Australia is not any stranger to pumping out banger indie video games. It’s one thing that’s been part of our online game panorama for an extended whereas, however it’s ramped up considerably for the reason that launch of the Swap. Hole Knight, Golf Story, Unpacking, Shifting Out, Cult of the Lamb, Untitled Goose Recreation, The Plucky Squire — there’s most likely much more I’m forgetting, however Australia’s impression on the video games trade is obvious to see, and there are numerous success tales. After having performed Tempopo from Brisbane-based Witch Beam (additionally identified for Assault Android Cactus and Unpacking), I’m happy to say that Australia’s fashionable legacy of an indie recreation banger manufacturing unit gained’t be altering anytime quickly.
Tempopo is greatest described as a mixture of Lemmings and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. Just like the latter, you’re offered with a small, floating diorama of a degree, and also you’re tasked with gathering little trinkets – on this case musical flowers – across the stage. Besides not like Captain Toad, you’re not controlling your character instantly; as a substitute, you’ll be directing a bunch of lovable little pink guys referred to as Tempopo across the stage for you.
These Tempopo, moreover being the cutest pink guys in gaming after Kirby, will begin in a set place on the stage, then begin bouncing ahead when you hit play. You don’t have any direct management over them, they’ll simply stroll in no matter course they’re dealing with, even when they’re about to launch themselves into the ether or run face-first right into a nasty skeleton.
And that’s the place the Lemmings side comes into play. Every degree gives you with a restricted choice of objects that may be positioned into the stage, and these objects change your Tempopo’s behaviour once they run into it. There’s a variety of objects that your Tempopo can use, starting from easy ones like altering their course to extra complicated ones like smashing a tile in entrance of them, turning right into a block or bounce pad, or pushing a block of their means — and that’s simply within the first world.
So every degree goes like this: you get dropped right into a stage, together with your Tempopo of their beginning positions already, and your behaviour objects in hand. Then it’s as much as you to determine how one can use these objects to direct your Tempopo across the stage to gather all the flowers and get to the tip of the extent.
It sounds fairly easy, however the complexity scales up rapidly. It didn’t take lengthy earlier than Tempopo began tickling the puzzle fixing complicated in my mind, and never lengthy after it was giving my mind a full exercise. My strategies for fixing these puzzles modified all through my time with the sport, too — at first I’d simply let my Tempopo run after which cease the run once they encountered an issue to position an object to assist them, however that technique didn’t final for lengthy.
Then, I attempted working from the tip level going backwards, planning out the strikes that my little guys would want to get to their purpose. That labored for some time, however finally the complexity of the levels reached some extent the place it wasn’t possible to work that means. Working backwards, I didn’t understand how or the place my varied Tempopo could be by the tip of the stage. They may have smashed a couple of blocks I’d relied upon in my calculations, or one may need collected flowers whereas the opposite didn’t. In the long run, I had to make use of a mix of strategies to unravel every puzzle, and I slowly discovered new strategies for piecing collectively a degree.
And that is the great thing about Tempopo as a puzzle recreation. It’s not a puzzle recreation that you may simply study as soon as and instantly you’re good at each stage — the mechanics are shared throughout levels however the degree design implies that you’re compelled to give you distinctive methods for fixing the logic behind the puzzles. It’s complicated and difficult, however by no means mechanically tough, and each barrier that you simply come throughout is one that may be solved by analyzing your personal strategy, slightly than essentially needing to determine one thing new within the recreation itself. You know the way every little thing works by the point the actual complexity kicks in, so you have to refine your strategy as you progress.
And for those who’re discovering it too difficult, there’s an possibility for a extra directed mode that tells you the place objects could be positioned to unravel the puzzles, and a touch system that appears to work very properly, even when I used to be too cussed to make use of it myself. It’s enjoyable to strategy these puzzles with a buddy or beloved one, too — the mechanical simplicity of Tempopo means that you may have a couple of buddies round and all level on the TV the place all people thinks gadgets ought to go. It most likely wasn’t designed to be a celebration recreation, however it’s enthralling when performed as one nonetheless.
It helps, too, that the presentation is as robust as it’s. Tempopo is a completely beautiful recreation, bursting with color and character, and it has an outstanding soundtrack that truly performs into the gameplay, too, together with your Tempopo bouncing alongside to the beat. Nothing is particularly timed so that you don’t want good rhythm to truly play, however there’s one thing extremely charming seeing your pink little guys hopping alongside to the music as they go about their enterprise.
It appears to be like and runs like a dream on Swap, too, with easy body charges, pretty fast load occasions, and no bugs or points in sight. It’s polished to a mirror end in nearly each side, which is to be anticipated from Witch Beam — in my expertise, the group over there don’t do issues half-way, and Tempopo is not any totally different.
If I had any criticism in any respect, it could be that the visible design can typically be just a bit bit overwhelming. It’s not sufficient to negatively impression the expertise, however loading right into a stage typically has you struggling to make sense of the extent, not as a result of it’s not well-designed, however since you’re bombarded with brilliant, vibrant levels bursting with every kind of attention-grabbing stuff, and it takes a second to regulate and begin making sense of every little thing.
The controls could be very barely finicky too. With any such recreation, utilizing a controller is at all times going to be a really barely subpar expertise in comparison with a mouse, the place you’ll be able to freely place objects rapidly and simply. Witch Beam has finished every little thing it may possibly to make this expertise smoother – together with help for contact in handheld mode, which is sweet – however I can’t assist however really feel like having the finer management of a mouse would make it even higher. Maybe a Swap 2 Version sooner or later might iron out that minor wrinkle.
Tempopo is an exceptional puzzle recreation that excels in nearly every little thing it tries to do, taking inspirations from a few of the greatest video games within the style and turning them into one thing really distinctive and really particular. It’s a beautiful audiovisual expertise that places your mind right into a puzzle-solving frenzy, and it’s top-of-the-line puzzle video games you’ll ever play.
Score: 5/5
