From Dust Review

By Oli Welsh Published 26 July, 2011

Earth to earth.

Version tested: Xbox 360

From Dust is a different kind of god game. In most examples of this rarefied strata of strategy game - including its closest relative and direct inspiration, Peter Molyneux's classic Populous - the player-god is a blend of accountant, general and town planner who manages resources, shapes cities, counts off prayers and wars with rivals. A manager, in other words; a director of human affairs.

From Dust's god - known as the Breath - has the same aims: the survival, settlement and progress of its people. But it's both more hands-on and more remote, giving only the most basic instructions to its nomadic tribe of followers while directly manipulating nature instead: shaping rivers, moulding earth and rock like putty, creating order from chaos, coaxing life from barren dust.

The game's designer, elusive Frenchman Eric Chahi - who hasn't released a game in 13 years - is a keen amateur geologist, and it shows. The terrified and displaced tribesmen crawl out of a hole in the ground to find themselves in a fantastic setting resembling the Earth many millennia before human existence. They speak of following in the footsteps of elders, yet the planet is tortured by volcanoes and tsunamis, apparently suffering the birthing pains our own did as it coughed up landmass and life.

It's elemental stuff, nothing less than a video game creation myth. (It's an odd coincidence that From Dust appears shortly after Terence Malick's rapturous invocation of the beginning of all things in his film The Tree of Life - and you could argue that Chahi's vision is the more coherent.) If god games should inspire awe, then From Dust towers over the petty, hand-to-mouth, human agenda of its predecessors.

But it's also a simple game, if generous in scope for a download title (it's released on Xbox Live Arcade this week, PC on 17th August and PlayStation Network some time in the future.) You must use the Breath to protect the tribesmen and help them navigate a series of dangerous but contained environments, settling villages on their way to a portal and the next stage of their journey.

The Breath, represented by a circling tadpole of a cursor, can suck up and deposit huge quantities water, earth and lava. Earth bridges gaps, diverts rivers and spreads vegetation from colonised villages. Lava cools into walls of impregnable but barren rock.

The interaction of these three elements is at the core of From Dust, and it's realised in a breathtaking living simulation conjured by the coders at Ubisoft's Montpellier studio. Like Q Games' excellent PixelJunk Shooter did in two dimensions before it, From Dust taps into the hypnotic spectacle of real-time fluid dynamics for some truly awesome sights: the first time you witness one of its titanic tsunamis is guaranteed to set your hair on end.

But the game doesn't just subject you to waves and eruptions. It allows you to study and toy with these intuitively understood yet unpredictable elements, using them to solve a series of situational riddles. Displacement, erosion, sedimentary deposit, landslide, wildfire, tide and flood - you watch them all at work and, as the Breath, try to bend them to your will.

Despite the levels' small size, From Dust is more of a sandbox than almost any 'open world' game, and it practically defines the concept of emergent play (as referenced by the title of one of its best chapters.) It's not so much about having multiple solutions to a problem as an infinite variety of ways a single solution might play out. But you do have a selection of additional tools at your disposal.

Each level is dotted with totems and prayer stones. Direct five tribesmen to a totem and they will establish a village; direct a village's shaman to a stone and he will bring back knowledge, enabling the village to resist flood, perhaps, or fire. A village needs to be settled and maintained at each totem for the portal to the next chapter to open. Once settled, most villages grant the Breath a power.

The time-limited powers escalate from a boost to the amount of matter you can move, through the ability to quench fire and evaporate water to the truly godly gifts of the production and elimination of matter. You get the standout power early on: Jellify Water immobilises the fluid and lets you shape it, allowing you to stage your own Moses moment and part the waves.

Other forces of nature come into play. Water springs can be dug out or buried; 'trees' that spread fire or release water can be replanted to combat each other; animals and vegetation establish simple ecosystems. I shan't go into too much detail about how these various devices are employed by the designers, but suffice to say that ideas are seldom repeated across the thirteen stages, and your enemy in one stage is quite often your friend in the next. The importance of balance in nature is a well-rehearsed hippy mantra, but it's seldom been more elegantly expressed in games.

