On the other hand…

It’s always interesting when developers try out new ideas. Not always in a good way, but interesting nevertheless. I make it sound like this game is sporting something new and fresh, and in a way it is, and in a way it isn’t.

Much like my previously reviewed game (Scary Girl), And Yet It Moves (henceforth AYIM) is a platforming game at heart. Actually it’s all about platforming, because all you character can do is run and jump. There is, however, something else YOU, the player, can do. But more on that later.

The thing that’ll strike you about AYIM is the look. The graphics are… strange. Everything in the game looks like it was ripped out of a magazine or torn from a drawing (click pictures to enlarge them). It’s sort of like a cheaply made cartoon, made by schoolkids. No, that’s a wrong way to describe it, because I make it sound amateurish, and while this is no large-scale production from a big company and therefore in some ways could be declared the product of an amateur, this game is done in style. Seeing the game in action and objects moving about, you have to admire the visual style, regardless of its simplistic look and feel. It feels… well, analog, as the game’s site explains about the process.

As for the game’s (sparse) sounds, they are also handmade and originating from the sound designers voice. It makes it sound rather unique, although whether that’s a good choice or not, will be a matter of taste. Personally, I find it amusing, in a good way.

The actual gameplay is quite simple. You control a paper man (who might or might not be cut out for the job, haha), who has to get from one point to another. Simple, or so it looks at first. But it isn’t long till you discover that you are stuck. Either that, or something magical has to happen. As it is, something magical can be made to happen. You can rotate the world.

Remember when I spoke of new and fresh things? Well, this is the second, the first being the distinct art style. In reality, it’s not that fresh though. It’s certainly not the first game to have sported this “rotate-the-world” feature.

On the Ball (seen to the left) from Taito for Super Nintendo was one of the first games I remember playing, in which you rotate the screen around your character (in this case, a ball). That worked very well on the Super Nintendo since it had great hardware capabilities for rotating the gamefield, and I still remember being quite impressed by the game, although I had loads of frustation from the difficulty of certain areas.

But there have been other recent examples too, like the simple (but enjoyable) freeware game Jumpman (pictured below). It follows a similar style, ie. being able to rotate the background. The difference from On the Ball and Jumpman / AYIM is the fact that the latter will only let you move the background in 90-degree increments.

This makes for some interesting dilemmas, since you have to calculate your jumps and routes much more. You can’t just rotate the screen a bit more. Actually, in AYIM the rotation is just about slow enough to let you utilize the fact that you can time a jump/landing halfway through a rotation and survive that way.

Speaking of survival, in AYIM you die. Frequently. I mean, there were places I died like 50 times before getting it right. Frustrating? Very much so, but at least the game does sport frequent check points, so it’s almost forgiven. But I hope you have patience.

The problem with our hero’s life lies in the fact that he is as fragile as the thin paper he is made from. Sure, he gets squashed but stones which is understandable. But fall from a too high distances, and he is ripped apart as well. The frustration can set in rather quickly after 20 unforgiving deaths because of the hero’s fragility.

Apart from the deadly leaps our hero has to make, there are other obstacles and/or enemies. Like stones, branches and water. And it’s not all about taking leaps of faith and cling to the hope of survival. There are a few puzzle in the game too, although most of those fall into the “time rotation correctly to make object fall into place”-category.

The Live-network for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console would be a prime distribution channel for such a game. It would probably sell quite well for 800-1200 Microsoft Points, and it seems to be at least prepared for that step because it already includes different “achievements” (16 as far as I know), like going for a 360 degrees ride on a swing, surviving large drops by landing on a steep slope etc.

Lifespan is increased further by the speedrun modes which introduces “ghost” of your own (or others) previous best runs and of course all scores can be submitted to a central server for comparison.

With 17 levels, a somewhat unique style – and certainly challenging gameplay – the game has a few good things going for itself. It costs about £13 on Steam, so it’s not like it’s going to ruin you. On the other hand, high profile titles such as the awesome Braid and World of Goo cost about the same.

What this all boils down to is a stylish, technically competent game, that gives about 3-4 hours good gameplay (and perhaps as many frustrating hours) for roughly the price of one movie ticket (with the high prices in Denmark). I recommend you download the free demo for Windows or OSX and check it out. You might find out it’s a small gem. That’s my personal opinion. But it’s a bit of a rough and gameplaywise bit unpolished gem.

Score: 7 out of 10

-Jacob

Trailer for the game: