Lucidity

Anything with an attractive and a vibrant visual style and I'm usually signed up on the spot. While you could praise a game for being more technically proficient and having realistic everything, there's something more memorable about something that you rarely ever see. It's really this reason that brought me to Lucidity, an adventure title done by Lucasarts with a beautiful soundtrack and an even more dreamlike art-style. But the presentation can only go so far as the actual game part can be one of frequent frustration and a slower, less action-y pace that might turn people off. While I never really had a problem with the shall we say, "nice-ness" of the game, it's a game that's gorgeous as it is very irritating when it things don't go your way. 
 
You don't really control her but the whole game revolves around the character of Sofi, who travels through different and surreal levels as she searches for her Nana, who is now gone from her life. Along the way, you'll see postcards and drawings that help shed a bit of light on the 2 characters' relationship. You instead are Sofi's guide, as you place various objects along the world to help Sofi make it to the end. 
 
Sofi is entirely on-rails and she constantly walks forward and it's up to you to make sure she either doesn't run into any obstacles, fall to the very bottom or get trapped and overtaken by a white mist that comes from the left. You place different kinds of items along her path to guide her along, whether it's a stairs she can climb, a fan that blows her upwards, a slingshot to propel her forward, a plank of wood to walk across, a springboard for a little boost jump or a bomb to destroy obstacles and enemies. However the order is entirely random which can bring some tense gameplay as you struggle to catch Sofi before she careens to the pit below and there's a "phew!" feeling when she's safe. It also means that not every stage will have the exact same path since you can take the more higher road or go straight near the bottom provided you're fast enough. 
 
The issue comes with the fact that the items are random and although you can hold an item, if you don't have what you need, you'll end up clicking around the map to get rid of it so you can get what you want (usually bombs). Also, I had issues with placing items as Sofi was falling and it was frustrating to just get any item to prevent her from falling yet she tumbles down anyway with all your item placements being complete misses. When the game hands you the right items, it's got an occasionally relaxing atmosphere thanks to the music and art-style but then there's the other and more frequent times where you'll just sigh exasperatedly and start all over. 
 
The art style almost has a storybook feel with 2D animated artwork and it looks glorious, actually. Not really the kind of word you'd use for an online service that has crazy, outlandish Splosion Man or the frantic action of Monday Night Combat but it's a very pretty game to look at. And indeed to listen to since it has a delicate piano theme and more whimsical orchestral themes. Like I said, the presentation of the game is worthy of the praise indeed and had the game part of Lucidity worked more, it would've been a great one. 
 
And that's kind of the unfortunate truth about the game: it looks like it should be a art-crowd stunner along the lines of Braid or Limbo but the game part of the game can get in the way or it might not be as engaging to complete fully to the end.