I always love a game that`s new to the market and is a game that`s going to grab your attention. Even within the ID market where the uniqueness is most common and discoverable, I love being able to find a ID game that is different to everything else that is out there. Well, a few weeks back, the Xbox One saw the release of 140 hit the ID market and the uniqueness and addictive style from Jeppe Carlsen joined the market. Is it a game that was welcomed into the ID market and Xbox community? Or is another flop to join the ID program? Well, it`s very much the first option. What a fun game it is indeed.
140 is a platformer designed and developed by Jeppe Carlsen who was known for his part in the gameplay direction of Playdead`s Limbo. Moving on from Playdead, 140 is described as a platformer using the beat and rhythm of music in order to help you take on a range of puzzles to get you to the end of the level. A character that can take on a range of different shapes, you`ll be tasked with finding out how to get the next colour ball to take you to the next stage of the level, and to strategize and solve the puzzle. It`s a game that offers a puzzler to the mind, and something to be quite honest, that is really different to what is out on the market at the moment.
You`ll start the game off finding your way through a range of different colour levels, as you work out how to get to the next colour ball that`ll advance you to the next level of that stage. However, it`s not your average puzzler, and you`re going to need to use the beat and the rhythm of the music to help you in getting past the level. You`ll have to watch out for fuzzy blocks that represent spikes that will kill you if you hit them, disappearing blocks that`ll plunge you to death if you`re found on them when they dissolve, and you`ll need to work out how to get past that last obstacle that distances you between the boss level of each stage, and some pretty tasty Gamerscore.
I warn you of one thing. This game is very, very addictive. I found myself constantly trying to get to the end of each level and not giving up until I had, and it offers you challenge and puzzles throughout, and from being thrown straight into the game without hesitation, you`re already up for the challenge and the puzzle that awaits ahead of you. I did find myself getting frustrated at times, but that was adding to the addiction of trying to beat the challenge. I found myself constantly dying, missing the colour balls needed to get to the next stage, and spending ages on the boss levels of each stage, working out how I was going to get through. But, it`s a game that offers you addictiveness and fun and enjoyment, and a game that will give you a really good fun and enjoyable challenge.
Now, be warned that there is no option to pause or do anything within the game. If you`re stuck on a level and within a stage, you`ll lose all your work you`ve done so far up to that level within that stage, so be warned, try and get through each stage before quitting the game. It`s much easier to start a new stage than get to the last boss of a stage and then quit out, and then have to do the whole stage again because there`s no option there to save your game. So be warned.
I have to be honest, it`s actually one of the most enjoyable ID games I`ve played this year on the Xbox One. It`s not a new game overall. It was released on Windows back in 2013, and has just recently hit the next-gen consoles. It`s a game though that I`d say offers you quite a fair bit of enjoyment and challenge out of, and it`s a game that truly is unique to the ID market. It`s fully worth the price for what you get from the game, a fun, challenging, enjoyable ID game.
A huge thank you to XCN for supplying us with a Review copy of 140
Game: 140
Genre: Platform Game
Developers: Jeppe Carlsen/Abstraction Games
Publishers: Double Fine Productions
Price: £6.39