Did you play and love Playdead’s INSIDE and are hungry for
another 2D platforming / puzzle solving adventure? Good news, then, because the Xbox One actually has a couple more
for you. You could always play Another
World (the game that basically started the genre 20+ years ago) or you could
give a more modern take on the genre a try with The Fall. The Fall is a sci-fi story of an A.I. inside
a sophisticated space suit that is acting on its own to keep its unconscious
pilot alive after it crash landed into a mysterious facility. Finding medical care for the pilot is the
objective, but to do so the A.I. has the break the rules of its core
programming to do so. It is a truly
fascinating experience that is absolutely worth a look.
Game Details
- Publisher: Over The Moon
- Developer: Over The Moon
- ESRB Rating: “T” for Teen
- Genre: Adventure / Puzzle
- Pros: Looks and sounds awesome; great story; solid puzzles
- Cons: Shooting sections; somewhat fiddly controls
- MSRP: $10
The Fall was originally released on Xbox One in July 2015 to
mostly resounding silence. I didn’t
even know it existed until it was suddenly on sale for $1.50 in late July
2016. I bought it. I played it. I loved it. And I feel
absolutely ashamed I didn’t play it earlier so I could have been singing its
praises for the last year to get more people to try it. If I would have known it was this good, I
would have happily paid the full $10 MSRP, which I hope you will do after
reading this review.
It must be noted that The Fall is the first in a planned
trilogy of games, so it ends on a cliffhanger right when things are getting
interesting. The next entry is planned
for release in Q1 2017. We can’t wait!
The main character of The Fall is an A.I. inside of a
sophisticated space suit named A.R.I.D..
After crash landing on an alien world – they literally fall out of space
and smash into the planet – the suit’s pilot is badly injured and unconscious,
so A.R.I.D. takes over control of the suit in order to find medical
attention. They crashed into a
mysterious facility full of destroyed robots and soon discover a friendly A.I.
running the facility that tries to help them, along with an enemy robot trying
to stop them. There are also human
corpses scattered around as well.
Something odd has happened at this facility.
Key functions of the space suit, such as a network interface
and ability to use weapons, among other things, were deactivated upon the crash
and A.R.I.D. can’t activate them unless the pilot’s life is in grave danger and
requires the functions. In order to
make that happen, A.R.I.D. has to defy her own programming to intentionally put
the pilot’s life in danger in order to save him. This becomes the real focus of the story in The Fall as it
presents a number of interesting questions about artificial intelligence,
adaptation, and self-preservation. The
story is classic sci-fi from the very foundations of the genre, and it is
awesome. It also ends with a fantastic
twist that will give you goosebumps!
The gameplay in The Fall is a blend of 2D adventure
platformers like Another World, Limbo, and INSIDE mixed with item-based puzzle
solving from the old Sierra adventure games.
You have a flashlight that lets you scan objects and a little pop up
menu that lets you interact with them or use items. Moment to moment gameplay consists mostly of scanning every inch
of an area, picking up everything you find, and then figuring out how to use
the items to solve puzzles.
Most of the puzzles don’t really have very obvious
solutions, which is why scanning everything and picking everything up is so
important. I have to admit that I quit
in frustration more than a few times and just looked up solutions to some
puzzles and, more often than not, the solution involved an item I didn’t find because
I didn’t scan something to activate that step of the puzzle. My advice is to be very thorough and
meticulous, and try every option available, and you can solve most things.
There are also some combat sections here and there where
enemy robots will show up that you have to dispatch in order to proceed. The combat is usually really simple where
you just hide behind cover and then pop out and shoot when you have an
opening. These sections are easy and
kind of boring, to be honest. I suppose
they are necessary for the story, though, which is better than just shoe
horning combat into a game that didn’t need it like so many games do.
All in all, the game plays fairly well, but the controls can
be pretty fiddly. Lining up your
scanner just right so you can activate stuff can be a pain. Thankfully, the game never relies on split
second reflexes or rapid decisions, so the slight clunkiness isn’t really a
problem. It could definitely be better,
though.
The presentation in The Fall is outstanding despite being
very simple. The menus and interface
are like oldschool DOS, which gives it that retro sci-fi feel. The game is very dark, so the brief flashes
of color and light you do get really pop and look great. It has a very unique style that works perfectly. The sound is also fantastically well done
with great voice acting and excellent ambient sound design that creates a
creepy atmosphere without standing out too much.
When it is all said and done, The Fall is an incredible
experience that I highly recommend to any sci-fi and 2D adventure fans. The story is simply outstanding and the
gameplay is solid enough with some fantastic puzzles. It only takes 3-hours or so to beat the first time, but there are
a lot of clever achievements that ask you to do things slightly differently
that make it fun to replay at least once more.
I feel the $10 price is just right, too. The Fall is awesome and I highly recommend you buy it.
