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The Fall
Nintendo Network
The Trip: Episode 1
3.5/5 stars
I feel that kickstarter has seasons in the game department: Surplus of good titles, some good titles, and no good titles, and 2013 had a large Surplus season. What with titles like Mighty No. 9, Shantae: 1/2 Genie Hero, among other titles I've backed. The Fall, happens to be one of those titles. The game was heavily inspired by metroid and old school point and click games. That combined with the dark atmosphere, I was intreagued to say the least. So I donated to the Kickstarter and awaited for the games release.
Before I begin this, I think it should be properly noted that The Fall is actually being made in episodic format. So this is being assessed as such. So with that in mind, where should we begin with The Fall: Episode 1? I suppose the plot is a good place to start:
Deep in a dark corner in the emptiness of space, a mysterious figure clad in a armor crashes onto the surface of a cold and desolate planet. Upon impact, the pilot of the suit is left unconscious, leaving A.R.I.D., the suits AI, to seek medical assistance for her unresponsive pilot. However this may not be the easiest task, especially with all of the suits functions switched off, and unable to manually activate them. Not to mention the unfriendly inhabitants.
In order to progress in The Fall, you must explore your surroundings to find objects to interact with and use these objects to solve puzzles akin to that of a point an click adventure game. This doesn't necessarily leave A.R.I.D. defenseless as A.R.I.D. can gain access to a gun, and is even able to perform stealth kills. Then there's the matter of A.R.I.D.s functions, which you unlock by manipulating the situation so that the ability is necessary. I honestly thought that this was an interesting way to unlock these abilities, but I only wish more of these were accessible in the first episode. But as this game is heavily story based, it's something I can brush aside.
The games overall pacing and structure, is similar to that of the TellTale Walking Dead game, only with a little more exploration given to the player. Though unfortunately this exploration isn't utilized as much as it could have, there isn't anything to find if you go out of your way to look aside from some logs. Unless your playing the PC version on Steam to get the achievements. Plus Episode 1 is rather short, having only beaten it in a few hours, but it's story, specifically its ending, left me interested in where the story will go in the future. Though it isn't the most original story, and you can probably predict where it goes, but its the to be continued that leaves me wondering.
The game also looks quite nice for a downloadable title, nothing ground breaking, but it's very stylized and atmospheric and I was never bored with the game. This is also done with some rather nice voice acting that helps give the small robotic cast some character. Though I wish the same could be said for the soundtrack, as I can't really remember anything from it, perhaps when I get the soundtrack from the kickstarter, I might change my mind.
For the first episode of the game, I thought that The Fall was a pleasant experience in its short time frame. Though I can only wish that there was more to the games replay value, aside from the logs that you can find. But still, for a $10 title, I think it's worth checking out at the very least.
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