Fez

[Stu_The_Villan]

Anybody else played this yet??

I downloaded last night and had a couple of hours on it. Impressed with it so far. The design of the game is just brilliant, must have been as right headache to make, no wonder it was in development for 5 years! So far though, the wait has been worth it.

[Chindie]

I'd written off Fez as 'just another indie platformer'.

And apparently it is.

Until you finish it first time round. I've been hearing that the game isn't all that it appears - it turns into a crazy 'meta-puzzler'.

Which is why I've just bought it

[Stu_The_Villan]

Honestly Chindie, the game is genius. The ending of the opening sequence is particular is great. Havent played much really because i got Witcher 2 the day after i got this and ive been playing that. But the bit i have played i thought it was great.

Trials evolution out today as well. Good job ive booked a few days off work to get stuck in to that lot!!

[Chindie]

I've been playing Trials Evo all morning.

It's good.

It's very good.

[The_Rev]

Currently listening to the Giant Bombastic. They have spent 20+ minutes talking about how crazy Fez is. It seems you haven't even really played the game until the second play through. It seems that there is some spectacular 4th wall breaking you could easily miss if you don't have a smartphone too.

[Chindie]

Just did one of the 'smartphone may be required' bits. I must admit, simple as it is... it's kinda magical.

Fez is interesting. As a platformer it's nothing special and the gimmick soon becomes second nature to the extent that, if you get stuck, hitting the triggers a bit will help you out...

...but even after only a couple of hours you can see all this stuff building up in the background that at the moment I haven't got the faintest clue the meaning or significance of.

Definitely not flawless though. Its jump physics aren't great, the map is terrible, and the art style gets on my nerves a little. It's also incredibly easy to miss things, given that most... levels (?)... act as little puzzles in themselves that often only work in 1 direction it seems, so as you work your way up the level if you miss something it's awkward to get back to it. Given that it also saves constantly I can see it being possible to end up in endless death loops quite easily.

Other than that though... it's kinda great.

[Sie]

Yeah, the bombcast has pretty much sold me on this game

[The_Rev]

and the art style gets on my nerves a little.

You are too young to remember and appreciate the 16 bit era you see.

[Chindie]

and the art style gets on my nerves a little.

You are too young to remember and appreciate the 16 bit era you see.

I'll have you know I loved my SNES (and still do) .

I'm playing on a 32" LED set at about 6/7 foot distance and the pixel style doesn't play well to my eyes. I think the combination of the HD fidelity and exaggerated pixel art style is a little... harsh.

[Chindie]

Got to the first ending, and started a NG+.

NG+ is where the 'meta-game' becomes more pressing, as you can assume you've hoovered up most of the easy pick ups and whats left is the hidden stuff you need to crack.

It's also where traipsing over the game becomes more important. And I find my enjoyment vanishing from it. I dunno if it's just me, but getting anywhere on the game is a pain in the **** arse. You end up looking at the painful excuse of a map, eyeballing roughly where you need to go, and then meander over the level you're in checking every **** door to work out if that is the one that will get you to the next step of where you need to go. Sometimes it's not even clear how you might get to the next stage of where you need to go. Even when it's painfully obvious, working your way up and down the same environmental puzzle you've done before is tedious as all ****.

It's putting me off really getting seriously into the game, honestly. I think it's also the point where most people, myself included, are going to end up having to turn to guides to get going anywhere. I'd worked out some of the 'meta game' already - there is a fairly obvious reference to part of the larger scale of puzzles at one moment and a quick note and a keen eye will see you work your way through puzzles related to that... but then the other parts, I don't have a **** clue. Interestingly, for me at least, the most awesome moment of the wider puzzle was also what I can only assume is one of the easiest, requiring a smart phone.

It's also dumped me to the dashboard 4 times today, which has also thumped my enjoyment through the floor, it has to be said.

The shines worn off.

[Chindie]

Yep, I've come to the conclusion that this really is a hugely, hugely flawed game.

Navigating a game should not be this much of a tedious chore.

[Stu_The_Villan]

Whats up with navigation on it?? Its simple. Each door on a level leads to one of the rooms that branch off it, when youre near the door a picture pops up to show whats on the other side, then check map to see if thats where youre planning on heading. It really isnt hard. The main warp gates are a bit of a head **** though.

I 100% completed this a couple of weeks ago. Granted, i had to use a guide for a few of the harder puzzles but still had loads of fun doing it. One of the best XBLA games ive played

[Sie]

I think Chindie is probably referring to not being able to easily plan routes to specific places using the map screen. The game expects players to memorise which doors over several areas will get them to where they want to go, which is indeed tedious.

[Chindie]

I didn't it was difficult, I said it's a tedious chore. The map is diabolical, you have to stare it to work out whether you even need to go to a place because the icons dictating what is present on that level are tiny, and because of the moronic way it's laid out it's actually sometimes difficult to tell whether the room you want is connected to the level you're on or another one.

And once you've figured out which room you want, what you end up doing is traipsing over a level time and again trying to find the door that takes you to the place you want to go, the hub levels often have lots of doors and given that the doors are spread over 4 sides of the level because of the games gimmick you end up spending forever with bland platforming and basic perspective puzzles to get about levels again and again and again, all just to hover in front of the door to see if the preview picture of room it leads to is the one you want.

And even then it's not clear sometimes quite how you get between hubs... sure the warp gates can help but even they can throw you out of kilter.

It's a game that has smart ideas (I know all about the meta-puzzles and whatnot) but good God it's tedious.

[Chindie]

I noted with interest that Ryan on the Bombcast, which has basically tossed this game off almost without question, rapidly appears to be thinking it's not all it's cracked up to be. Last weeks episode had him more or less say he can't be bothered with it.

Of course he will, now I've said that, come on tonights edition and say after another week he's in love with it and it's pixels.

[maxjackle]

I enjoyed the platforming but not the next stage- the fact that the answers to some puzzles were found by the community brute forcing them is too much. I did a couple of puzzles- got annoyed with the map and wracked it off.

The 3d spinning puzzle platforming was worth the download though.

[Chindie]

I've had another crack it at it today.

It's just not fun after that first ending. And before that it wasn't really anything special.