Limbo

  LIMBO Xbox 360 Arcade Release Date -July 21, 2010

  

 Imagine waking up from your sleep in the middle of a grassy field out in a creepy black and white forest. Dwarfing you with its tremendous size and a sinister atmosphere to match, you will soon find out there aren’t too many good things going on in this forest. In fact it’s filled with evil creatures, life threatening traps and mysteries that just can’t be explained. What little sunlight you see breaking through the canopy to the forest floor, lights your way…this is exactly what you can expect to witness in Limbo. It’s basically a 2-D, side scrolling puzzle platformer that will send you headfirst into a dark world that many of you including myself, have may not witnessed yet in a video game. Without much of a storyline at all (except the search for your sister) and the lack of music, you are in for a strange and deep experience that will play on your mind the entire time you play.

Limbo is dark, and I mean really dark. This goes for the color and for the overall theme. It lacks any color other than white, black and shades of gray. But that doesn’t mean it’s ugly. It’s gorgeous really. 

You control a little boy, seeing only his silhouette and glowing white eyes. Controls are only move, jump and interact. You cannot attack anything (unless using an object you are interacting with.) These factors alone can’t help but make you feel a little defenseless amidst all these supposed enemies. Not knowing where we are, what or where to go on this adventure really beefs up the intensity of it all. I had no clue what to expect ahead of me especially when I started going through a pitch-black area. Danger is around every corner. Spike pits, giant spiders and mysterious people equipped with blow darts can all be found lurking around in the woods.

If you make a mistake you will pay the consequences by dying in some of the most gruesome ways possible. Trust me heads will roll. But with a checkpoint acquired after almost every 10 steps, dying does not set you back that far. Which I thought was a good thing. This helps with the troubles you may come across solving some of the more grueling puzzles.

There are 24 chapters, all requiring you to solve some sort of puzzle or make your way around some kind of obstacle. I’m not going to lie; Limbo is a damn hard game. A lot of trial and error will be your means of reaching goals. You really have to plan out your strategy to work out a puzzle then suddenly realize what it was you had to do. I haven’t been this challenge by a video game in a while and that is something I welcomed. Beating a chapter without any use of tips or hints is very rewarding. 

    

Also physics play an important role in this game. One time you will find yourself floating across a pond. The boat you are using reacts just how a boat should if put in a body of water and so do other actions such as swinging from ropes, running and jumping, and also moving objects around.

With a game world that looks as good as this, almost perfect gameplay mechanics, and a challengingly rewarding difficulty, this game is sure to have you replaying levels time and time again. This is really one you do not want to miss