CONTRAST is a puzzle/platform game where you can move between a fantastic 3D world and a mysterious shadowy universe in 2D in the blink of an eye. Delve into a dreamlike and surreal 1920s world, inspired by the performance art world of vaudeville and film noir, and cradled by a smooth and sultry jazz ambiance.
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Jogo curto com mecânicas simples porém com visuais e cenários incríveis.
Eu até consigo entender, foi feito pela Compulsion Games como seu projeto de estreia quando o estúdio ainda tinha somente 7 pessoas. Ele tem uma identidade visual própria, uma coisa meio noir, mas é um jogo muitíssimo curto, com gráficos desinteressantes, história confusa e uma gameplay meio quebrada. Tanto que consegui pegar alguns colecionáveis de forma injusta, apenas forçando a personagem a pular alguns obstáculos que deveriam ser impossíveis, mas consegui, pois a física do jogo é ridícula. Tenho fé que a Compulsion atualmente é muito superior, mas se tratando desse jogo em específico, é um produto bem esquecível.
Shadow mechanics are pretty limited and the story itself is nothing special
Achei bem desinteressante, mas o conceito e o visual são bacanas.
Contrast is brimming with style and its neat light and shadow gameplay mechanics make it stand out from other puzzle platformers. However, it's let down by some janky controls and overdone cinematics that ruin its own flow.
Contrast is a gorgeous looking, underrated puzzle game which I think deserves more light. In this review I will try convincing you to give this game a shot.
1. Storyline & Characters:
The game gives you a feeling like 1920 noir films which are so awesome. The main character is named Dawn, which is drawn with awesome art style. She looks like an acrobat with make-up which I really loved. The story follows a young child named Didi, who lives with her mother and really misses her father (Guillaume Provost, the director of this game was a single father, so this kind of inspired the story in the game). Her parents have some problems and the whole story revolves around this family. Didi needs Dawn to help her find her father. The game implies that Dawn is a figment of Didi’s imagination and only she can interact with Dawn. Be sure to collect all collectables because they add more details to the main story and for Dawn’s character (1 collectable is very important in particular).
2. The world of contrast:
I was browsing the collector’s edition art book and found a passage which perfectly described the world in a way which I never could, so I decided to share the quote with you. I usually neglect the art books in most games, but for this game I decided to take a look.
“Contrast didn’t begin as a film noir story – the prototype was an alternate reality game, and shadow manipulation was just one of many abilities. The world was an abstract virtual reality; a dreamscape; a reality falling apart, fading memories that you had to recover. As the film noir story took hold, we blended our dreamscape with a vaudevillian 1920s/30s Europe, to create a unique world to tell our story. This is Didi’s world, a depiction of what she understands the world to be. The world of Contrast, the environment in which Dawn and Didi interact, is a take on that special world that a child naturally inhabits; a world that adults can see through the wonder in a child’s eyes. A world that we remember with fondness. It is a land of fragmented reality, isolated beauty, and imagination that is uniquely Didi’s and Dawn’s.”
3. Gameplay & Graphics:
If you have already seen any gameplay videos or screenshots you will see that this game has a pretty neat mechanic which really stands out. There are many areas where you can turn into and play as a shadow in the wall to solve puzzles. This key mechanic is required to reach some places. [url=http://i.imgur.com/GGvxKBA.jpg]Shadow Mechanic[/url]Now this is great, but the game is quite broken in its implementation. You have a button for entering and exiting this shadow mode the game has its own mind and will randomly decide to exit the shadow mode. This is extremely frustrating, because you need to redo the whole puzzle section again. Graphics are pretty decent for a game which is quite old. In the beginning of most games there is an “Adjust the gamma settings” option and I usually just keep the default settings, but oh god I could barely see anything with the default setting. Due to not being able to see much in the game my playtime was extended.
4. Music:
The first time you open the game you will be welcomed by a sweet song, which is beautifully relaxing and right on spot, and set up a good mood for playing this game. Another game with such an opening is L.A. Noire, which is very dear to my heart.
The story about Contrast’s own original score is quite interesting in my opinion. They used local Montreal voice actors and jazz musicians. The lovely voice from the main theme song is of Laura Ellis. Initially the studio asked if they can use one of her own songs for Contrast’s first trailer, and due to the trailer’s huge success they asked her to perform for the rest of the game.
[url=http://i.imgur.com/hxt4LpG.jpg]Laura Ellis[/url]
5. Puzzles:
Puzzles are very easy and the whole point in solving them is to play with light and shadows. Most of the puzzles are timed ones but the timer didn’t raise the difficulty at all.
6. Collectables:
The collectables are very easy to locate. Since they shine and glow, they are not very tricky to spot. Most of them are letters, pictures, newspapers and posters. The total amount of collectables is 26. There are things called luminaries which are located throughout the game(most of which on the streets) and do not count towards any achievements. They are rarely required to progress, and some are quite tricky to collect since the game is very broken at times.
