Magrunner: Dark Pulse

I'm the kind of gamer that loves to play a hard game, and this game immediately pushed my reasoning abilities to their limits. The game isn't usually too difficult, but it does take some time to solve. The game gives you hints in two forms: gold items are magnetizable and the game lets you toggle the ability to see the magnetic fields, allowing you to find clues and divine where hidden objects might be placed. The puzzles are often good, and require you to think with the mechanics in new ways. Tutorials between levels allow you to refresh yourself on some ideas, and often give hints at mechanics you haven't learned yet, allowing you to speed up the learning curve. A plus: at times there are multiple solutions (I got stumped and found the most convenient way out [7 platforms level, I'm looking at you]). However, the game is not without its flaws: I'm not a fan of some of the cutscenes, and some of the puzzles are demonically difficult. What's more, this game is not for the beginner, as the time-based puzzles are often cruel and exacting (not a problem for someone like myself who enjoys a challenge, but don't get your kid brother playing or something). So why five stars even if it's somewhat repetitive? Because it sucked me in! But one final thing that irked me (having taken a class on electricity and magnetism): opposites attract with magnetism, while same charges repel... except in this game. That took me at least 5 levels to get over. Good thing physics class is over!

There is no doubt that is inspired by the Portal games, but has his own mark and is unique in his style. The art and design of the level is amazing and this game was born from crowfunding. However, for me at the end the puzzles were frustrating, not funny, not hard, just frustrating. Is not magnetic forces because their Black box works different than real magnetic forces (The magnets) and even with their own rules sometimes have strange behaviors. Due to their attraction/repulsion concepts, the puzzles are very unique, however the design have several weak points that can make the solving very frustrating: The box that you will be carrying many times will be obstacle by themselves, I got many deaths due this, sometimes they are very well hidden so you need to waste time to find possible items and how to use them. When new elements as the mirrors appear, the tips or guide to using them are poor. When the monster and weapons appear occurs a similar problem, in one level you found one type of monster immortal and that take a certain amount of hits to kill you, on another level, suddenly the same monster kills you in one hit and no one tell you that this time the objective of the level is to kill it. The history is… well, there are puzzles and Cthulhu has a cameo, that is all. The voice actors are dumb or maybe are the small amount of dialogues and their clumsiness that make them feel no important and even irritating. In general, if you are a lover of puzzle games probably you will enjoy the mechanics of this game, but for me was not, when I reached the last three levels I was already bored and tired of the game.

I had never heard of this game until I saw it listed as "Free" during the last GOG summer sale. I never pass up anything GOG is giving away so I nabbed it and tried it out right away. Initially, like most people seem to have done, I pegged it as a Portal clone. This is not at all accurate. It might have been Portal inspired, but gameplay is quite different and unique. I have never played anything quite like it. If you're looking for a game exploring the intricacies of real world electromagnetism then this game might disappoint you. The entire game relies on it's own set of physics that don't follow their real world counterparts. Personally, I was able to see past this because it is, after all, a game. Some might call this a weak point, but I see it for what it is -- an interesting game mechanic. Another aspect of this game that might be offputting to some is the heavily implied connection to the Eldritch Horrors but when all is said and done, they are mostly at the periphery of actual gameplay. Sure, you run across a Deep One or two and a few beasties inspired by Nyarlathotep, and you even find yourself under the gaze of a silhouetted C'thulu in the later stages of the game, but that's where it all ends. The designers of this game missed the mark on the "horror" part of "Eldritch horror" and I think that's a shame, but it's still great to see a revival of Lovecraftian inspired games. The story/plot of the game may be inspired by Lovecraft, but in the end it feels thin. The game could have had no story and no dialog and it would have felt much the same. There is virtually no character development for any character and ultimately you have no real care or concern about what happens to anyone, even the protagonist. Some characters are simply forgotten about and during the end game cinematic it's simply implied that they just died. That's it. No actual resolutions. The final negative I have to talk about is that the puzzles in the game all feel artificial and there for your benefit. This makes sense in the beginning Act of the game since you are in a test chamber, but even once you leave that test chamber, none of the puzzles ever have an organic feel to them. There is always this sense of artificial construction. With all of that said, these negatives all add up to an important, but ultimately minor shortcoming which brings the game down by one star. With a little bit of extra polish, this game could have been a real gem. Overall, I would still recommend this game to any puzzle platforming enthusiasts. Don't go in expecting an experience on the level of Portal and I think you will be quite pleased with this game.

Magrunner is a solid first-person puzzler in the same genre of Portal. Instead of portals, the game uses a variation on gravity. Your gravity gun charges platforms, blocks and certain world objects with one of two charges (colored red and green by default). Like colors attract, opposite colors repel (which is the opposite of how gravity works, but allows for easier visualization and preserves your sanity). Using the attract/repel mechanic you can do a variety of things: Ride platforms and move them to and fro, propel yourself forward or upward on top of gravity cubes, smash enemies or glass barriers, etc. I found the game quite challenging at times. The puzzle difficulty is rather uneven, meaning that it doesn't necessarily get harder as you progress. Every now and then you'll face a puzzle that's much harder than what follows it. There's no save-on-demand, which can create some frustration. If you die, the last checkpoint is loaded, and you'll have to listen to whatever dialogue there is over and over. This is especially grating because I absolutely loathed the protagonist. While most of the characters are meh, the protagonist takes whining to a whole new level. I found his voice acting to be constantly hysterical (Gamaji! GAMAJI! wah wah, boohoo), and his character completely annoying. The antagonist isn't any better, although thankfully he makes fewer appearances. The game is at its best when it lets you figure out your solution to the puzzle at hand. Occassionally, you will be under pressure because of a monster chasing you, or because the puzzle is actually a boss fight. Those levels were the worst in my experience. The game overstayed its welcome a bit. I felt like it could've been a tad shorter and been stronger for it. For most of the final act, I was not playing for fun, but to finish.