Completed chapters remain open as you left them, and you can revisit them simply to muck around or to achieve the secondary goal of spreading vegetation across as much of the stage as possible. This (like finding certain stones) unlocks hints and the bite-sized Challenge maps.

In contrast to the long-form strategic thrust of most god games, From Dust's goals are immediate and tangible: cross the river, save the village, tame the volcano. The requirements made of you are light - just activating all the totems and getting five men to the portal will complete the map. (Since the Breath is no middle-manager, it doesn't need milestones.)

It's a brilliant move, discouraging methodical play and encouraging experimentation and improvisation. The game starts languidly, but although there are never any time limits as such, the restless forces of nature pile on the pressure in later levels. This gives rise to some awe-inspiring challenges, but occasionally reduces you to frantic to-ing and fro-ing as you try to displace as much matter as possible before the next disaster strikes - more desperate fire-fighter than mighty creator.

This pressured, repetitive style of play doesn't flatter From Dust; it may be far more pacey and tactile than any other god game, but it's still hardly arcade action. It's also the reason many of the time-trial Challenge maps don't really work, although there are a few delightful little puzzles concealed here. Time and population targets for the campaign maps might have been a better way to satisfy Microsoft's contractual (and here ill-fitting) requirement for Xbox Live leaderboards.

There's also a cruel map at the end of the game - a great idea, viciously implemented - that puts a dent of irritation in an otherwise well-sculpted campaign. It can be rushed through in half a dozen hours, will sustain you for twice that, but the game's modest length and size don't reflect its elemental, existential scale. From Dust is a crescendo - of ideas, but mostly of the glorious and fearful drama of nature - that will leave you feeling both humbled and thrilled.

But it still feels like a beginning, and not just because it tells the tale of one. It's a big idea in a small package, and it's begging to be expanded, as Ubisoft has hinted it might be. Pray that it is.

9 / 10

From Dust releases 27th July on XBLA and will be available to download for PC on 17th August. A PSN release will follow.

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About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (99) Latest comment 9 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • LeeroyJenkins #1 10 months ago

    NINE! Nice! Day one purchase.... but damn that delay on PC!

  • L0cky #2 10 months ago

    Yay, instabuy!

  • weaselrat #3 10 months ago

    bloody awesome. At last

  • linksdad #4 10 months ago

    Looks beautiful

  • ZuluHero #5 10 months ago

    Any chance this will be 800 points? :(

  • miiiguel #6 10 months ago

    I'm not sure I have the time to play this. Bought Bastion and going to do all the Achievements, which might take me more than a couple of hours. Still..., need to think about it.

  • duckmouth #7 10 months ago

    This years Summer of Arcade is looking like being the best yet! I will be getting all four games (Fruint Ninja excluded), hope the last two are as good as the first have been. HUZZAH!

  • Ultrasoundwave #8 10 months ago

    Had a feeling for a long time that this would be a wonderful game - just got myself some microsoft points in preperation!

    Got to say well done to Microsoft too - their summer XBLA games ideas are brilliant. First Bastion and now this?, what an excellent breath of fresh air both games are.

  • arcam #9 10 months ago

    How long is the PC delay? Annoying, this sounds like a pitch-perfect game for me.

    *edit: 3 weeks. Could be worse I guess.
    Edited by arcam at 26/07/11 @ 17:14

  • magicpanda #10 10 months ago

    One of those rare games where I know I'm going to love every minute of it.
    Edited by magicpanda at 26/07/11 @ 17:10

  • Tyrhinis #11 10 months ago

    *sigh* where's my wallet...

    Microsoft may not have many big boxed exclusive games this year, but their XBLA catalog is seriously brilliant. All they need now is Magicka and I'd be in love.

  • Wendelius #12 10 months ago

    Arcam, it tells you so just under the score: "From Dust releases 27th July on XBLA and will be available to download for PC on 17th August. A PSN release will follow."

  • L0cky #13 10 months ago

    @arcam August 17th apparently.

    edit: Damn your eyes!
    Edited by L0cky at 26/07/11 @ 17:16

  • Vortextk #14 10 months ago

    Would be a first day purchase, if the pc version was out...Not too long to go I guess. Maybe if they hadn't announced it coming to pc already I would just buy the 360 version and be happy.

