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Showing posts with label Glyph. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Glyph. Show all posts

12 Aug 2021

REVIEW: Glyph on PC (Steam)

Review by GamingCouchPotato.co.uk Staff
Back in the mid 1980s a game called Marble Madness was released, you controlled a marble through an isometric course. It was pretty unique. Fast forward nearly 40 years and you have Glyph, a beautiful 3D platform game whereby you control a ball, or to be more precise a mechanical scarab, as you make your way through a course and try not to die. Clearly this game pays homage to the great Marble Madness and similar games of that time. But it does so in a truly up to date manner, plus it throws in a load of unique new abilities.

"A mechanical monster has devastated the nation and poisoned the land.
In Glyph, you snatch a fractured civilization from the jaws of doom after runaway technology has destroyed everything.
But safe ground is rare in this dying world.
The desert sands are toxic and destruction has left few places to rest...
So the last shred of hope is for you to collect the resources that will restore life to your home."

That is your basic story.

With over 80 courses to complete, lots of collectables, and insane jumps and manoeuvres to make, Glyph is instantly going to appeal to speed runner gamers, as well as fans of precise 3D platform games. You can dive, climb, roll, twist, crash, edge, skid, glide, sneak, scale, and corkscrew your way to success.

With a beautiful soundtrack and glorious locations to play, the game does feel pretty special. And with any game whereby precision is needed, you will be shouting at the screen one moment, and then revelling in your greatness the next, as you finally complete the level you have been stuck on.

Starting out as a VR game, and then finding its feet as a Nintendo Switch game, the game is now on Steam, so the question remains, is the game any good?


The Good
Firstly the game looks great, the soundtrack is awesome, the levels are well thought out, and there are always multiple ways to complete a level, add in time trial events and boss fights and the game does have all the ingredients to keep you coming back, and since you can come back to a hard level any time you like, you may find yourself waiting until you have really grasped the game mechanics before going back and mastering that tough level you struggled on before.

The Bad
I used the mouse and keyboard to play, and I have to say I HATED playing it in this way, no matter how much I fiddled with the camera sensitivity, I just couldn't quite get it to a level whereby I felt comfortable playing like this. Don't get me wrong, I still played the game and enjoyed it, but this is a console game ported to a PC, and playing with a mouse and keyboard just feels awkward, I tried it with a controller and it played much better. But the camera system to me just doesn't quite work.

Overall
This is one of those games whereby the more you play it, the more you get used to its flaws and eventually stop noticing them. The game is beautiful but tough, not as tough as the Switch version I hear, and the learning curve has been improved for the PC release.

If you like precision, ball rolling platformers, then this is probably the best of its genre out there right now.
The game is tough but fair, and I score Glyph a fair 7/10

Review by GamingCouchPotato.co.uk Staff