<\/p>\n

Lao Tzu said that water is fluid, soft and yielding.\u00a0 Though seemingly powerless, it can wear away the hardest stone which cannot yield.\u00a0 That which is yielding can overcome that which is unyielding.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

The person who authored the Tao Te Ching<\/em> over two and a half millennia ago probably did not play a lot of video games, but there is a certain requirement to go with the flow that he would have appreciated in the incarnation of Puddle<\/em> on the Vita.\u00a0 The Old Master might have been turned off by the scoring system and the idea of owning a portable entertainment device in general, but embracing the concept of yielding and being like water would have met with approval.<\/p>\n

Puddle<\/em> is a platform game with a few puzzle elements.\u00a0 Instead of controlling a little Italian guy or the latest descendent of a long line of vampire hunters, players will “control” a puddle of liquid.\u00a0 Quotes in that sentence are necessary because, unlike with the liquidy platformer Gish<\/em>, movement is not accomplished by direct control.\u00a0 Rather the world is tilted back and forth to cause the liquid to slide one way or the other, just like it would if you put a tablespoon of water on a plate and could move it around by rotating the plate.\u00a0 Luckily the game is not as complicated as all that for the action is viewed from the side; a fluidic 2D game.\u00a0 It is similar in concept to the PSP Mercury<\/em> games, but the liquids in Puddle<\/em> are far easier to manage as they only go to the left and right.<\/p>\n

The basic goal of any given level is to get a minimum amount of liquid to the area or container labeled EXIT.\u00a0 By tilting the world the puddle will eventually slide to the left or right, gaining momentum until it either hits an obstacle or is catapulted off a curved edge to land somewhere else.\u00a0 There are a few control options–leaning the system back and forth with the gyroscope, tapping the rear touch pad, and using one of the analog sticks–but the shoulder buttons are the most precise.\u00a0 Various obstacles will try to deter your path and either break up the liquid mass, making it more difficult to guide, or just destroy it (i.e. fire spots will evaporate water).\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Thankfully, most of the liquids tend to coalesce when near other smaller puddles.\u00a0 However, when the puddle does get broken up, as it often will, the game\u2019s camera does not pan out enough to allow you to easily guide the liquid back together.\u00a0 This makes it very hard to get things back together to finish the level will all your juice.\u00a0 On the other hand, if things get that screwed up, it is probably already impossible to finish without retrying.\u00a0 Later levels can be quite hard and if one section of a run is not done perfectly, you\u2019re going to have to try again, and again, as there are no checkpoints.<\/p>\n

Many of the levels have a sharp look, and in my view, the absolute best set of levels are those contained within the human body (I don\u2019t view that as a spoiler, all the settings are in the game\u2019s description).\u00a0 The liquid starts out as a cool, glowing substance entering the mouth, past the muscles at the back of the throat, descends through the esophagus and six levels later leaves\u2026I will leave the specifics to your imagination.\u00a0 The backgrounds look like moving, organic, black and white x-ray photos which really helps to bring out the color of the puddle and the obstacles in the various organs.\u00a0 Some levels even mix up the gameplay by making the liquid a dark mass floating through the bloodstream, avoiding medicine and red blood cells, but moving the controller back and forth rapidly to pulsate the body\u2019s pulse rate.\u00a0 The rest of the game usually looks nice and varied with the various liquids pulsing with light and showing off vibrant colors, but the presentation peaks within the Human Body.<\/p>\n

As a nice touch, while not always the same matter converted from one kind of liquid to another, between many of the levels are very short videos showing a casual relationship from one level to the next.\u00a0 Some make sense, like the end of the human body level leading to the sewers one.\u00a0 Some of them are a real stretch, like the ink\u2019s level finality to creating a picture of a rocket ship to the next level being the rocket fuel in said space ship’s booster rockets, but the strive for context is appreciated.\u00a0 There is a great amount of variety to the liquids and the level conditions imposed that make sense in the world.\u00a0 Some liquids are super sticky and can actually flow down overhangs and walls, and sometimes the liquid is thin and very slick but in a container.\u00a0 This game would have been easy to ignore if it was all water all the time, but variety saves it from the list of forgettable downloadables.\u00a0 Watching the liquids slosh around and reform dynamically impressed me until the end.\u00a0 I do not know if it would have been as impressive on an HDTV, but on the handheld it looks fantastic.\u00a0 Maybe it is a good-looking game, or maybe I\u2019m just not used to high quality graphics in the palm of my hand.<\/p>\n

