Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet - XBLA

[Synthesthesia]

Where to begin...

I've been anticipating this game for around 2 years+ now, and it'd be wrong to say that it lived up to the hype I had for it. It missed out EVER so slightly. I was expecting it to be a 10/10 game and to me it's probably a 9-9.5.

If you've played Metroid, you know what to expect from this. However, I like the freedom that this gives you of movement, you can move literally anywhere unlike having to get the space jump in Metroid which is still somewhat restrictive.

I love how connected the ship feels to the world, when you have to squeeze through a little gap the ship hits off the roof/bottom of the cave, and tilts/turns in response to it. The grabber upgrade also feels very responsive when you pick a rock etc up. My only gripe with that is, it doesn't work on everything. If it won't pick something up, say like a very big rock, it just won't grab it. I wish it had grabbed it, but just stopped you from moving away like when you grab one of the plants.

The environments are beautifully designed and each one looks interesting and hugely different from the last. The upgrades are pushed out at a good pace and you never feel bored in terms of new equipment to use, you probably get new stuff in this quicker than bastion and that felt quite varied.

There's also lots of concept art/movie collectables with the movie collectables needing 3 "artifacts" to view each clip, which are 3 second animations from the artist.

I haven't finished it yet as I didn't want to blow through it in 1 day, I've probably played around 5-6 hours of the single player, and I'm fairly near the end, have all the upgrades etc.

I also checked out the "Lantern Run" mode with a friend yesterday and it's great fun. You each have a lantern that you have to drag along with you to amass points/ light the way through the cave. You can drop one and have it break (by the creature chasing you catching up to it) but if both break it's game over. If you die, you respawn at an upgrade point if you're playing with more than one person as I was. We played it for around an hour and didn't get bored, highest score we got was 450,000 and it felt like we went for ages! The achievement is 1,000,000. I'll definitely be trying for it.

Anyway all in all, this is my favourate title from summer of arcade. I hope you guys will pick it up and give interesting creative titles like this a chance

[Adam Stone]

Yay! Finally! I've been waiting for a first play thread to appear - literally just logged on to create one myself, very pleased you got here first :-)

Just to echo, this is brilliant. Honestly, absolutely bloody excellent.

Unlike others I wasnt anticipating this - literally just stumbled across the trailer a couple of weeks back but was instantly intrigued. I didnt download the trail, simply purchased straight out - Worth every single penny. I've been enjoying this more than most retail purchases of late. Its beautifully portrayed and the environments feel very much there, 'connected' to my space ship. Love how little things move and react when I gently brush across them or slam into them.

The alternative routes, hidden areas and puzzles - so far - are all perfectly paced and cleverly laid out, constantly making me take a moment to review my surroundings before advancing on. Being able to map the ship's tools to any button combination makes switching between them a breeze.

Loving the subtle music notes throughout, has a very Limbo feel.

Just excellent. Dont bother with the trail, buy it.

[Charlie]

has a very Limbo feel.

Any more talk like that and you'll have me buying it. Shame on you.

[cavalcade]

I found it sterile, dull and tedious. I don't think it's that interesting, or that creative either. Very much a poster child for this generation's range of games that hide dull mechanics and flaccid gameplay behind a strong art style.

[Charlie]

Is your impression based on the trial or full game? Can't say the trial wowed me too much. Well, no, it did in some respects, but not the important ones.

[Synthesthesia]

It's based on the trial, just checked his gamertag as I was intrigued myself. Out of interest, what's in the trial? Where does it end, weapons etc?

And honestly I fail to see how it's not interesting, there are very few games that are done in Metroid's style, yet tonnes of FPS, RPGs etc. It's nice to see one come along with it's own art style and take on gameplay.

If you don't like Metroid I can understand you not liking this, but if you like Metroid and don't like this? WTF is all that comes to mind for me.

[Lebowski]

It's own art style? World of goo, limbo, countless vector flash games its not its own art style, as I've said elsewhere the trial didn't grab me neither did the art style, it plays ok, one to pick up in the inevitable sale I think

[EvilBoris]

Yeah it does have it's own art style, just because the games you have listed all heavily feature black silhouettes doesn't make them all look the same.

I was liking flying around with my little robot arm, I can see they have deliberately gone for zero text and no music to give it that alien feel, although that gives the game quite a different feel to lots of other games. I can see why people wouldn't like that or think that it was dull as a result.

I played for about an hour last night, while I was enjoying it, it's perhaps not quite as engaging as Shadow Complex or Super metroid. I got fatigued after playing it for 90 minutes last night, but I am still looking forward to play it some more.
The attract video shows some much more exciting looking bits and new areas.

[Adam Stone]

Yeah, i've been finding that i've been enjoying short bursts rather than long sessions :-)

[cavalcade]

You checked my gamertag? I feel violated.

I dunno where the trial ends, I was so bored after 10 minutes I switched it off. It isn't interesting, regardless of how it looks. And there aren't many games in Metroid's style? Seriously. I could rattle off 5 better examples on XBLA alone. The most obvious competitor is Shadow Complex which does everything that ITSP does, but better. Or one of the Castlevania games. This is just dull and devoid of character.

It's based on the trial, just checked his gamertag as I was intrigued myself. Out of interest, what's in the trial? Where does it end, weapons etc?

And honestly I fail to see how it's not interesting, there are very few games that are done in Metroid's style, yet tonnes of FPS, RPGs etc. It's nice to see one come along with it's own art style and take on gameplay.

If you don't like Metroid I can understand you not liking this, but if you like Metroid and don't like this? WTF is all that comes to mind for me.

[rmoxon]

Theres only one proper castlevania game on live, and Shadow complex and outland are the only other games on live that are done in the style of Metroid right? Actualy maybe that Rush and Attack game was too but I heard its pretty ****e so havent played it.

I love this style of game so for me any new one is a good one (as long as its a good game).

Luckily I think this is a good game, I like the art style, I like how the ship feels, I like the different weapons and abilities you unlock. Its all good, as a fan of this type of game I'd say its a good one and worth getting.

[EvilBoris]

I could rattle off 5 better examples on XBLA alone..

Rattle Away!

[moonwhistle]

I quite enjoyed the trial of shadow planter. I thought Shadow Complex was really boring and unispired.

[Charlie]

I thought Shadow Complex good on gameplay, but uninspiring in almost every other sense, especially imagination and artistic creativity. It's funny because Insanely Twisted Shadow Complex (well, the trial at least) seems the exact opposite.

[Synthesthesia]

It's own art style? World of goo, limbo, countless vector flash games its not its own art style, as I've said elsewhere the trial didn't grab me neither did the art style, it plays ok, one to pick up in the inevitable sale I think

Yes, its own art style. Go check out www.gagneint.com and you'll see he's been doing stuff in this style for years. If anything, they "copied" him. And "vector" doesn't classify an entire style to me either, there are many different styles inside of vector art, including people who make things that look virtually realistic.