  • butler` #15 10 months ago

    so glad this didn't flump

  • arcam #16 10 months ago

    @Wendelius: Thanks. That automatically generated line under every article is so frequently wrong I think my brain has just learned to skip over it...

    @L0cky: Thanks anyway :)

  • Xardan #17 10 months ago

    I absolutely love that art style. I would buy it for that alone!

  • JayG #18 10 months ago

    Really daft to delay the PC version to around the same time Deus Ex is released. If it was out now, i'd buy it, now I'll just wait till it's in the Steam sale. Human Revolution will be getting any playing time i get.

  • metalangel #19 10 months ago

    Can you just call down a tsunami of lava and smite the dirty tribesmen off your nice clean planet?

  • WeakOrbit #20 10 months ago

    The masks remind me of the little dudes from Princess Mononoke. It looks really good but I wonder how long it will be before the PS3 gets it. Hopefully won't take as long as Limbo did!

  • mr2ange #21 10 months ago

    Well done, another 9 for a Different game to the norm!!!

    I shall be backing up your bravery for making something new with the purchase of a copy for my ps3

  • RedgeHammer #22 10 months ago

    I agree, first Bastion (which IMO has one of the best endings ever for an arcade game), and now this. Honestly, I will give any game made by the man that made Out of This World a chance.

  • Caimbeul #23 10 months ago

    So is this digital DL only then from ubisoft? Any idea if it is coming to steam?

  • Daeltaja #24 10 months ago

    Wow this is getting polarized reviews. 5.5 on Destructoid, 7 on Videogamer, 7.5 on GameSpot.. will give the demo a try first.

  • tinners #25 10 months ago

    Sold! What time will it drop?

  • SneakyGun #26 10 months ago

    Oh man they got me sold on this one, going to purchase it for PC as soon as it comes in my reach. This is what I am waiting for and I hope many developers see that this types of games, well-executed can bring success.

  • UncleLou #27 10 months ago

    Wow this is getting polarized reviews. 5.5 on Destructoid

    If it's Jim Sterling, you can safely ignore the review. The guy is utterly clueless.

  • Bloobat #28 10 months ago

    instabuy on pc :)

  • Marijn #29 10 months ago

    #28 It's Jim Sterling.

    Proudly at the top of the List Of Stupid since 2006: Microsoft's demand that every XBLA title implement Leaderboards. So, so stupid in cases like this, Bastion, Limbo and Braid.

  • Amblin #30 10 months ago

    So the PC delay was a simple cash grab by MS. There's no real reason forthcoming form ubi so it's a simple stall to improve ms sales figures.

    Looks like my kind of game, I'll wait for pc though, xbox controls are never good for strategy games.

  • abot #31 10 months ago

    @UncleLou

    Yes Jim Sterling did the review on Destructoid. It looks like Jim is reviewing all of the Summer of Arcade titles. He gave Bastion a 6.5.

  • sirtacos #32 10 months ago

    So happy this turned out to be good. Yess

  • Xardan #33 10 months ago

    Why do so many people posting comments, feel the need to proclaim they are going to buy the game, on their platform of choice?

    Its great you are going to support the game (when released) on your PC or PS3, but why tell the world that? Is it some sort of solidarity thing?

  • drumbaby #34 10 months ago

    "....reminiscent of the great comic artist Moebius. "

    Sorry, but no. Absolutely nothing like it.

  • bdaggers #35 10 months ago

    @Xardan

    Instabuy, on Microsoft Xbox 360.

  • MarketZero #36 10 months ago

    Xardan, because it's a fucking comment area. That's their comment. ;)

  • Xardan #37 10 months ago

    Do people actually read Destructoid reviews? The whole site seems quite unprofessional to me and i wouldnt be surprised if the reviews were heavily biased.
    Edited by Xardan at 26/07/11 @ 19:28

  • chaywa #38 10 months ago

    This has Steam Xmas sale written all over it.

  • AdamAsunder #39 10 months ago

    The Jimquisition on The Escapist will tell you everything you need to know about the horrible little man. Someone should tell him that irony only really works if it's not so transparent.

    I hope it's irony.

  • AdamAsunder #40 10 months ago

    Oh, and this is so got when I get myself a new xbox.

