Explore a wonderful landscape inside a child's mind in this 2D platformer/puzzle game. You control the world around a little girl named Sofi, as you follow her through a dream and protect her dark traps on her adventure.
While this game seems to be created by an indie developer inspired by Coraline, it was actually created by Lucus Arts, which is a big step from all the Star Wars games the team has put out over the years. I always welcome developers to get creative and go beyond what they're comfortable making. A failure in a new product is better than a mediocre Battlefront 17.
The gameplay is simple, Sofi skips along the screen, trying to get to a mailbox with a letter from her Nana, as you place randomly generated pieces to safely get her there. Pieces range from the simple plank and stairs to a more complicated to use fan and slingshot. Every situation calls for a different piece: to jump over something, use the spring shoes, to move up to the next level vertically, use the fan. Each step calls for careful planning to avoid evil animals and thorn pits.
While I like this idea of creating your own path, it needs some work. The most complicated pieces were the spring shoes and sling shot, simply because I couldn't see where I was going to land. Almost all deaths were caused by miss judging how far those items were going to launch Sofi. A simple trajectory indicator would have been an easy fix.
Puzzle pieces are shown in almost a Tetris fashion with a block in the top right showing what piece is next. The left side has a space for storing a piece for later use which, while it is a great idea, I used rarely. Even though the pieces seem random enough, the game can always predict the exact piece I want next, so storage is never needed.
A bigger camera angle or even a movable camera would have been a plus for seeing where Sofi was bound for next. When using the items that move Sofi vertically, it is hard to tell what she is going to jump or fall into. Unfortunately, simple trial and error will work fine for completing a level, considering the paths never change, making this game more about memorization than a puzzler.
It may seem weird to talk about hit detection problems in a platformer game, but Lucidity suffers from that too. It is hard to tell when Sofi is going to hit or miss a bad guy. Many enemies can even go through platforms you or the game itself lays out. This can lead to some frustrating and sporadic positioning of pieces to gain some health back in the form of collectible fireflies.
Lucidity looks and sounds great, but could have benefited from more testing to make it a product worth owning.
The Good:
This is a great new product from Lucus Arts and I hope they work on making a sequel soon. Or at least a patch. The musical score is top notch.
The Bad:
Hard to tell where Sofi is going to go next. Stages can be beaten just by playing it enough times to memorize the whole stage.
The Bottom Line:
While Lucidity looks new and creative, it lacks polish and control. Just watch a trailer and you'll be set.
Review based on the xbox 360 version of the game.
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