Genre: General
Website: http://badlandgame.com/
Lee:
- Platform: Android
- Hours logged: 10.0
- Playthroughs: 1
- Rating: 8/10
- Lee (7/28/2014): First of all, this game is beautiful in a hauntingly industrial, Tim Burton-esque sort of way. All of the game’s action takes place in the dark silhouette at the screen’s foreground, which stands out in contrast against the lusciously colorful, yet moody, background art. (These background images reminded me of the fantasy paintings printed on many of the Forest and Swamp Magic the Gathering land cards.) Very cool!
The object of BADLAND is to navigate your fat, dark, flying blob (called a “clone”) through side-scrolling levels containing obstacles, triggers, machines, traps, and more. Along the way, you can navigate your clones to pick up power-ups, which will multiply, shrink, grow, spin, or sticky-ify your clones. These modifications enable you to easier navigate each level’s traps and obstacles.
I was immediately drawn into this game. The initial levels were easy and deeply engaging. Even when I ran into a puzzle that popped, squashed, or overran my clone(s), a retry or two of the level was usually all that I needed to proceed. Then things got more difficult. While still ultimately solvable, the puzzles started taking more skill and dexterity to complete. Finally, the levels started to wear on me, and I lost interest. This response is par for the course when it comes to my history with side-scrolling platformers, though I really, really wanted this one to be different. I didn't play enough of the game to give it an official rating, but I feel that it would have ended up somewhere around a 7. If you are a fan of platformers, I suspect that you would love this game.
- Lee (7/29/2014): OK, well, shit. I don't want to be done with this game yet. Yesterday, before I sat down to write my review of this game, I played it for a few minutes for a quick refresher, since I hadn't played it in a few months (thank you, Borderlands 2 and Minecraft). Right away, I ran into the puzzle that had frustrated me enough to take a long break from this game. I popped my clone on the spinning saws a few more times, then uttered, "This is BULLSH...hold on...hey, I beat it!" Then I moved on to the next level, where I got stuck on another puzzle, and then, as Shane likes to say, I rage quit.
This morning, I went to uninstall the game, but decided to open it one last time. The colors drew me back in, and I grinded the current troublesome trap until I passed it. Yes, I almost immediately got stuck again, but I plan to tackle it later on today. Stand by for another update soon.
- Lee (8/12/2014): Well, I did it. I logged a playthrough of BADLAND. And it was glorious. I decided to define a playthrough as the completion (no skipping checkpoints!) of all 40 levels in both Day I and Day II (but not the 10 levels in Doomsday, the hardcore bonus day). I didn't really care about my game stats other than levels completed, but here they are for those who are interested: 507 clones, 26/270 missions, 19/51 achievements, 80/90 levels.
As I wrapped up the levels in Day I and began Day II, I found myself repeatedly blown away by the clever usage of the game's physics engine. The developers dug deep into the creativity bucket with nearly every level, which resulted in a near constant stream of unique gameplay sequences and brain-tickling puzzles. It was exciting watching the action of the traps unfold in interesting ways, and it was often even amusing to watch them crush, pop, or otherwise obliterate my clones.
I read online that the devs did a fantastic job with the game sounds. However, once again, since I usually play the game on my Droid X2 in places where I need to have the sound turned off (in my cube at work, in the bathroom, etc.), I didn't get to experience this important game element. I still feel weird about missing out on the entire soundtrack and gameplay sound aspects of these mobile games, but the best I can do for now is to just make note of it here.
The one-touch controls in BADLAND work amazingly well for navigating your clones through the series of traps and puzzles in each level. I am reminded of the game Vector, which has remarkably similar game mechanics and controls, now that I think about it. When we discussed Vector, Shane expressed a concept to me that each level is completed by a series of screen taps or swipes, and learning when exactly to tap or swipe the screen is much like learning a song on a musical instrument. It was applying this concept to BADLAND that convinced me to push through and finish the game. And now I want to play Vector again...
In summary, I have finally found a side-scrolling platformer that is accessible, creative, and beautiful enough to extract a playthrough from me. Swordigo didn't do it. I doubt that even Super Mario Brothers or Donkey Kong Country could do it. But this one did. Nicely done, Frogmind Games.
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