There is little replay value to the game other than wanting to go back and get a higher score to achieve Copper (Cu), Silver (Ag), and Gold (Au) ratings on each of the levels.\u00a0 Score appears to be a function of how much liquid reaches the exit\/goal combined with how much time was taken to complete the level.\u00a0 After finishing a level there is a chart that pops up and it makes a little cartoon computer noise before your performance is measured on a graph with the values needed for the various metals.\u00a0 Unfortunately the text on and near the graph is hard to see on the Vita’s screen.\u00a0 Even if it was plainly visible, if I didn’t have to squint and hold the system six inches from my face to read it, the metrics involved and scores needed do not communicate just how much more goop needed to make it to the end or how much less time would have been needed.\u00a0 It might as well just say “Try Harder”.<\/p>\n

Two other things about this game need to be addressed.\u00a0 After you fail a level a certain amount of times, an option of “Whine and Skip” is presented.\u00a0 There are even a finite number of “Whines” that one can use to advance in the game.\u00a0 This game, and games in general, do not need that kind of language.\u00a0 Super Meat Boy<\/em> is a platformer that prides itself on and is designed to be brutally difficult, played over and over again until you meet the insanely hard standard.\u00a0 Playing that style of platformer is you Testing Your Might until you have the focus and willpower necessary to punch through the diamond block of its levels.\u00a0 But, sometimes, you just want to play a game, not punch bricks for an hour.\u00a0 I don’t need to be told that I am not tough enough to play a game.\u00a0 I, or anyone else, that skips a level in a game like this obviously just wants to see all of the content.\u00a0 Maybe coming back to the stupid atmosphere reentry level – where all the controls are reversed and it is possible to fail at just about every jump \u2013 at a time when I don\u2019t feel like cracking my two-hundred dollar handheld in half (maybe to drain the liquid out to stomp on it, put it in a balloon and glue it to a mouse that might actually directly respond to my control inputs).\u00a0 <\/p>\n

I am not the type to skip ahead but I still don’t need the developer standing next to me taunting “Wanna whine about it?\u00a0 Maybe get a note from your mommy saying you don’t have to try again?”\u00a0 I cannot remember that kind of attitude in Super Meat Boy<\/em>.\u00a0 The pink bows in I Wanna Be The Guy<\/em>\u2019s Easy setting and Ninja Gaiden<\/em>‘s Ninja Dog mode are close, but not as dickish as the skip feature being called whining.\u00a0 I have no doubt that at least one person at Neko Entertainment argued that people would react negatively to that word choice.\u00a0 If this site is any indication<\/a>, that person was right.<\/p>\n

You guys should listen to that voice more.<\/p>\n

The other thing is that since this is a re-release of a downloadable game for the Vita, there is some question of which one you should get (provided you leapt to the conclusion that you would like to buy it at all).\u00a0 In my experience I would have to recommend the Vita version all other things being equal.\u00a0 Puddle<\/em> is a game that can be played for five minutes and put down as the majority of the levels are easy to finish within that time frame.\u00a0 (It might take you twenty times to finish, but the last run should last less time than it takes to boil an egg).\u00a0 It is possible to play it for long sessions and the art variety makes it easier to stay entertained, but it is also a good game to have lying around, popping in and out of sleep mode between doing other things.\u00a0 I have a hard time imagining myself sitting down on the couch, turning on a system and the TV, signing in, and then going through all of the menus necessary to arrive at the level menu to play a couple levels of Puddle<\/em>.\u00a0 It is a fine game, but it is not a particularly deep or engrossing one that I would think about playing on a home console.<\/p>\n

All in all, my impression of the game was very positive.\u00a0 It takes a simple idea and executes it in a variety of beautiful and interesting ways.\u00a0 The scoring could have been clearer, but if you do not care about trophies and just want to see all of the interesting variations on the liquid theme and some of the more imaginative levels, then you should have a great time.\u00a0 That is, if you can get past the unnecessarily mocking tone that accompanies failure.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Pros:<\/strong>
\n+ Great use of color and lighting
\n+ Diverse levels with equally diverse mechanics<\/p>\n

Cons:<\/strong>
\n– Word choices make the game seem less fun
\n– Fairly short and shallow<\/p>\n

Game Info:<\/strong>
\nPlatform: PlayStation Vita
\nPublisher: Neko Entertainment
\nDeveloper: Neko Entertainment
\nRelease Date: 7\/24\/2012
\nGenre: Puzzle
\nESRB Rating: Teen
\nPlayers: 1
\nSource: Review code provided by publisher<\/p>\n