Are you the type of person that relishes extremely challenging puzzles that really tax your brain? If so, Influx isn't for you. But it is for those looking for the chance to explore a beautiful, diverse, mysterious environment with a little light puzzle solving along the way. Gameplay consists of two phases: Exploring gorgeous, intriguing environments full of caves, waterfalls, rivers, lush valleys, ruins, etc. and solving puzzles inside glass houses placed in this environment. The two play off each other nicely: you are allowed to explore new areas as a reward for completing a puzzle, and a puzzle crops up just when the exploration begins to get a little boring. As you play farther, the line begins to blur: you start solving more puzzles in the actual environment and less in the boxes. This all builds up to a stunning grand finale. The puzzles themselves are an interesting blend of Portal-style lateral thinking and platform challenges. There are a few easy puzzles at the beginning, and then the puzzles become medium difficulty thereafter: This means not so difficult you'll have to think the whole solution through before executing it, but not so easy that you can just try random stuff and finish the level. This is a departure from most puzzle games where the last few puzzles are fiendishly difficult, but it works well here. A fantastic game if you want to explore an amazing new world full of sights, sounds, and surprises. Less so if you want the next Portal.
Torin's passage is a pretty unique adventure game that tries to tell a Disney-style animated tale which can appeal to both kids and adults. The main strength of this game is in creating an imaginative fantasy world, with different layers of existence which are traveled between via crystals. The denizens of this world are hilarious and quirky, and this game isn't afraid to go over-the-top with characters and environments. The voice acting, sound and music are all quite good and fit this melodramatic/comical tone perfectly. If you're looking for a colorful game that will delight and surprise, this is it. The story, always important in an adventure game, starts very strong, with a majestic tale of Torin setting out to find his parents after they are mysteriously taken by a sorceress who may have ties to his past. However, the story is not developed consistently throughout, and the plot remains mostly static until the final encounter. There are lots of interesting side encounters Torin has which seem promising, but none ever play into the bigger picture. And the finale itself is rushed and disappointing. The gameplay is a mixed bag. The game offers a nice hint system is you are stuck on a puzzle, and you will use it often because some puzzles are surprisingly counterintuitive. The game breaks its own rules (such as only highlighted areas can be interacted with) a few times, which adds to the frustration. There are some very good puzzles, but they are unfortunately few and far between. Boogle, your shapeshifting pet, is very poorly used, he has little personality and most of his forms can only be used once. But overall, I would highly recommend Torin's Passage to an adventure fan who's looking for something a little quirky, lighthearted and fun.
This game has an amazing artistic style. By using sprite-based graphics and a colorful palette, it manages to capture that anime style that modern cell-shaded games can't hope to achieve. It really has a unique look, and it's worth getting for that alone. The tracks are really varied and include tunnels, cross traffic, pushable barrels, cheering spectators and even sheep(!), all with very detailed and beautiful backgrounds. The sound and music also complement this style perfectly. However, the gameplay could use a lot of improvement. All the opponents are very wooden, they start out much faster than you and move to a predetermined order, evenly spaced out on the track. They pretty much stay there throughout the race, waiting for you to pass them. There is almost no infighting or order changes throughout the race, which makes it pretty boring. Also, on many tracks the most challenging part is jumping over obstacles such as low fences and debris. These jumps must be perfectly timed or you will fall way behind. I came here to play a racing game not a platformer! Adding weapons was a cool idea, but they are pretty useless. They all fire behind you, and with no rearview mirror the only way you hit someone is by luck, and even then you don't get to see a reaction. So I think this game is worth getting on sale to experience the fun visual style and the unique track design. But if you're looking for great gameplay, look elsewhere.
I am truly surprised by all the rave reviews this game has gotten. All I can imagine was that they were written by people whose views are clouded by nostalgia. Playing it for the first time in 2012, it is not a fun experience. Specifically, the major issue is the punishing nature of the game if you die. I consider myself a moderately skilled player at most games, but I have spent at least a couple hours playing this one and I am still at square one. When you die, this game puts you back to the very beginning. Now I've heard from others that the game does autosave later on, and maybe that is true, but I can say for sure there is no save in the first 25 minutes of gameplay or so. This wouldn't be so bad if death was easy to avoid. But it is not. In this very early part of the game, the game introduces enemies with super-effective homing missiles that can kill you in one hit. I wish I could avoid these guys, but despite making every effort to do so, there is a sequence where the games forces you to *very* quickly hide from one in a large house. If you cannot find the hiding space, which must be very well hidden, in 10 seconds or so, you are instantly killed. I really tried to give this game a chance, but I can't keep spending my precious free time playing the same early puzzles over and over again, only to be killed before I reach the mythical autosave. So I would not recommend buying this game unless you love repetition.
I bought this game because GOG's description says "Very easy to get into but if you are looking for a challenge than you can up the difficulty level". I have no idea what this is referring to. I bought this hoping to at least be able to enjoy enjoy the first few levels without much frustration. Instead, despite starting with 7 lives and the easiest difficulty level, I couldn't make it more than a few screens in. The reason is that the game is extremely fast and requires lightning fast reflexes. The levels are filled with spikes and enemies in places that are very hard to avoid. I can invest time in a difficult platformer if it offers a really unique world, like Earthworm Jim. But Superfrog's levels are as mundane as possible, and the graphics and animation are pretty poor too. So other than nostalgia, I see no reason to recommend this game.