  • Gastrian #41 10 months ago

    Post deleted at 17:56:43 13-04-2012

  • des #42 10 months ago

    Time based objectives,no enemies=big meh

    This is not next gen Populous,sadly

    meh

  • MarketZero #43 10 months ago

    Have to say, I'm reading quite a bit about dumb AI in other reviews, which is making me wary. One the worst things in gaming is dumb friendly AI; at least dumb enemies can be killed to progress.

  • byakuya83 #44 10 months ago

    Post deleted at 10:03:41 30-03-2012

  • Utopolitan #45 10 months ago

    It sounds and looks just too good to be true. Can't wait to try it.

  • fletch273 #46 10 months ago

    I hope there's a demo. This game is something I might buy but I would definitely have to try it first.

  • CASE #47 10 months ago

    Dust anyone? Dust?

  • neonxaos #48 10 months ago

    She's a looker! And now you tell me that she's also good in bed...rock?

  • Harmonica #49 10 months ago

    I heard this was going to be 800 points but I could be wrong.

    Either way, this and Insanely Twisted.. have been nailed on purchases for so long. I am quietly happy that we didn't also get Spelunky or Fez because I would have to choose between them and that wouldn't be possible.

  • HyperTails #50 10 months ago

    Looking forward to this, hurry up with the PSN release!

  • HolyJebus #51 10 months ago

    I needed to see this in motion so I went to IGN to check out their video review and who reviewed it? Only ex-EGer Keza.

    It's like EG finally have some video reviews :)

  • ShiroBen #52 10 months ago

    This sounds truly excellent. I want to be playing it now.

  • Darkjinxter #53 10 months ago

    There are a hell of a lot of negatives in this 2 page review, yet we end up with a 9/10. Shame on you.

  • Harmonica #54 10 months ago

    Yeah, because words translate perfectly into scores, and scores are all that matter. Oh wait. No.

    It's a 9/10 because (to Oli at least) it feels like a 9/10, stop yer whining.
    Edited by Harmonica at 27/07/11 @ 03:05

  • gm914 #55 10 months ago

    All you need to know about Jim Sterling is right in his review.

    "There are a selection of challenge modes.... After glimpsing a few of them, I decided they weren't really worth my time as they only dally with the idea of uniqueness."

    2 paragraphs later, this gem:

    "There's just not enough content..."

    For fucks sake how does this guy have a job again?
    Edited by gm914 at 27/07/11 @ 07:16

  • Mr #56 10 months ago

    Enjoyed the review, but there are mentions of fiddly/frustrating controls - did you find this too?

  • Madder-Max #57 10 months ago

    I'll read other reviews and check threads. dont trust reviews on here anymore

  • Noble6 #58 10 months ago

    Nice One EG.

  • Vanmunt #59 10 months ago

    wow... ms must be slipping EG some dollars, defo demo this time I have been caught too often with your over hyping arcade games.. bastion was the biggest waste of money I have spent in ages, well since Braid to be honest.

  • Lebowski #60 10 months ago

    Will check out the demo, but from that review it sounds more like a spin on Lemmings than anything else.

  • geeza2020 #61 10 months ago

    Madder Max - so what the fuck are you doing here then?

  • Utopolitan #62 10 months ago

    When the hell is Microsoft planning on releasing this? It's been the 27th for more than 12 hours here in Finland now, what the hell is taking so long?

  • TipTop #63 10 months ago

    It's available through XBOX.com in the UK now. Cant see it on the console but have bought it through the web site and it's downloading to the XBox as we speak. 1200 Pts.

  • Burkey #64 10 months ago

    #59

    Go look up the word "subjectivity".

    It's clear that not just Eurogamer loved Bastion and Braid.

  • tiny_Eggy #65 10 months ago

    Wow mixed reviews for this game sofar. Probably better to wait on the PC version, most likely will have better performance and AI.

  • Madder-Max #66 10 months ago

    "Madder Max - so what the fuck are you doing here then?"

    oooh. a swear word ona forum. how controversial and rebelious!

  • CHAZBIGPOTATO #67 10 months ago

    Whoah! The second Summer of Arcade title to have a nice visual style. This looks and sounds very purchasable. Whoo hoo!

