level has several more challenges, for each completed the player receives one of the three eggs. The challenges vary from level to level, sometimes you need to save a certain number of birds to complete it, other times you need to complete the level in one attempt. Completing all the challenges won't give you any bonus other than ranking points, but given their difficulty, you can extend the game by a few more hours. In addition, the developers are preparing another package of levels, probably of the same length.
If even a few friendly multiplayer games are within your reach, where up to four players can compete against each other on one iPad. In a total of twelve possible levels, their task is to fly as far as possible and leave the opponent at the mercy of the left edge of the screen or the ubiquitous traps. Players then gradually gain points according to the distance they have traveled, but also according to the number of clones and collected power-ups.
The game control is excellent considering the touch screen. To move the backrest, it is only necessary to alternately hold your finger on any place on the display, which controls the rise. Keeping the same height will involve more rapid tapping on the display, but after playing for a while you will be able to determine the direction of flight with millimeter precision.
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Badland is a true gem, not only within the genre, but among mobile games. Simple game mechanics, sophisticated levels and visuals enchant literally at first touch. The game is brought to near perfection in every aspect, and you won't be bothered by the annoyances of today's game titles, such as In-App Purchases or constant reminders of the rating in the App Store. Even the transition between levels is completely clean with no unnecessary sub-menus. This is not the only reason why Badland can be played in one breath.
The price of €3,59 may seem a lot to some for a few hours of gameplay, but Badland is really worth every euro. With its unique processing, it surpasses most of the well-known hits from the App Store (yes, I'm talking about you, Angry Birds) and their endless clones. It is an intense gaming, but also an artistic experience that will only let you go after a few hours, when you finally manage to tear your eyes away from the display with the words "wow" on your tongue.
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This game is simply luxurious. I just have a question - I'm playing it on a friend's iPad as a Multiplayer game. Does MP also work on the iPhone?