I`ve quite not seen an ID puzzle game like the one I`m about to write about today before this week. Have you ever thought of yourself playing an ID game where you`d have to run and work with pie charts and graphs, and of course being a puzzle, work out a way to get to the end of a level playing around with graphs? No me neither. It sounds so different and quite frankly is, and that`s what Metrico+ is. Something a bit different. But I think it`s a good different. It`s different to anything else that is out there.
Metrico+ is a game developed and published by Digital Dreams, and was released a few weeks ago on the Xbox One, after being released a PS Vita title over 2 years ago. It is a 3D puzzle platformer, and the aim of the game is simple. You need to get to the end of the level, but working out how to get there. You`re going to have gaps to jump and you`re going to need to work out the height that you`re going to need to reach to get there. You can do that by jumping up and down, moving back and forwards are just some of the ways that`ll help reach you to the height you need to be at. But you need to be strategic as doing one thing will cause another part of the level to move into another position or formation, and you need to work out how you`re going to do it. It`s certainly different to any other ID game I`ve touched before, and especially a puzzler.
It`s not an ID game that`s going to give you any story. There`s no story or narrative approach to the game at all. But what you`re going to get is a game that`s going to challenge you and make you think about the way you approach the levels from a puzzle point of view. It drops the idea of any story and completely focuses on the puzzle genre and making it a true puzzle game. We`ve seen many puzzles games before that have had a story attached to it and you have to work out the puzzles as you go along the game, but Metrico+ is truly solely a puzzle game, and that`s where the real focus is.
It`s a game that does has the potential to be rather challenging. It`s a game that if you`re smart and strategic about things, you`ll be able to reach the end of a level rather quickly. If you`re someone who rushes through it, you`re going to hit a brick wall very quickly. I found going rather slowly and taking time to work out what you need to do when you come to an obstacle was much better and a better approach. But the way the game is set up, and the terms of gameplay, it`s different, and it`s a good different.
Exploration. That`s a good word to describe the game and in terms of completing a level. Explore a bit. Work out what you`re going to need to do, as what you may have just done to get over that hurdle and to the next stage, may now come with a complete juxtaposed task to get to the next one. Each part of a level appears to be unique, so you`re not going to come up against the same sort of puzzle that you had earlier in the level.
Metrico+ is a game that’s going to offer you a real challenge. It`s not a game that`s a pick up and play, without a doubt. You need the patience and time to play, but if you like challenge games, then it`s truly worth having a go at. It`s going to be different to any other ID game that you`ve played before. It`s a good different though, and fully worth the pick-up.
A huge thank you to XCN for supplying us with a review copy of Metrico+
Game: Metrico+
Developers: Digital Dreams
Publishers: Digital Dreams
Genre: Puzzle
Price: £11.19 (From Xbox Store)