  • Amnaich #68 10 months ago

    Pre-ordered! Awesome game!

    THEN I CANCELLED MY ORDER.

    Because, as Ubisoft often does, they postponed it. Just as they did with AC:Brootherhood, and just as I did then.. cancelled my order. I don't think I'll ever buy a game from UbiSoft ever again. They are completly retarded.

  • HokutoNoKen #69 10 months ago

    EDGE review:

    http://www.next-gen.biz/reviews/dust-review (360 version tested) : 9 / 10

    / Ken

  • LeSpank #70 10 months ago

    The descriptions I have been reading in reviews of this game remind me a lot of Wetrix+ that I had on the Dreamcast. Loved that game!

  • geeza2020 #71 10 months ago

    "Madder Max - so what the fuck are you doing here then?"

    "oooh. a swear word ona forum. how controversial and rebelious!"

    It was a swear word within a question that you have still failed to answer, although the response you have given is all the information I need to know that you are just a silly, ineffective little troll.

  • fknetwork #72 10 months ago

    I bought the game after playing the trial for a while and WOW!

    Amazing game so far, i'm only on level 3 and it isn't a game I will want to rush through, the graphics, the physics, the water, SOOO good! I REALLY hope they have DLC planned for this game as I could see me playing this for years if there is enough content!

    And yup, it controls fine on 360, the triggers are really well thought out too.
    Honestly, buy this game! try the demo first if your unsure then buy it!


    I'm not sure why but this game really takes you in and makes it feel like your there, amazing!
    Edited by fknetwork at 27/07/11 @ 16:06

  • Tryhard #73 10 months ago

    Buy it is all I can say.Simply wonderful.

  • Madder-Max #74 10 months ago

    ""Madder Max - so what the fuck are you doing here then?"

    "oooh. a swear word ona forum. how controversial and rebelious!"

    It was a swear word within a question that you have still failed to answer, although the response you have given is all the information I need to know that you are just a silly, ineffective little troll. "

    ooh. An insult to boot! Must be my lucky day! Oh and i dont owe you anything fool!.....especially not an answer

    /re casts line

    /waits patiently

  • metalangel #75 10 months ago

    Played the trial.

    First thoughts: god, this tribe really is useless. They just stand there and shout in their made-up language stuff that sounds uncannily like 'comment ca va?' until you come over and help them. I therefore took pleasure in grabbing the biggest glob of water possible from the ocean, dumping it on a mountain overlooking the village and watching it run down and completely inundate them.

    And then the rest: Fucking hell, the second proper level gives you hardly any time to go and retrieve the MAGIC SONG OF STOPPING TIDAL WAVES before the tidal wave itself arrives and Fukushimas the village out of existance. It's not helped that the sand you can dump to make bridges for your savages is eroded quite quickly by the water.

    That said, if you (like me) have a fascination with flowing water and love making channels for it and dams to see where it will go instead, you'll love it. You can also just start sucking up all the water further upstream and until your capacity is filled it will mean dry land for your little savages to cross. Likewise, when I overused this tactic in lieu of rebuilding an eroded bridge, the lone man who'd come to get the MAGIC SONG OF STOPPING TIDAL WAVES got swept away and I had genuine panic and desire to rush and save his life before he reached the open sea. Alas, this took a long time and by then the tsunami was upon us, so he lived 5 seconds longer than his tribe.

    In a way, I suppose it's a bit arrogant of them to go building their villages in these wholly inappropriate places, JUST BECAUSE there's a totem there (which looks like a mutant between a giraffe and a meerkat) as opposed to ensuring they won't be killed now, searching out their ancient wisdom later.

    I wish it were possible to tell what I am about to scoop up... sometimes a small amount of standing water can remain after a dam is placed, and that sand you wanted to scoop up to go and assist the tribe is instead water you need to go and dump elsewhere (without flooding the village again) in a hurry.

    As it stands, though, Chahi is a bastard. The trial gives you a piffling three levels (one of which has almost nothing to do) to play, before a volcano erupts dramatically and then it ends. It doesn't even take you back to the main menu, you either buy it now or you are returned to the Xbox Dashboard. As a result, I have no idea how good lava is when you drop some on your savages.

