Developed by Pencil Test Studios
Published by Versus Evil
Released for Xbox One (8/23/2016)
Also on Linux/Mac/PC/PS4/WiiU
Armikrog was developed by Pencil Test Studios and released in August 2016, funded by a successful kickstarter campaign. Armikrog is the third entry in the Neverhood series, with the original game titled the Neverhood being released for PC back in October 1996. The Neverhood was ported to the PlayStation in April 1998, but was only released in Japan for that platform. The sequel, titled SkullMonkeys, was released exclusively for the PlayStation in January 1998, this time receiving a release in all territories. There was actually a third Japan-only release featuring the Neverhood characters released in November 1999, but it's an air-hockey game and was not developed by the original creators, therefore is rarely mentioned in the Neverhood franchise. Enough history, let's talk about the Xbox One release of Armikrog....
The Neverhood series remained dormant for quite some time, until September 2015 when Armikrog was released for the PC, Mac and Linux. The PlayStation 4, WiiU and Xbox One ports would arrive a bit later in August 2016. Armikrog is considered more of a spiritual successor than a sequel and was the result of a successful Kickstarter campaign, raising almost a million dollars in order to fund the venture.
Armikrog is a point and click adventure with graphics consisting entirely of clay-molded objects that utilize stop-motion animation.The game starts off with our main character, Tommynaut, crash landing his ship on a planet called Spiro 5. On this planet you'll explore a mysterious fortress, where you find a baby named P that you must protect along the journey. Tommynaut will be accompanied by his dog, Beak-Beak, who you can switch to and control at any point and you'll need to utilize him to access tunnels that are too large for Tommynaut to enter.
The gameplay in Armikrog is simple; you move a cursor around the screen and click to move or interact with whatever object you're highlighting. There are no inventory menus to mess with, since items you collect will automatically be used when you select the correct object. While the gameplay is basic, the game delivers a strange and interesting world and the portions of the game you spend exploring are one of the game's high points.
There are several different puzzles throughout the game and some of these are a bit challenging compared to the rest of the game. Particularly, there are several slider puzzles where you have to rearrange tiles between four slots that can be a major pain in the butt without looking up a solution. The game features an option where the cursor will snap to objects in the environment that you can interact with, which is incredibly handy during the exploration sections of the game but can be a real pain when you're trying to solve the puzzles. Due to this, it's recommended to turn this off when you enter into the puzzles, which can be easily toggled from the pause menu in-game.
Armikrog looks great in general, but there is a contrast between the video quality when comparing the cut-scenes to the gameplay screens. The cut-scenes have a noticeable decrease in resolution when compared to the gameplay sections. This stood out right from the beginning and is a bit disappointing, especially after reading the developers released a hi-res texture pack for the PC version that vastly improves the quality of these. Why not make this an Xbox One X enhanced title and release a patch for console users? The Xbox One port was never even mentioned on the Kickstarter page, so I suppose this port was more of an afterthought.
I was a bit shocked when I saw the almost million dollar budget that went into Armikrog, but when I saw the voice talents it helped make a little sense out where a good chunk of that coin went. Featuring the likes of Michael J. Nelson (Mystery Science Theater 3000) as main character Tommynaut, Rob Paulsen (Animaniacs, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) as Beak-Beak and Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) as the villain just to name a few, Armikrog features a rather impressive list of voice talent, especially considering that there's really not all that much dialogue in the game.
Armikrog is only going to appeal to a small portion of folks that enjoy point & click adventures, so if you're not into the genre this one isn't going to convert you. It's easy to recommend the game just for the excellent clay-animation and it's fun while it lasts, but beware that this game is incredibly short. There are also a few slider puzzles that were a bit annoying, but other than that it's a solid but short point & click. It's worth a play, but you might want to wait for a sale before snagging it up.
Final Verdict: Armikrog is a short point 'n click adventure featuring a unique clay-animation art-style. Fans of the genre or the Neverhood games might find something to like, but due to the shortness you may want to wait for a discount.
Related Links:
Buy Armikrog - Microsoft Store
Pencil Test Studios - Official Site
Versus Evil - Official Site
Armikrog - Kickstarter
Armikrog - Metacritic
Armikrog - GameFAQs
Armikrog - True Achievements
Armikrog Achievement Guide - Xbox Achievements
No comments:
Post a Comment