Game: Duet
Console: PC
Developer: Kumobius
Release Date: 10th October 2013
Both of the games featured in today's review are action puzzle games with an arcade touch both in their gameplay and their overall difficulty. Duet tasks players with navigating two balls through an ever more complex set of falling blocks. The balls can only rotate on a circular path, clockwise and anticlockwise, so careful planning is required in order to make it through without any mistakes. If either ball touches a block, then the levels resets to the beginning instantly, to be tried again. In the top left corner there's the number of moves remaining in order to complete the level perfectly.
Each level is named after a stage of grieving, and there's a loose story which is narrated as players continue through the levels. Alongside story mode there's an impressive selection of additional modes with an epilogue, daily challenge, endless mode and more. This is important in a game where the difficulty can be overwhelming at times and a break from certain levels is needed. There's always the sense that the level is beatable with a good enough performance from the player, but some of the later levels are devious in how many blocks are thrown at players to dodge.
Graphically the game is similar to many indie games in its simplicity; the two colours against a black and white backdrop give clarity to player actions and leave no excuse for mistakes. The narration in the story modes is presented as text before levels, which could perhaps have been a little more creative. The music fits each set of levels well and provides a welcome bit of entertainment when repeatedly attempting difficult challenges.
Overall Duet is the type of challenging game which allows its players to relax into a trance like state and follow what's onscreen, dodging almost automatically after a while. It can be a frustrating or relaxing experience depending on different factors when playing, but I definitely enjoyed my time with the game, even if some of the later levels took a disproportionate amount of my time playing to complete.
Rating: 76/100
Grade: B
Game: Rflex
Console: PC
Developer: Wesley Le Ferriere
Release Date: 26th August 2015
Rflex is a fast paced block dodging game in which players control a pentagon which is inside a 3x3 grid of 9 dots. The arrow keys or WASD are used to direct the pentagon around the grid and avoid any incoming blocks which appear in patterns and pass through the grid. The player's score is recorded as the amount of time they spent without being hit by a block. The first level's goal is to last 60 seconds without being hit. This is harder than it sounds, as a fair amount of concentration is required to keep track of where the blocks are coming from.
The game features different levels of difficulty which range in speed and block patterns and generally become more and more impossible as they progress. I'm sure with enough practice any mode is completable, but unlike Duet, some of the harder levels in Rflex feel almost impossible without mind reading powers. This said with it's fast paced action and near-instant resets, there's always another try just around the corner, and it's easy to rack up hundreds of go's at the game without thinking too much about it, as the chase for the high score becomes addictive.
Graphically the game is very basic, bringing early arcade games to mind, especially with its imitation CRT screen bend. The grid moves around a little during gameplay which can be disconcerting when concentrating, but it adds a little more challenge. The soundtrack is very energetic and suits gameplay until players are able to relax into that almost trance like state of dodging blocks as they come, where a more relaxed set of tunes might be nice.
Overall Rflex is the type of action arcade game that gets played for 10 minutes at a time every now and then, in the hopes that you've somehow got better at it without practising. I can't see myself sitting down for hours in front of this due to its lack of depth and variety, but it's a fun little distraction nonetheless.
Rating: 67/100
Grade: C
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