Swarm
There’s been something of a resurgence of difficult platforming games in recent years. From Megaman’s hardcore revival to indie darlings such as Splosion Man and Super Meat Boy, the masochistic gamer hasn’t been this happy for years.
Straddling the line quite well is Swarm, a game in which you guide 50 little blue creatures through obstacles on a dangerous planet. The creatures move together as one swarm, a group which can be expanded and contracted, stacked and jumped through the air as they move towards their goal.
The levels themselves are never frustratingly tricky or difficult to pass, but you can reach the end and not be able to continue. Each level has a target score you must reach before you can proceed.
You do this by collecting DNA scattered throughout the world, but if you break your multiplier - collecting the DNA in quick succession - it’s unlikely you’ll score enough to finish the level.
That means speed is required, and the levels are filled with traps and obstacles that will easily decimate your swarm and break your multiplier. This mixture of speed and precision can be frustrating, but adds another dimension to the gameplay. It’s challenging without being mind-bendingly hard.
The aforementioned traps and obstacles fill the game with a level of humour reminiscent of Splosion Man. It’s a quirky, cartoonish world where your Swarmites can be - and will be - killed in a variety of ways, from asphyxiation in toxic gas, to being electrocuted and set on fire.
The game knows that you’re going to die a few times - usually the first time you approach a new level - and rewards you for dying in creative ways. I often found myself testing out a level by killing my Swarm in all the ways on offer; it’s the same kind of sick joy you get from pushing the suicide button in Lemmings.
The gameplay conceit is different and interesting, but the mechanics utilised feel a bit stilted and raw. Your swarm moves as one, but it often doesn’t behave as you expect and is animated in an unnatural way.
There’s a definite lack of precision that can sometimes inhibit the experience, but that may be that’s the result of an intentional unpredictability to the movement of the swarm.
Swarm is a good game; it’s challenging and funny and offers a fresh take on the genre, but it has some really rough edges and sometimes commits the worst crime a platformer can do - make you fail because of something you feel is out of your control.
But it’s a meaty experience that’s well worth the price of admission and proves that downloadable games are the place to look for something original.
Verdict: 7/10
Platform: Xbox Live/PSN
Genre: Platformer
Developer/Publisher: HotHead Games/Ignition
Release: 26/11/2010
FemaleFirst Michael Moran