    Similarly, the 1200MSP price tag makes me look at my unopened 2100 point card and think that's over half of it gone in one fell swoop. 800MSP would have been an instant purchase, 1200MSP makes me thing the 13 level campaign (which I'm nearly a quarter of the way through already, mathematically) might either be over in a flash or pointlessly bastard hard to pad it out. The presence of 30 scenario levels only soothes my wallet somewhat.

    I can't decide. Clearly it doesn't speak to me like Section 8: Prejudice did (what with it being Tribes 2 with almost everything except aerial vehicles) but on the other hand I want Eric Chahi to be back. I spent most of seventh grade reloading that bit in Another World where you kick the guard in the nuts, then quickly do a COMBAT ROLL OORAH to grab your pistol and reduce his enraged, doubled-over form to a crispy skeleton. Errr, likewise, going into the room with the guard with long spikes on his head who locks himself in to escape your gingerness, but if you get close he punches you repeatedly in the head with a wonderfully realized fleshy thump.

    Dust? Um.

  • immateriaux #76 10 months ago

    metalangel's review makes me sad :(

  • metalangel #77 10 months ago

    Why?

  • tinners #78 10 months ago

    Dunno why I even worried about mixed reviews this is a 9 and a strong one at that. To see your world act exactly as it would in real life is a thing of beauty, yes the AI can act like braindead zombies sometimes but that won't stop you from gasping at the style and feel of this game.


    It's like Populus meets Black and White with a physics engine I can't see being topped for a while, destructiod shuld stick to reviewing cod blops and the like, the game has way too much soul for these simple saps to understand.

    One things for sure, mother nature is a bitch in this game :)
    Edited by tinners at 27/07/11 @ 20:29

  • immateriaux #79 10 months ago

    Your review sounds like me playing it: I like flowing water too but timed things are just too much for me these days, especially after spending a day chasing deadlines; I need a challenge but not that artificial "if you don't click here right now you're fucked" type thing. So I'm sad that I think I might not like this game after all.
    Edited by immateriaux at 27/07/11 @ 20:24

  • tinners #80 10 months ago

    Sounds like you need to purchase it Metal Angel 1200 mps is easily worth the money, hell I'd prolly pay full price for this gem

    You have barely scratched the surface of the game tbh.

  • metalangel #81 10 months ago

    @immaterieux: for what it's worth, the missus had a go and she struggled as soon as the time limit was added. That and the constant erosion of her dams by the rapidly flowing water meant she fought a losing battle to even make a path for the guy never mind have time for him to go retrieve the song and get back in time.

    I suggested better places for dams but it still took a lot of tries and frustration at the cutscenes repeating unskippably each time before she finally managed to retrieve the song. The wave was actually hitting as he made it back so it would have been impossible to cut it any closer!

    Then trying to reach the second totem, more eroded dams and washed away savages, culminating in a second appearance by the tidal wave that by sheer dumb luck carried five of them onto the second totem and winning the demo!

    She enjoyed looking after the villagers and the lack of shooting and hookers, but didn't like the camera controls or time limits. Even if you just look around that level before founding the first village, the wave still comes after four minutes!

  • immateriaux #82 10 months ago

    Cheers for adding your thoughts, metalangel, appreciate it

    (ps: some numbnut keeps negging you so my "+1" is getting cancelled out :rolleyes: )

  • FTM #83 10 months ago

    I love it, I played level 4 for over an hour just building stuff. Building up the wall only took a wee while then the village was safe so I could do what I liked..made a nice lagoon, diverted a river or 2. Then I notice the big volcano had created loads of new land and was in danger of swamping my village, so built a huge channel to run the lava off...then I set fire to some trees by accident and burnt a village to the ground. luckily the chaps rebuilt it. I think I spend so much time building to get the 100% coverage for my plants.

    its a beautiful game and they could just let me at it in the world builder I think I would be happy!

  • HyperTails #84 10 months ago

    @gm914

    Jim Sterling is a troll, his 5/10 for Assassins Creed 2 proved that.

    Its not possible to take him seriously. No wonder he works for Destructoid.

