Good, but short and overpriced
Limbo is one of those artistic inde platformers in the vein of Braid. It focuses on simple controls, refined presentation, and puzzle solving. It is an interesting experience, but I can't help coming away not quite satisfied.
The first thing you should probably know about Limbo is that it is short, very short. It feels like a slightly longer flash game. You are looking at about 3 hours of gameplay max. There is not a whole lot of replay value in the game either. Normally, being short isn't something you should criticize a game for. However, in this case the 1200 point ($15) price tag is asking a lot. You can get a lot more bang for your buck with most other XBLA games.
The gameplay is well refined and feels good. You only have two buttons, but everything feels fairly intuitive. Most of the gameplay are platforming puzzles. You have to figure out how to manipulate the environment so you can jump up the ledge or over the gap to proceed. Death is common and lightly penalized. Often you introduction to a sequence of jump is presented with something killing you, you then respawn shortly before it and try again with your new knowledge. It works fairly well, the deaths aren't punishing and the puzzles are really more cerebral than reaction. Unfortunately, I feel the puzzles are somewhat limted. It has a good start, but it feels bland at the middle. Later on the game starts to get interesting, but ends just as it felt the challenge was ramping up to where it should be.
The end felt a bit disappointing too, the final sequence of puzzles is above average but not that great. It leaves a bit of an unsatisfied feeling. I found myself thinking "is that it?" at the end.
Overall it's not a bad game, but it's not really worth the asking price. I would hold off on purchasing it and wait for a sale. 400 MS points is a much more reasonable price for this game considering the content. I would only purchase it now if you are 100% sure that you will purchase all other Summer of Arcade games, essentially making Limbo a freebie. Limbo feels like it is being billed as the next great star and it ends up falling short.
