Review: And Yet It Moves

Sep 4 2009

For my first foray into game reviewing (“professionally” at least), I decided to go to a nice upstart source for indie gaming goodness: the Greenhouse game store. Greenhouse is the brainchild of Penny Arcade authors Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins in conjunction with their partnered game developer, Hothead Games. Greenhouse has becoming a nice front for legitimate indie game development, and I thought it would be appropriate that I chose my first game from its pixel-based catalog.

And Yet It Moves (AYIM from here on out) is an interesting take on the traditional platform adventure/exploration game. The game is developed by Broken Rules, which originally created the game for use on the Wii; since I don’t own one of those (yet) I opted for the PC version. I highly recommend watching the teaser trailer as it will give you a nice feel for the game, and showcases much more of the environments that were available in the demo. The installation and startup interface look nicely polished, which is always a good thing to see as your initial introduction. It doesn’t require any sort of high-end graphic capabilities and is more akin to the PopCap genre of puzzle games in scope. In fact, while the point of the game seems to be exploration, it is done in a manner that involves the solving of puzzles of a directional and topographical nature. Of note is the general slowness of the cursor tracking in the game menus, something I sought to remedy via the control settings and found there was no ability for adjustment.

The puzzle factor of the game is perhaps its most interesting attribute, largely because of the play controls involved in solving the navigation roadblocks presented. The game is entirely keyboard based, having no use of the mouse involved for actual gameplay. Keyboard navigation consists of basic left and right movement with a standard jump action via the A, D, and W keys respectively. But the real novelty comes from the use of the left and right arrows keys to tilt the game axis 90 degrees clockwise or counter clockwise. This is the crux of the game and how the end goal of each level is achieved; obstacles, slopes, pits, etc are placed in your way and you must use the axial movement to change which direction is down. The majority of the demo was spent in freefall using this method for navigation, but interesting results can be attained when executing an axis rotation mid-jump.

Apart from its unique control setup, AYIM is defined by its visual style. The environments consist of platform 3D layers all skinned in a torn or crumpled paper motif, and your character/avatar resembles a notebook sketch brought to life. The animations are relatively smooth, but simple. The visual design is complimented by an eerie soundtrack of low-key music. There are no sound effects apart from the “whooshing” noise that is made when your character meets his demise.

The game is not a sandbox that you are free to explore; it has its limits and dangers. Your character’s death is typically achieved by attaining a critical velocity, upon which your body is shattered into its component pieces. My main complaint about the gameplay is that this magic velocity seems to be too quickly and easily attained, especially while trying to cope with the sudden rotational shifts required. You may also confront doom by falling into one of the “black zones” that border certain sections of the level map, acting as an “Out of Bounds” device. The game allows for checkpoints that save your progression in each level, but in some cases these points are located a good distance from each other and separated by some complex topographical trials. This makes the game more challenging, but in a manner that hearkens back to the platform arcade games of old. Memory, muscle, and movement repetition are the tools to win the day in many situations, and rarely was I ever at a loss for discerning which direction I was supposed to head.

Overall, I’m left a bit ambivalent as to enjoyment received from the game. It certainly drew me by means of the puzzle factor, but I found myself asking “What is the point?” There is no antagonist, your character is allowed unlimited lives and attempts for each level, and each level basically consists of rotating yourself from point A to point B. I think my goal confusion was further enhanced by the mildly dark mood that the game portrays, a lonely paper figure scrambling his way across landscapes of muted colors and creaking noises. The environment could be described as sublime, but without any sort of inferred underlining meaning.

AYIM does have a multiplayer aspect in the form of web-based scoreboards. There’s no real incentive for submitting your scores and times other than having your name potentially float to the top of the list. In the same vein you may compete in a time trial against a fellow player, either via your local network or over the web. Judging from a quick glance at the scoreboards and user accounts, the game has garnered a fair following in this aspect.