Shifting Between Darkness And Colour

Review by ethgamma on Sunday, November 6th 2016

Interested in mat7772's Colour Shift? I'm your friendly neighbourhood reviewer Ethgamma and this is my review on that very platformer!

Yes, today I am finally back with another game review, this time on Matty's 51st Sploder game feature and latest puzzle platformer, known as the aforementioned Colour Shift. The premise of this game is simply to navigate between a blank slate version of one of the four levels and an alternate colourized version to eventually reach the end of each stage. While the concept of having multiple versions of the same level isn't an entirely new concept to puzzle platformers on the website, Matty definitely used this gimmick to his advantage throughout the stages that comprise this game. While I was unfairly glitched out of the level at one point due to an attack from one of the enemies, overall I thoroughly enjoyed Colour Shift and here's why.

Gameplay

As I stated above, the entire gimmick of this game is to bounce between two mirrored versions of each level, one shrouded in darkness and the other enhanced with colour. The purpose of this clear segregation is simple, it allows the players to clearly identify which version of the world they've been teleported into, leading to less confusion when one is trying to solve the various puzzles within the levels. Essentially, the puzzles within this game are fairly linear, your main requirement is to stay alive while navigating back and forth between the different versions of each level. It's a bit of a wild goose chase in the sense that you're always running between various switches in hopes of finding the crystals and unlocking the door to escape from each level. However, it's not too difficult to become lost within the levels because the next step to follow is always fairly close by and fairly obvious to pick up on. This is a good aspect of the gameplay, especially to newer users on the website, because it means they are more inclined to stick around instead of getting bored being stuck in the same place for too long. My only minor criticism towards the gameplay is that it can get slightly dull being stuck within the same bounds of the map(s) just jumping back and forth again and again, but as I said this is combated by the fact that it's not too difficult to progress further ahead.

Hazards

The majority of the hazards within this game come in the form of the various enemies duplicated across both of the level mirrors, which serve primarily as obstacles blocking your path rather than entities that can be used to further the gameplay. An exception to this rule are the giant robots located on the final level which are manipulated to be used as a platform of elevation as well as a hazardous enemy to avoid, which I quite like. Generally, I believe the purpose of the enemy placement overall was just to drive the statement home that the worlds the player is jumping between are identical to one another. The enemies can get slightly tedious as you progress through the levels, especially if you are restarting after a "game over", but this aspect can be correlated to any puzzle platformer so this isn't a major concern of mine. The placement of the hazards themselves is sometimes quite ingenious, such as an instance when turrets were lined up and were required to be destroyed to carry a ball towards a switch. There aren't too many instances of non-entity hazards except for the occasional pit-of-lava blocking the player from continuing forth into the level. Overall, the placement of the enemies wasn't really exceptional in any case, but there weren't baddies haphazardly scattered across the terrains of the levels and they served more of a function than just being obstacles.

Visuals and Music

The visible and audible techniques shown within Colour Shift is possibly the most crucial aspect of the game, as these are generally how mat7772 accurately distinguishes the almost-identical playfields from one another. The usage of complete darkness as a contrast to the colourfulness of the opposite world is one major way this is shown, as well as the usage of pitch black darkness and (what I assume to be) invisible torches to show a brighter world. Sometimes different backdrops and tiles are used within each level but we are mostly greeted with the blank white background behind each level map. Personally, I think it could've been quite a nice addition to the game to have each level focus around a certain theme or visual aspect, such as a mostly lava-type level or one that utilizes the usage of foreground aesthetic to shroud the playfield in the darker version. While they aren't extraordinarily detailed and designed, the graphics used within Colour Shift also portray this contrast of colourful to colourless in an aesthetically pleasing way. I also can appreciate the usage of the colour-blotched graphic added to the player's face; I imagine the purpose of this is to distance this game from other puzzle platformers that use the same gimmick of multiple playfields as well. In terms of music, each level tracj contributes to the semi-intense feel of the game, and while they are commonly used songs for platformers and PPGs alike they are still great additions to Colour Shift nonetheless.

Difficulty

This game isn't too difficult to complete, and it only took me around ten to twenty minutes to finish this game myself (albeit I had to get a checkpoint from Mat after getting kicked out of the playfield on the final level), which is why I recommend many starting Sploder players to try this game out for themselves. As I stated earlier, becoming lost isn't too common within Colour Shift due to the fact that the next step to take to complete each level is fairly obvious and you really only need to scour around one or both versions of the playfield for a moment or two to get back on track. While multiple lives would make the experience much easier (this can be forgiven as some type of ingame glitch prevents mat7772 from putting in extra lives), Mat has been fairly generous with health placement and if your health is quite low at some points you're bound to regain some of that lost HP with a minute or two of further progression. If you're out looking to beat platformers to gain boost points or if you're just on the lookout for a puzzle plat that isn't mind-numbingly difficult, I'd definitely give Colour Shift a shot.

Addictiveness

In terms of how fun and addictive Colour Shift is, I would definitely say it has it's moments. As mentioned previously, encountering the same enemies again and again can become somewhat tedious and the gimmick of bouncing between the playfields on the lookout for the next switch or opened pathway can be a little repetitive at times. However, the desire to progress further ahead and reach new, unseen areas in the light and dark worlds is quite an enjoyable experience. If you happen to die so close to the end of a level or you mess up but know exactly what steps to take to reach a specific area once again, then I would definitely define this platformer as being addicting. The game itself is quite enjoyable for what it's worth and while a fifth level such as a boss fight could've been quite a cool idea to experiment with between the light and dark worlds - Mat has said that this was not possible due to the life glitch - Colour Shift is quite a fun puzzle platformer to play through and complete in my honest opinion.

Verdict

In summary, I quite enjoyed mat7772's Colour Shift, it's a great puzzle platformer for both beginner and advanced Sploder players and it isn't too long of a game to complete. As a simple tl;dr summary of the previous five sections, here are my overall pros and cons:

Pros

- Creative gimmick that carries across all four stages

- Quite a good puzzle game for all types of Sploder gamers

- Enemy placement sometimes serves a legitimate purpose (puzzle aspect or as a gimmick)

- Contrast between both versions of the playfield is portrayed quite well

- Isn't too difficult to complete and doesn't take too long to do so

- Enjoyable experience as a whole

Cons

- Gimmick can get quite tedious in certain areas where you need to run back/forth

- Enemies can become tedious and annoying at times alongside their positives

- A theme or design style between each level could have been a nice addition

- A boss fight to close off the game would've been amazing (not Mat's fault, blame geoff!!)

Ratings

After-thoughts

Colour Shift is quite a nice addition to mat's feature count of 51, and that alone is well-deserved. I highly recommend anybody who hasn't tried this game out yet should definitely try and beat it, it isn't too difficult and if you have 20 or so minutes to spare you should definitely take a crack at it. Until my next review, have a good one guys and gurls! :D

~ Ethgamma, multi-dimensional travelling expert and friendly neighbourhood reviewer