It seems like everybody is writing about this game recently: TIGSource, Indiegames, GamesSetWatch, RockPaperShotgun, Kotaku, and others . Let me jump on this wagon as well while the news is still relatively fresh - and I do this with pleasure, because I have immediately fallen in love with Canabalt.
The premise of the game is very simple - there is a man running through the city attacked by aliens or robots (or alien robots). The nameless man is running on the rooftops, probably trying to escape. The city is dying, giant machines are looming in the background, buildings are coming down, spaceships woosh by, dropping strange but deadly objects. It's time to run!
As it often happens, the game is more than a sum of its parts - what it delivers is a strangely hypnotic experience, both in a sense of getting into the state of flow while running and in that "just one more try" feeling that I thought I had forgotten long time ago.
The game mechanic is deceptively simple - there is only one button for player to press in order to make the character jump. Nameless protagonist is running all the time, faster and faster with each step, reaching speeds worth of Sonic and making jumps worth of Neo. Player can't control anything else but jumps - at least in theory, because bumping into some obstacles slows the character down. Slower speed means smaller jump range, which can be deadly if there is a particularly long gap between the buildings, but it also provides better control of the hero. Therefore, there exists a very delicate balance between them for the player to keep and this is why the actual gameplay has much more depth to it than just "press button to jump". As an interesting point, levels are procedurally generated, so player never knows what to expect next.
Graphics are great; while I am not too keen on abuse of pixel art that is the trend with indie games recently, there are exceptions to this rule and Canabalt is one of them. There is a surprising attention to detail present in this game, both in paralax-scrolling background (love the effect!) and the foreground. One can see pigeons that shoot out in the air from under the character's feet when he lands on their rooftop, as well as glittering pieces of glass that drop from broken windows that he had just smashed through, and the evil machines in the background are awesomeness incarnated with a hint of steampunk to them (hence the title of this post).
Likewise, the animation, while simple (not that many frames is what I mean by simple), is also great and very fluid. Watching the character roll after a jump from larger height reminds me of the first time I saw Conrad roll in Flashback - this certainly is a very good memory and therefore a good connotation for the game to provoke. Two thumbs up in this department as well.
Music is another component that is just perfect - it enhances strange and unsettling setting of the game and also gives a sense of speed with a hint of hope that quick feet might be the salvation to the horror. In other words, it is great and fits the mood of the game.
You can play Canabalt here (or here if you have a huge HD monitor) and see how it plays below:
Now, with the review part taken care of, a couple words on the idea that came to my head when I was pondering about Canabalt before going to sleep last night: the whole premise of the game reminds me of a bad dream. Think about it for a second: running away from an unknown danger, not being able to escape no matter how far or how fast one is going, not being able to stop, surreal surroundings mixing ordinary everyday elements with imaginary ones, sense of impeding doom, absence of other people. All the components that make a good nightmare (in a sense of one that is memorable and makes the dreamer wake up in horror) are there. Could it be that Canabalt is a result of Adam Atomic having a bad dream one night?
The premise of the game is very simple - there is a man running through the city attacked by aliens or robots (or alien robots). The nameless man is running on the rooftops, probably trying to escape. The city is dying, giant machines are looming in the background, buildings are coming down, spaceships woosh by, dropping strange but deadly objects. It's time to run!
As it often happens, the game is more than a sum of its parts - what it delivers is a strangely hypnotic experience, both in a sense of getting into the state of flow while running and in that "just one more try" feeling that I thought I had forgotten long time ago.
The game mechanic is deceptively simple - there is only one button for player to press in order to make the character jump. Nameless protagonist is running all the time, faster and faster with each step, reaching speeds worth of Sonic and making jumps worth of Neo. Player can't control anything else but jumps - at least in theory, because bumping into some obstacles slows the character down. Slower speed means smaller jump range, which can be deadly if there is a particularly long gap between the buildings, but it also provides better control of the hero. Therefore, there exists a very delicate balance between them for the player to keep and this is why the actual gameplay has much more depth to it than just "press button to jump". As an interesting point, levels are procedurally generated, so player never knows what to expect next.
Graphics are great; while I am not too keen on abuse of pixel art that is the trend with indie games recently, there are exceptions to this rule and Canabalt is one of them. There is a surprising attention to detail present in this game, both in paralax-scrolling background (love the effect!) and the foreground. One can see pigeons that shoot out in the air from under the character's feet when he lands on their rooftop, as well as glittering pieces of glass that drop from broken windows that he had just smashed through, and the evil machines in the background are awesomeness incarnated with a hint of steampunk to them (hence the title of this post).
Likewise, the animation, while simple (not that many frames is what I mean by simple), is also great and very fluid. Watching the character roll after a jump from larger height reminds me of the first time I saw Conrad roll in Flashback - this certainly is a very good memory and therefore a good connotation for the game to provoke. Two thumbs up in this department as well.
Music is another component that is just perfect - it enhances strange and unsettling setting of the game and also gives a sense of speed with a hint of hope that quick feet might be the salvation to the horror. In other words, it is great and fits the mood of the game.
You can play Canabalt here (or here if you have a huge HD monitor) and see how it plays below:
Now, with the review part taken care of, a couple words on the idea that came to my head when I was pondering about Canabalt before going to sleep last night: the whole premise of the game reminds me of a bad dream. Think about it for a second: running away from an unknown danger, not being able to escape no matter how far or how fast one is going, not being able to stop, surreal surroundings mixing ordinary everyday elements with imaginary ones, sense of impeding doom, absence of other people. All the components that make a good nightmare (in a sense of one that is memorable and makes the dreamer wake up in horror) are there. Could it be that Canabalt is a result of Adam Atomic having a bad dream one night?
