| Crush review |
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If Super Paper Mario is reminiscent of our favourite Italian plumber on a good acid trip, then Crush is the polar opposite, representing an altogether darker forage into the sub-conscious. It becomes so twisted at times, that you half expect your game to be interrupted by a large Samoan attorney telling you that: ‘you took too much man’. And this is from a developer most famous for the Playstation 2 karaoke extravaganza, Singstar.
The plot revolves around an insomniac named Danny, controlled by the player, who has enrolled on a treatment plan offered by a Dr Reubens in hope of curing his problem. The doctor has a revolutionary system named Crush for dealing with such mental issues. The system lets the patient see inside their mind and attempt to squash their fears and anxieties, hopefully leading them onto the path to full recovery.
It does this by giving the player the ability to Crush, which essentially pulls the 3-D playing space forward into a 2-D plane from any of five different directions. For instance, if the player needs to reach a marble on a high platform that cannot normally be reached, the view can be changed via the D-pad to an overhead view. From here it is clear that the platform above is the same material as the floor. A quick tap of L later and the game snaps into 2-D, with both the floor and the high platform now on the same level. Once the marble has been collected, another tap on L uncrushes, sending Danny back into the 3-D world, now standing on the elevated platform that was previously unreachable. By constantly crushing and uncrushing, Danny is able to make his way around the level, collecting all his lost marbles, which eventually opens the portal to allow him to exit the level.
When Danny first gets thrown into the actual gaming environment, it may look somewhat familiar, especially to older gamers. It adopts a very dark, muted appearance, reminiscent of the city levels from the Amiga classic Sleepwalker, which has clearly been an influence on the look that Zoë Mode has gone for with Crush. The successful implementation of this into the visuals really helps to draw players into the nightmare world of Danny’s mind, and for a handheld title the level of immersion is truly impressive.
Adding further to the nightmare aesthetic are the music and sound effects, which are truly brilliant throughout. Weird shrieks, industrial noises and other oddities in sound – which wouldn’t be out of place in a David Lynch film – flow from the outer reaches of the playing field. They are accompanied by some similarly trippy music, the obvious highlight being a slightly off-key rendition of ‘What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor’, which will draw a chuckle from anyone who has the pleasure of hearing it.
For the opening thirty-odd levels, Crush is a complete joy to play. The aforementioned triumphs in the visual and sound departments really give the game that lovingly developed feeling, which is normally only prevalent in Japanese-developed games. Gamers will be feeling the love too, as the level design manages to confuse and excite in equal measure – always providing a challenge, but never feeling like an impossible task. The sense of achievement when completing some of the more cleverly designed levels is far and beyond that felt in many other games in the puzzle genre.
Unfortunately, as the game draws to its close, the level design takes a distinct turn for the worse. Whilst earlier levels require logic in order to be completed, the latter stages of the game feel more like a wild goose chase. Planning where and how to Crush almost goes entirely out the window in favour of random Crushing, hoping to find that combination that will allow Danny to reach another platform. It almost feels as if Zoë Mode ran out of ideas of how to continue the smooth difficulty curve established in the game up to that point and decided to just make the levels as intentionally frustrating as possible. It feels like a cop-out after the creative level design that was lavished on the majority of the game.
The randomness of the design late in the game is also not helped by the control scheme. Danny’s movement is controlled by the analogue nub, to which he responds in a decidedly awkward manner. Realising that this could cause great frustration if handled incorrectly, the developer has added invisible boundaries to stop Danny from walking directly off the edge of a level. However, when jumping or crawling, these same boundaries are not in place, which can lead to many an infuriating death, especially when moving platforms start to get introduced. When frustrating design and bad controls mix, gaming rage usually sets in, and this is no less the case in Crush. When the end of the game looms, it may be a good idea to avoid playing this game in a public place, as expletives will abound from your mouth at an astonishing rate.
The frustration doesn’t end once the main game has been completed though, as Trophy Mode is sitting, waiting for any unsuspecting player to dive into its world of irritation, which verges on pure pain at times. This mode takes the main game and puts time and crush limits on it, upping the difficulty level a few (hundred) notches . Trying to move around the levels quickly just exemplifies the control issues and it won’t take long for many to realise this mode is probably best suited to those who, like Danny, are having certain mental problems. Trophy Mode is enough to turn any sane person crazy.
Although Super Paper Mario may have got there first with the whole 2-D/3-D flipping thing, Crush takes this premise, and for the majority of the game, manages to build it into an excellently realised puzzle experience. The control method and lazy design of the later levels threaten to dampen the early enjoyment, but Crush must be praised for trying to innovate, and is thus a worthy purchase for any PSP owner in search of their next puzzle fix. |
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System: Sony PlayStation Portable
Genre: Puzzle
Developer: Zoë Mode
Publisher: Sega
Players: 1
Version: European
Reviewed: Aug 2007
Writer: Nick Dorrington
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Pros:
- Innovative concept
- Visually and aurally engaging
- Plenty of dark comedy
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Cons:
- Tired design in later levels
- Sloppy controls
- May cause you to have some nightmares of your own
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Crush Video: 7.7MB
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