  • drhickman1983 #85 10 months ago

    Bought the game, and after playing for 2 hours I only got to the 4th level (I think), as I keep getting distracted by diverting the watercourses and building hills for no reason. The villages are safe, I should move to the next level, instead I keep getting distracted by landscaping.

    If I sat down and played this game as a time attack, try to race through it as economically as possible, it probably would be rather underwheling. But seeing as im the sort of person who will spend nigh on 30 minutes using lava to write my name in rock (worship me, little minions), this game is great. Of all the games I've ever played, this genuinely feels more like a "sandbox" than anything else. It even has actual sand.

    All in all, thus far it's been extremely fun.

    edit: by "actual sand", of course I mean actual digital sand.

    And oh, the only problem I've noticed is the game seems quite dark, and there doesn't seem to be a brightness option. Given that my tv isn't backlight, it has made things a bit, well, dark at times.
    Edited by drhickman1983 at 28/07/11 @ 01:27

  • gm914 #86 10 months ago

    @HyperTails

    Yep. How anyone can give AC2 a 5/10 is rediculous. He also gave Bastion a 5/10 (i think)
    Maybe he can only count to 5 because his other hand is constantly fiddling with his choade.
    Or he's trying to impress Edge (who gave a 9/10 LOL) Suck it Sterling.

  • username84 #87 10 months ago

    Played for a couple of hours last night. Fantastic, although 1200 is a bit pricey I'll say it's worth it.

  • geeza2020 #88 10 months ago

    Bought it last night, its brilliantly relaxing stuff, after the early timed tidal wave sections anyway. I'm on the level with all the underground sources that appear when you pick up soil from around the map. Created some wonderful tropical looking vista's by uncovering three or four of these sources at a time and just watching the water engulf the land and sprouting trees and plants on the banks of the rivers it forges.

    Theres simply nothing else like this out at the moment, not on the 360 anyway.

  • TelexStar #89 10 months ago

    @Metalangel - As much as I disagree with your assessment, it was a funny review. Especially the meerkat thing - so true.

    I personally didn't have any problems with getting my lazy hobo to the stone in time. I suspect you're perhaps not spreading the sand to make a bridge but just dumping it instead? To my eyes, the sand has a rather nice property of gently levelling out a mild hump. I don't think it's the effect of water eroding that you're seeing but I could be wrong.

  • Harmonica #90 10 months ago

    I enjoyed my experience with the game but I find the lack of graphical fidelity hard to overlook (I am surprised there is no mention of it in this review, bit of an oversight).

    It's sub-HD, quite low resolution, and even though there's a lot of anti-aliasing being applied in the upscale process to remove jaggies, that doesn't really make it easier to see what's going on. Even the menu text and subtitles are blurry. That and the fact that the camera never allows you to peer around your cursor to see where you're dropping stuff just makes it a bit too clumsy. You're really not much of a god if you lack omniscience.

    Don't buy this sight unseen, play the demo, and see if the resolution bothers you.

    Also, yes, the time limits are too punishing - in the first level to feature them you have about 50 seconds to spare if you do things exactly perfectly (ie, if you've already failed and you're playing it again) - and that's if your villager follows the path correctly and doesn't complain about it. Conversely, it seems to easy the rest of the time, when you're landscaping, vegetation flourishes instantly and without much real explanation. Animals arrive, with the briefest of mentions from a popup, and they seem to destroy what you've already laid out. It all happens way too quickly, there's absolutely no sense of it being a strategy experience that is long in the tooth.

    Sandbox is a little too accurate a term.
    Edited by Harmonica at 28/07/11 @ 15:42

  • geeza2020 #91 10 months ago

    OK first of all, I have experienced NO time limits at all in the game. The one people mention from the demo isnt a limit, its a countdown to when the tidal wave will arrive. It then resets and starts again. So as long as you get the bloke to the anti-water stone thing (cant remember what its called) and back to your totem in time, you never have to worry about any time limits.

    Secondly, the graphics are fine, yes they may not be up to battlefield 3's standards, but then BF3 doesnt give you the ability to flood large plains with water does it? And the water effects are really the star of the show so far for me.