7. Achievements:
Contrast offers very easy achievements, which can all be done in a single playthrough. While most of them are story related, 2 will offer some difficulty since they must be done without falling (dying). Again luminaries DO NOT count towards any achievements. The total amount of achievements is 22.
8. Final verdict & overall feeling:
Well I felt it was very light hearted for me which is great. I didn’t want to get involved with a game which requires a lot of time and effort to complete and in this aspect Contrast was perfect. I really love games that question the theory of multi universe and alternative dimensions and I really like that Contrast is hinting a little towards that area. It made me rage a couple of times, because the game is very broken but at the end of the day I was pleased with it. The game can be finished in one sitting. On scale from 0 to 10 I will give Contrast 7/10.
[url=http://i.imgur.com/O2U0nVI.jpg]Fin of this review :)[/url]
1. Storyline & Characters:
The game gives you a feeling like 1920 noir films which are so awesome. The main character is named Dawn, which is drawn with awesome art style. She looks like an acrobat with make-up which I really loved. The story follows a young child named Didi, who lives with her mother and really misses her father (Guillaume Provost, the director of this game was a single father, so this kind of inspired the story in the game). Her parents have some problems and the whole story revolves around this family. Didi needs Dawn to help her find her father. The game implies that Dawn is a figment of Didi’s imagination and only she can interact with Dawn. Be sure to collect all collectables because they add more details to the main story and for Dawn’s character (1 collectable is very important in particular).
2. The world of contrast:
I was browsing the collector’s edition art book and found a passage which perfectly described the world in a way which I never could, so I decided to share the quote with you. I usually neglect the art books in most games, but for this game I decided to take a look.
“Contrast didn’t begin as a film noir story – the prototype was an alternate reality game, and shadow manipulation was just one of many abilities. The world was an abstract virtual reality; a dreamscape; a reality falling apart, fading memories that you had to recover. As the film noir story took hold, we blended our dreamscape with a vaudevillian 1920s/30s Europe, to create a unique world to tell our story. This is Didi’s world, a depiction of what she understands the world to be. The world of Contrast, the environment in which Dawn and Didi interact, is a take on that special world that a child naturally inhabits; a world that adults can see through the wonder in a child’s eyes. A world that we remember with fondness. It is a land of fragmented reality, isolated beauty, and imagination that is uniquely Didi’s and Dawn’s.”
3. Gameplay & Graphics:
If you have already seen any gameplay videos or screenshots you will see that this game has a pretty neat mechanic which really stands out. There are many areas where you can turn into and play as a shadow in the wall to solve puzzles. This key mechanic is required to reach some places. [url=http://i.imgur.com/GGvxKBA.jpg]Shadow Mechanic[/url]Now this is great, but the game is quite broken in its implementation. You have a button for entering and exiting this shadow mode the game has its own mind and will randomly decide to exit the shadow mode. This is extremely frustrating, because you need to redo the whole puzzle section again. Graphics are pretty decent for a game which is quite old. In the beginning of most games there is an “Adjust the gamma settings” option and I usually just keep the default settings, but oh god I could barely see anything with the default setting. Due to not being able to see much in the game my playtime was extended.
4. Music:
The first time you open the game you will be welcomed by a sweet song, which is beautifully relaxing and right on spot, and set up a good mood for playing this game. Another game with such an opening is L.A. Noire, which is very dear to my heart.
The story about Contrast’s own original score is quite interesting in my opinion. They used local Montreal voice actors and jazz musicians. The lovely voice from the main theme song is of Laura Ellis. Initially the studio asked if they can use one of her own songs for Contrast’s first trailer, and due to the trailer’s huge success they asked her to perform for the rest of the game.
[url=http://i.imgur.com/hxt4LpG.jpg]Laura Ellis[/url]
5. Puzzles:
Puzzles are very easy and the whole point in solving them is to play with light and shadows. Most of the puzzles are timed ones but the timer didn’t raise the difficulty at all.
6. Collectables:
The collectables are very easy to locate. Since they shine and glow, they are not very tricky to spot. Most of them are letters, pictures, newspapers and posters. The total amount of collectables is 26. There are things called luminaries which are located throughout the game(most of which on the streets) and do not count towards any achievements. They are rarely required to progress, and some are quite tricky to collect since the game is very broken at times.
7. Achievements:
Contrast offers very easy achievements, which can all be done in a single playthrough. While most of them are story related, 2 will offer some difficulty since they must be done without falling (dying). Again luminaries DO NOT count towards any achievements. The total amount of achievements is 22.
8. Final verdict & overall feeling:
Well I felt it was very light hearted for me which is great. I didn’t want to get involved with a game which requires a lot of time and effort to complete and in this aspect Contrast was perfect. I really love games that question the theory of multi universe and alternative dimensions and I really like that Contrast is hinting a little towards that area. It made me rage a couple of times, because the game is very broken but at the end of the day I was pleased with it. The game can be finished in one sitting. On scale from 0 to 10 I will give Contrast 7/10.
[url=http://i.imgur.com/O2U0nVI.jpg]Fin of this review :)[/url]