Warp Review By: Andrew Bohnenberger
Warp Review
By: Andrew Bohnenberger
Warp is a action puzzle stealth game developed by Trapdoor and published by EA Partners. The game was released for XBLA, PSN, and PC via Origin. Warp's main mechanic is the ability to teleport short distances you solve puzzles, sneak around guards, and traverse the environment. Does this game have what it takes to stand out in the crowded indie puzzle genre?
Story
The story of Warp revolves around an Alien named Zero who is held captive in a military grade secure facility. Zero is experimented on by Scientists and they remove a disk shaped object from his body. Soon after Zero is contacted by a fellow Alien through telepathy he is told to escape the facility. The story simply revolves around Zero trying to escape from the facility. There really in no back story or twist and turns in this story and the game tells a simple story about an alien trying to escape. I don't think anyone was looking for story in this game and I don't think it is needed since it is a short downloadable mechanics based game.
Graphics
One of the strongest aspects of Warp is its gorgeous visuals. The game was developed on the Unreal Engine and it has a top down 2d perspective with a 3d twist which adds a nice visual appeal. I like the animations of teleporting and the explosions that happen when you possess a guard or scientist are amusing to watch. It is interesting that a cutesy cartoony game can have such gory violence due to the fact that you see blood and guts spewing from exploding body parts. My only complain in the graphics department is there isn't much in terms of environmental variety as you are located in the facility the whole game. There are slight variations in the locale but not enough to keep you from getting excited after each load screen.
Gameplay
Warp's gameplay revolves around teleporting, stealth, and puzzles. With the over the top view you can see the environmental hazards all around and you plan according to overcome those obstacles. You can teleport through open spaces,through objects, into objects, and into living things. The object is to avoid being seen by guards because one shot kills you. You can reduce being seen by guards by teleporting or by possessing them and blowing them up. The puzzles early on often revolve around teleporting past water as Zero will lose his powers when exposed. Throughout the game you earn new powers by absorbing powers of your fellow Aliens. The second power you gain is the ability to create a hologram of yourself and is used to pass through objects and move across gaps in the environment. The third power is the ability to swap Zero hologram with object in the world. The last power is Launch which allows Zero the ability to fire object once he is inside of it. This power is used to destroy power generators at the end of the game. Zero's various powers add variety to the experience but this cannot be said about the enemies you encounter throughout the game. There are only a few enemy types that you encounter and I feel that the game could of used more enemy variety. Also the boss fights in the game are horrible. I found them unnecessary as they were repetitive sequences where kept using the same power that was introduced in the section over and over until you eventually killed the boss. The boss fights could of used variety in the ways you tackled them making you use more than one of Zero's powers at a time. Lastly, the main issue with game is the lack of solid controls. The game's major issue is its main mechanic which is teleporting which can be imprecise at times leaving to cheap deaths and horrendous loading screens each time you die. This led to a game with a great premise falling short due to mechanical issues.
Features
Warp is a $10 dollar downloadable game that takes around 5 hours complete. The only other feature in the game besides the single player campaign is the challenge rooms. The challenge rooms are training areas where Warp is given one objective and must use one of his powers to complete that objective. There is a three tied award system based on the time you complete these levels and a leader board to compare you scores with the community. I grew quite tired with the main mechanics of the game so these challenge rooms left little to no replay value in addition to the single player.
Conclusion
By the end of the experience you will be bored with the areas and enemies you encounter. Warp's main mechanic fails to stay fresh as the situations you encounters become stale due to lack of variety and frustrating controls. While I enjoyed the puzzles and visuals in the game, the trial and error aspect of the game left me with a frustrating experience.
Score: 70%
Rent: Try out the demo first, if you can stand the controls pick it up during a sale. I do not think it is worth 10 dollars as there is little to no replay value.
Source:
https://sites.google.com/site/not2nerdyent/Reviews/Reviews-2/warpreview