    I never had any problems whatsoever reading any text in the game. It looks like it may have been sized with people with SDTV's in mind though, but its hardly game breaking. And the animals actually dont destroy anything until much, much later in the game, at the start they just eat and poop out plants, so they recycle rather than destroy. I've also had absolutely no problem with accuracy when it comes to picking stuff up/putting stuff down. I'm not sure how you can mess it up, really. 9/10 seems about right as far as I'm concerned.
    Edited by geeza2020 at 28/07/11 @ 16:00

  • Harmonica #92 10 months ago

    The graphic style is great. The resolution isn't. I don't care about whatever fanciness BF3 will bring, if it also ran in sub-HD resolution then I would have to think twice about buying it, too.

  • metalangel #93 10 months ago

    @geeza: and if you don't get him back in time (especially as this is the first time you've encountered fast moving water that erodes your landbridges) the village is destroyed, GAME OVER appears and you have to restart the level.

    If that's not a time limit, what is?

  • bosseye #94 10 months ago

    Tried the demo and I like it, but not enough to spend the 1200 MS funbucks on. Maybe when it drops in price a little I may pick it up. I love the malleable nature of the terrain though, its hugely clever stuff and the overall style and vibe appeals to me. The one thing that struck me as poor design is the camera controls - fine spinning horizontally, but why only two steps vertcially? Either sightly too low for my taste, or right over head in plan view, neither of which helps with navigation or visualising land alterations.

    Such a simple thing to change though, just make the camera movement as graded vertically as it is horizontally and let me set my own comfortable viewing angle.

    And as for timed stuff - I don't like timed stuff really, generally I find them a frustration. In this case in the demo, my guy grabbed the song first time, but got back to the village by the skin of his teeth just as the wave was breaking.

  • geeza2020 #95 10 months ago

    Harmonica - then I feel sorry for you pal, graphics arent everything, ya know?

    MetalAngel - OK, its just people have been mentioning time limits like they are game breaking, and present all through the game. The only one I've encountered that could cause any problems is that one on the first level, only because people who've just started playing, dont really know what they're doing. BUT if you get that gameover screen more than once on the first level, I really cant see how theres any hope for you in games ;-)

    At the end of the day, theres absolutely nothing like this on either console at the moment, and for any rough edges it might have, I think it deserves to be bought by everybody on the basis that it doesnt involve murdering people or smashing stuff or driving really fast and is, in fact, incredibly fun when you just start messing around and forget about the objectives the game gives you.
    Edited by geeza2020 at 29/07/11 @ 09:48

  • bratmandu #96 10 months ago

    I'm all over this - tried the demo and loved it. Not at first, but once I realised you can divert rivers and stuff I was hooked. In the second level you can see a river source - you can block it up with sand, depriving the whole area of what was a massive river.

    With regard to the dams not holding back the water - sometimes you have to go further upstream to weaken the flow so it won't hit your dams as hard and wash them away. I like that kind of thinking. I imagine later in the game you'll have to suffer consequences of diverting a river - i.e you divert a river somewhere else to allow men to pass to an island, but later you need to get somewhere else and you diverted river is now in the way.

    I'm def gettin this tonite.

  • goldenbone #97 10 months ago

    I'm on the 7th or 8th level now. I have to say, I think the camera is a bit wonky - its not that easy to control, and I frequently find myself struggling to get a decent view.

    I quite like it, but not as much as I did in the earlier levels. There's a certain amount of frantic gameplay required that doesn't really fit the controls or the premise (in my opinion).

    Still.. I'll go back to it and finish up, no doubt.

  • Macdory #98 10 months ago

    Why is more on the PC than on the 360? It’s 1200 points there which is sub £10 depending on where you get your points from.

    Looking at the US Price of $15 on the PC – this would be sub £10 if they did the conversion properly, yet they are trying to charge £11.99 … blatant attempt to rip the UK off (again)

  • zuul #99 9 months ago

    Fun game but WAY too short, I finished it in one evening. The first maps of the campaign are basically the tutorial, shortening the campaign even more. Also, the only hard level is the 2nd to last.

    Whoever is put off by time limits, I do hate time limits, too, but really only noticed it in 2 maps. You usually have enough time to play at whatever pace you want once you secured your villages with the "repel fire&water totem".

    If you have a PC gamepad available, use that. Controls better than with keyboard/mouse.