Gaming Limbo PC Review

Let me ask you: what is a good medium for art? A painting, a sculpture? And while we're at it, what is Art, and what isn't?
Often you have to search for meaning, even when it'is not actually put there purposely by the creator, just to lift your own experience of the thing.
Better is a lazy adjective, and is used far too often in (pseudo-)objective arguments.
But all vague, universal questions aside:

So, you're saying a game can be "gamey", XOR an interactive experience.
Isn't that thinking a bit black-and-white?
(*rimshot* HAR HAR HAR)
Why can't a game try both, and become an immersive, engaging puzzle platformer experience (like um.. Limbo for example). Is it impossible to achieve?
Btw, a "gamey" platformer isn't per se Super Mario Bros.

The question is do you find the B&W colour scheme just a gimmick? If the game had colours, would it have the same feel?
I agree that B&W is overused and especially in photographs, but there it is (most of the time) absolutely unnecessary. It adds nothing.
You seem to stumble over the art style and the "meaning", but what about the "Feel" of the game? The atmosphere, the movement of the character, the sound (too often forgotten), etc.
Have you played it?

Sure, you can strip out some elements of a game and say that it sucks or is terribly cliché, but you need to look at the thing as a whole. A game is - after all - (most of the time) better than the sum of its parts.
You can say that VVVVVV is a terrible game because it has a nonsense story, no deeper meaning, and an artstyle that obviously tries to be "retro", but you'd be forgetting the moment it all comes together.


I must admit that I haven't played Limbo myself, so I can't talk about the "wannabe SMB" gameplay you refer to, and I don't know whether it all comes together nicely, but I can only remark that you keep talking about complaints about some elements of the game, and about your aversion for art games that still want to be a game. For me, that's not sufficient to make an argument.

 

grabbed this the day it came onto steam, installed on my media center and plugged in my 360 controller and sat back on the couch. been waiting for this to land on pc for ages. Takes me back to the great days of Earth worm jim and Echo the dolphine, have not played a 2d scroller for soo long and this one is awsome.

 

I shall have to put this on my to play list. However I feel considering the shortness of the game as mentioned in the review, I might wait for a sale.

 

@sear: Have you actually played the game? This is in no way an action platformer like SMB, Limbo is all about the atmosphere, puzzles and the story.

 

this game is fantabulous

one thing that really affected me when playing was

Spoiler

you use dead bodies as a bridge at one point, and then sacrifice one of these bodies to continue

.. it definitely made me think for a moment, even if it IS just a black and white pixelfest

 

Yep, played that moment yesterday
When I play I put volume to the max level to hear every single sound, every step, wind, water sound is SO amazing I love it!
All this dark depressing atmosphere is great

 

Has anybody made it all the way through the "Alone in the Dark" area between Chapters 15&16? I am stuck at the two saws, and could use a hint. This may only be applicable to the PC version. I have searched the WEB, but strangely cannot find much help with this area of the game.

 

Has anybody played through the "Alone in the Dark" sequence between Chapter 15&16. I believe the PC version has more to it than the X-Box, or PS3 versions. Seriously though, I am stuck in the spot with the 2 saws. I have tried all manner of tomfoolery to progress, but have had no success. If anyone can help, it would be appreciated.

 

Normally i'm the kind of guy who thinks games cannot be art, simply because of all the boxes something needs to tick in order for it to be classified as such, but i think Limbo seems to come pretty close weather it intended to or not, not many other games do.

Not actually played this yet, just going by what the review said.