Luicidty

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oSavior

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Mar 1, 2010
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Nana, where are you?

Developer LucasArts bring their first completely original IP to the PC and Xbox Live. Lucidity starts off with Sofi, the main character, visiting her grandmother, Nana. While reading a story book, Sofi accidentally falls asleep, when she awakes her Nana is gone and in her place only a lonely firefly remains. The game can best be classified as a puzzle platformer, Sofi will always move forward while the player places objects such as stairs and roads in her way to avoid danger and if possible collect the fireflies that are scattered across all levels.


I'll just get this out of the way, Lucidity is a beautiful game. The game doesn't push graphics but it obviously isn't trying to. Lucidity does not resemble the gritty steam punk that Machinarium brought us or the majestic brush painting of Okami. Instead it brings the Avant-Garde, nursery book art style to video games; I for one absolutely adore it.

Presentation is not all in the visuals. The musical score fits with the game like a good pair of gloves. The score never tries to out do the game itself: it is walking side by side with Lucidity, not two steps ahead or three behind. Most of the score consists of acoustic guitars and pianos blending together to create a dreamy and some what mysterious atmosphere.

In terms of story, Lucidity is not what it appears to be. At first glance you may see a childlike story book setting with the main character collecting hundreds of silly fireflies for little to no reason at all but in reality the game takes you on a subtle journey of death, grief, and acceptance. Sofi travels through her dreams, collecting fireflies and uncovering the very thing she is trying to conceal. Although, the narrative itself is quite strong, its devilry on the other hand is very subtle. The story is told through single sentence postcards and a few very brief cut-scenes. Prior to each level, Sofi reveals what is scaring or bothering her at the very moment. Towards the end of the level, Sofi reaches a mailbox containing a post card from Nana, these post cards help Sofi overcome her previous fears. Although, the story is paper thin, if you look hard enough you will find a deep and engaging tale that anyone can relate to.


Surprisingly, there is actually a game in between all this gorgeous art and subliminal story telling. The game is played from a third person perspective of the main character, Sofi. You have no control of her since she will always walk forward until trapped but you do have some say in where she goes. In your trusty utility belt are items such as wooden planks, ladders, trampoline skates, slingshots, fans, and bombs. Sofi will need to avoid pit falls and enemies or else suffer a frustrating death, jumping her back to the last checkpoint. You can prevent any encounters with death by strategically placing certain objects in front of her. It is completely plausible that Sofi is ignorantly walking towards a toxic pit, before she does, you can save her. You can place a ladder in her way so she walks directly over the toxin or you can use the sling shot and throw her over it. There are various ways of combining your tools like shooting her directly up with the fan only to have a sling shot waiting above, thus, helping Sofi reach a ledge she couldn't before.


Guiding Sofi from one point of the level to the other is not your only objective: you must also do some collecting. In every stage there is a certain number of fireflies for her to capture. Every hundred fireflies, a bonus stage opens up. Sadly, there is no way to get all the fireflies in one walk through, it is simply impossible. Sofi is always on the move and if you miss the jump your first try then you need to do the whole level again waiting for the precise moment to try again.

At this point you're probably thinking to yourself "The gameplay sounds interesting. Is it actually fun though?" I'll be glad to answer with a... No. I'm sorry but no matter how artistic or innovative your game is, if it isn't fun, it isn't going anywhere. I only had two emotions as I played through these maps: boredom, and frustration. I never found the gameplay to be compelling, it was always walk here or die and start there. Never was there an exciting moment, no boss battles, no switch up, nothing that I haven't seen in the previous 6 stages.

Don't expect too much strategy, although there is a Tetris-esque "Hold" button. Planing ahead a flawless sequence of events is almost impossible since all your tools are randomized. I found myself too often frantically placing items all over the place till the one I needed showed up.


If you're looking for lengthy adventure, you won't find it here. Lucidity can be completed in a matter of 2 hours or less. You can always find some replay value via the collection of fireflies but the reward simply isn't worth the time input.

Pass: In conclusion, Lucidity is a beautifully artistic game with an interesting story and innovative puzzle mechanics. Had all the gears worked this could have been one hell of an experience but instead it is a handful of good ideas being held together by reused masking tape. I simply can not recommend a two hour game as a must buy, since Lucidity is a download only title and thus can not be rented... Save your money, buy something engaging instead.
 

ultrachicken

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Dec 22, 2009
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Wow, I didn't even know that game existed.
What could make the devs possibly think that randomizing the tools was a good idea?
 

More Fun To Compute

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Nov 18, 2008
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Is subliminal a typo?

It sounds like a shame that they couldn't make a game to go along with that art. It does seem like a very strange choice to combine the logical exacting gameplay of something like tetris with what is supposed to be a dreamlike game. Something like breakout would have been more appropriate as the controls for that are more intuitive and floaty. Hmm. Collecting things sounds totally off for a dream as well.