Reviews// Outland

The side-scrolling platforming genre's doing alright at the moment on the download services these days, isn't it? Between Limbo, Super Meat Boy, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 and at the very least three other games I've neglected to mention, the genre's positively glowing. Outland, another sidescroller from Ubisoft and developer Housemarque, is totally up for joining those ranks. It's positively glowing, too. Literally.

So, you are this guy. You have to fight some gods over some stuff. To be able to do that, you have to travel around a bit and do some things. That's not really the point, though. The main hook is a colour-changing mechanism not dissimilar from what you found in Ikaruga once upon a time.

You can alternate between light and dark states. If you're in the dark state (red, to be more accurate) then you won't take damage from dark energy and you'll be able to activate dark energy platforms.

You won't, however, be able to harm creatures that spew forth (and run on) dark energy. The reverse goes for light (blue) energy. The solution, obviously, is to adopt the form you need, run up to an enemy then quickly change so you can donk him and crack on.

Of course, it's usually not nearly that simple. Both kinds of energy will frequently be flying around in close proximity to each other, meaning you'll have to engage in some very quick and careful flicking from one state to the other. Throw in the abilities you pick up as you go along and things can get very involved.

While movement and combat can be quite fast in Outland, it's certainly not a game you can zip through. It's tough, and many sections require a careful, thought-out approach and quite possibly a bit of dying while you figure them out.

While this colour-changing gameplay mechanism is certainly the backbone of Outland, it's difficult to know whether it or the game's look and style came first. Because it is most decidedly stylish. The luminescent visuals put me in mind of The Undergarden, but the heavy use of shadow really makes it stand out. Literally. And figuratively.

It's really quite gorgeous.

It's fun, too. The pitch of the platforming is spot on. There are moments when it's in danger of being too hard for less seasoned gamers, but those moments are outnumbered by those when you can see The Wall up ahead of you, but you then nail the section that's troubling you just in time to do a little jig of triumph.

Outland also controls very well. When you're not treading carefully between cascades of deadly energy, control feels very smooth. You can move with speed and confidence without having that twitchy thumb that comes with feeling you're constantly about to overshoot your target. The combat controls well, too – it's well-balanced and mashing buttons won't help you out.

While we're on the subject of combat, the bosses deserve a mention. They're varied, creative and tough. And, naturally, they look rather smashing.

Despite being a sidescroller, there's a lot of depth to Outland's environments. They stretch out in every direction they're able to.

You're offered (much-needed) guidance around the levels, but despite this there's a sense of exploration throughout. It's not just a case of whizzing from one end of a level to another – you'll need to put a bit of time and care into navigating the game world and making sure you open up the right passages and pick up the abilities you need.

Replayability? Yes. There's an arcade mode for you to pick up the pace with, blasting through to rack up combos and multipliers. There's also a meaty online co-op mode for you to have a pop at. Frankly, you could probably revisit the single-player and still feel like you're finding Outland all over again.

Conclusion
Outland is, bluntly put, very very good. It's core mechanic isn't breathtakingly original, but it's unusual nonetheless and well executed. Factor in lush visuals, loads of depth, stupidly well-balanced gameplay and a nice meaty challenge and you've got yourself a winner.

SPOnG Score: 87%