Recent reviews by Le Master

I'll start by saying Parallax and The Talos Principle are the first-person puzzlers of the past 12 months. At their core, they are each archetypal puzzle games: begin at a starting point and arrive at a predetermined goal with the means provided using logic and reasoning. Like any well-constructed puzzle game, the levels start simple and gradually become more complex while introducing more concepts which build upon themselves.

However, they are also much different from one another. TTP is immersed in a story which drives and motivates the player (much like Myst or Portal) with its mystery and philosophical ideas. It has large, beautiful environments that provide enough to explore and add to the experience. Parallax is a straightforward puzzler. There is no story, no environments or landscapes to explore, nothing -- just level after level of puzzles. But this isn't exactly a negative. The game really works in its simplicity. It somehow creates a lot of incentive in the player to move forward and to complete the game (I would say at least to the extent of the recent Qbeh-1: The Atlas Cube and non-director's cut Q.U.B.E.).

The unique concept to this game are the portals to a parallel "world." The portals shouldn't be dismissed as a sort of copy of those from the Portal series. They are only alike in name and that you walk through them. The portals here lead to and from another environment that has elements connected to both environments and also has elements local to only each respective environment. The player moves to and from each environment to activate switches and traverse to other portals in order to reach the goal. The swtiches can rotate portals the opposite direction so that the player can enter once inaccessible switches or portions of the level, and the switches can even rotate portions of the level itself.

The level design is mostly very intelligent. Most have that "aha!" moment. And I really think it is because of those moments that the player is rewarded and driven. There are a small number of poorly designed levels, ones which make use of laser beams that have no purpose to the overall puzzle and only hinder the player's ability to traverse, and ones that obscure the player's ability to see where switches lead and what they activate.

It is a wonderful exercise of the mind, and it is a rewarding experience. Any fan of the genre would be sorry to miss this addition. I only hope a level editor becomes available before interest subsides.