The spirit collects orbs that can enhance their abilities and even grant them new ones as it traverses through the world. Enemies vary, but all can be defeated by either attacking first or diving out of their way as they knock themselves out by smashing into the scenery.
As mentioned at above, visually
Ori and the Blind Forest is quite captivating. The lighting and the artwork that fills the screen as you control the expertly-animated spirit is breathtaking. Yet, it never detracts from the experience of controlling the little character as you send the glowing spirit flitting from one platform to another. The whole thing is fantastically put together and had me enthralled to the point that I had lost 20 minutes of my precious media hour to it. Did I regret it? Not a bit!
Ori and the Blind Forest will be out on the PC and Xbox One by the end of 2014 and Xbox 360 in Q1, 2015
Paperbound by Dissident Logic
One of the things that I believe makes a good player vs. player combat game is being able to pull off seemingly impossible or even downright stupid moves that somehow give you the upper hand.
Paperbound is built around that very premise, which is probably why it's so much fun to play.
Up to four players can pit themselves against one another in a 2D side-on viewed area. They're all similarly armed and have the same abilities. They can hurl scissors at one another, as well as grenades that can cause harm to the one that wields it, so it's wise to lob that thing as far from you as is possible. There is something else that all players have control over and that is gravity. For it is possible in
Paperbound to alter the gravitational centre of the player to be different to everyone else. This can cause the player to fly across the map and as they do so they can swipe at their opponents with a giant sword they wield.
This can and does result in frantic melees between players as they try to take each other out by any means that are at their disposal. Once a player reaches a certain number of kills a tear appears in the level map, which they must reach in order to become the overall winner. Further tears can appear when other players reach the same number of kills, at which point it's a race to who gets to their rift first.
Outside of the speed of play,
Paperbound also has a unique art style to it that is akin to Terry Gilliam's Monty Python cartoons of old, only slightly more twisted. The landscapes are like something from a Salvador Dali painting, as long as you squint hard enough, and the characters the players take control of are similarly twisted and deformed. This does much at add to the experience to the game as they preposterous ability to alter the gravitational field around the player is emphasised by the world within which the battles are being fought.
Paperbound is a terrific little game that deserves your attention. Dissident Logic is currently trying to crowdfunded it, so any support you can give it will be well received. It is projected to appear on the PC and current generation consoles.
