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Gish
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Graphics & Sound:
Bravo! (An you can quote me on that.)
With Gish, Chronic Logic managed to do what so many other developers fail to do - they created something that is truly unique and innovative. Not only that, but they managed to do so within the confines of what some would argue is a played-out genre: the 2D platformer.
This innovation comes in various aspects of Gish. The environments, for example, are very 'classic 2D platformer', from blocks that break and platforms that pivot (a la Mario 2D platformers) to ramps that you can use to jump up to higher areas (a la Sonic platformers). However, the treatment of the graphics themselves are much darker (in both color and feel) than the deepest caverns ever encountered by Mario. Not only that, but Gish doesn't throw out all of the technological breakthroughs of the past couple of decades to make their 2D platformer. You'll find some really cool real-time lighting effects that you wouldn't have dreamed of back in the day.
As for the sound, the sound effects are definitely decent, with good and consistent audio quality and not seeming out of place. The coolest thing with the sound in Gish, however, is the soundtrack. The music in Gish is a really cool, jazzy piece that lends itself more to supporting your concentration on figuring out how to get past this next part than pumping you up to a feverish pace, as most game music these days seems to try to do.
Additionally, the general treatment of the game (loading screens, cut scenes, etc.) are innovative and interesting. My favorite is the tar versions of popular movie posters (such as Braveheart and Pulp Fiction) that are shown when the game first loads. Gish is a bit whimsical and definitely marches to the beat of its own drummer. |
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Gameplay:
Luckily, the innovation in Gish is not restricted to graphics and sound treatments. The gameplay objectives may sound like every other game: avoid or destroy baddies, collect goodies and progress through the levels to rescue the damsel in distress... but the gameplay is greatly changed by the fact that you're a ball of tar.
Well, it's not so much the simple fact that the character is a ball of tar, but the control scheme that comes along with that fact. You can move left and right across surfaces, but due to the fact that you're a gelatinous sort of guy, you will continue to move a bit after letting go of the direction, so you'll need to tap back the other direction to stay where you are. Additionally, you can press the 's' key and you become slick. This will greatly reduce your friction, allowing you to slip down pipes, squeeze through tight places or build up a good rotational speed to get a good running start on a ramp or such. Pressing the 'a' button will allow you to adhere to things. You will become very sticky - indicated visually by a lot of little spikes appearing on your skin. When in this mode, it is possible to climb up walls, across ceilings - even to grab, move and throw objects around you. You'll need to practice using your special abilities and quickly switching between them to make it past certain obstacles. The individual controls are very straightforward, but you'll need to use them in just the right combinations to keep progressing - and you'll be surprised what you can do with them.
One of the cool features of Gish is that even though the game is a 2D platformer, there are several ways to get past different parts of the game. You can avoid enemies altogether, jump over them, climb the walls and across the ceiling or - in some cases - throw them onto spikes or trick them into falling into a deep tunnel. A lot of the gameplay feels like it's emergent behavior - and you can find your own way to progress. |
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Difficulty:
The difficulty in Gish relies primarily on your problem-solving skills and your hand-eye coordination. Mainly, you'll need to determine how best to use your controls (including your ability to adhere or be slick) and how best to use the environment around you. Some of the game content is extra - the secret areas and the little bonuses around the levels. These can be safely ignored if you're just wanting to make it through the game, or you can try to collect them all if you're looking for a greater challenge.
Additionally, if you find the game too easy and you want a more challenging level (or if you want a less challenging level, for that matter), you can create your own custom level and then play it yourself or challenge your friends to try to get through your level.
In general, Gish doesn't provide much ability to change difficulty levels, but is not too difficult to learn to play with practice.
There's also a 'Playroom' that you can use to practice in. It provides a lot of the things you'll encounter in a real level, but without any real goal; you can simply practice interacting with the environment here. |
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Game Mechanics:
Gish definitely has innovation going for it. Any gamers who sit around and complain about games not being unique or innovative should pick this one up immediately.
The main character, Gish, is a tarball that can roll around on screen. The way this is implemented in the game is quite interesting, however; if you look carefully, you may notice that you are basically controlling a rotating loop. The dynamics are essentially that of a "String Launcher" - one of Bruce Yearny's interesting science demonstration inventions. Basically, there's a loop of string that is rotating; changes to one part of the loop's rotational path will effect the behavior (and shape) of other parts of the loop's path due to wave behavior. In Gish, the exterior of your character behaves much like the string of a string launcher, and you can use this fact to control Gish's shape to some degree when you're in slippery mode and you're revving up against an object that you can't simply roll over while slippery. Okay, so that's a lot of talk about a string launcher, I know - if you aren't familiar with it, that's fine. Just know that the physical behavior in the game makes sense and is predictable once you know what you're doing, and that's a good thing. The physics in Gish are usually only seen in the latest 3D games; it's a nice and welcomed surprise to see such great physics in a 2D game.
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-Geck0, GameVortex Communications AKA Robert Perkins |
Minimum System Requirements:
Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, Linux or OSX 10.1+,
AMD,Intel or G3 1000+ Mhz processor,
OpenGL video card with 32 mb of memory,
256MB of memory |
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Test System:
Intel Pentium 4E, 3.2 GHz (Intel Grantsdale i915),
1 GB RAM, AMI BIOS,
Radeon X300 Series (128 MB),
Realtek HD Audio,
Floppy disk drive,
200 GB 7200 RPM, Serial-ATA/150 Maxtor HD (24760 MB free),
DVD-ROM, Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-108,
Sony SDM-HS73 Monitor,
Cable Modem |
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