Thursday, June 27, 2013
6/27/13 2:30PM |
Developer- IndiePub
Publishers- NAMCO BANDAI Games
Release Date- June 14th, 2013
Price- $9.99 MSRP
Review Platform- Xbox Live Arcade
Taking control of Nature
Storm tasks players with indirectly navigating seeds to fertile ground as they transition into trees. The way to accomplish this is to control three elements of nature: rain, wind, and lightning. These elements must be controlled in various ways as you play through the four seasons of the year -- the concept is simple, but as you progress through the game, the difficulty factor increases and creates for an easy-going, but challenging puzzle game.
This unique title is accompanied by some vibrant and well done visuals that almost feel like you're viewing a painting of nature as you make your way through the seasons. Aside from aesthetic differences in each season's style, elements of each are also varied in terms of the gameplay.
One example of this difference would include playing in the Summer. In this season, fire plays an important role as you're able to utilize wind to move fire ignited by lightning, allowing you then to burn objects that hinder the seed's movement, whereas Spring is fairly calm, allowing you to only think about the three elements you can use to the gameplay.
Like with many puzzle games that I have played in the past, Storm required me to take a break a few times, as I would occasionally sit there with my head scratching as I tried to utilize the three natural effects to move the seeds. After taking these breaks and coming back to the game, I found that I was able to look at the levels in a different light, and then I simply breezed through parts that before had me stumped for a while.
In most of these cases, things that had bothered me turned out to be really simple to solve, which was always gave me a nice feeling when I got through them. What's great about Storm is that you're given the ability to restart levels from the pause menu, so if something happened that would make moving the seeds too difficult, you could easily restart and try another approach at the level. Special seeds can also be unlocked that allow you to skip levels altogether, so you can go back at a later time while still being able to see more of the game.
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The game should take most players about 5+ hours to complete, and you can see how you stack up against friends and other players via the game's leaderboards afterward, or try out the game's spirit mode, where you must move the seed through various obstacles while trying to maintain a specific time frame.
Puzzle titles are fairly common on Xbox Live Arcade, but Storm contains a unique approach to the genre while still being challenging at times, as well as maintaining the concepts that are learned when you start the game. 800 Microsoft Points is a fair asking price for this game, and one that puzzle fans will be sure to enjoy.
Review Disclaimer: A copy of the game was provided for reviewing purposes by IndiePub.
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