Adam Hall



Publisher: Microsoft | Developer: Beep Industries | ETA: Out Now | Price: £39.99 Inc VAT.

After years and years of First Person Shooters and Real Time Strategies, I started to get a bit suspicious when the ol’ ‘Platformers’ section of the games industry began to run somewhat dry and void of inspiration. Where did they all go? For a good few years when videogames were first introduced to society, platformers were one of the most abundant videogame genres around. Not only did they encompass the pinnacle of graphical excellence, but they actually required skill whilst being simple at the same time! It was a concoction proven to be successful to cosmic levels, yet when N64 and Playstation consoles were made, the platformer seemed to die out. They were still being played on handhelds, but they weren’t at the forefront of the industry anymore, they weren’t as mainstream as they should’ve been.
The same applies to next-gen consoles like Xbox, Gamecube and Playstation 2, we’ve had a few attempts like Jak ‘n’ Dakster, but as far as quality platforming goes, the newest consoles around deliver very little indeed… Until now!

Voodoo Vince is the future. With a mixture of voluptuous visuals, groovy gameplay and stupendous sound, this is platforming at its best. If you’ve had a platform-shaped hole in your heart I suggest you bag yourself a copy of this bad-boy because it is unprecedented, unimaginable and unbelievable entertainment.

A magical, numinous and strangely depilated woman going by the name of Madam Charmaine owns a Voodoo shop from which she helps those in need, overlooking the safety of her district. She holds great power and is skilled in the arts of voodoo magic including the construction of voodoo dolls. After receiving a vast quantity of, what’s called, ‘Zombie Dust’, Mrs.C got kidnapped by the henchmen of Kosmo. But, before she was removed from the scene, her 3rd best Voodoo doll, Vince, came to life and dedicated his existence to finding Mrs.C. What a brave little guy he is!

Gameplay
I’ve got so much to say about Voodoo Vince on gameplay alone, I don’t know where to start. This game is amazing is probably a good one, I’ll go from there!
For anyone who’s never played a platformer (curse you), the basic premise is to jump from platform to platform performing other tasks depending on the difficulty of the game. That’s quite a generalised view, but I did say ‘basic premise’!
Voodoo Vince is a quintessential example of how platformers should be made, although it does get a bit repetitive at points during the game, such a feeling hastily exhausts itself and you get back into the mind blowing action when the game diversifies into something like jet-plane flying! One thing that I find most appealing about Voodoo Vince is that it’s a reversal of all things normally associated with platformers (bar the platforming and puzzles); in order to stay alive, you have to hurt yourself! The entire theme of the game is so god damn innovative, and works so god damn well, I’m just in awe every time I play it and I’m sure that’s evident from how energized I’m writing!
In opposition to the excessive praise I made apparent above, it’s time for some denouncements. Now, as I’m sure all game veterans will be aware of, there’s a fine line between interestingly hard and frustrating, and to be honest, Voodoo Vince is most definitely in the latter. The game’s by no means taxing at the start, but as you progress through the game, it gets harder and harder and the main culprit for this is, one of the most annoying things in any game, Bottomless pits. I despise bottomless pits, and Voodoo Vince has ‘em plastered over a large percentage of its levels. It’s bad enough falling off a ledge after trying 327 times to get to where you want to, but to fall into a pit that seals your doom better than the sun rising seals the arrival of the day, just pisses me right off! Then again, I suppose knowing that such annoyances are going to occur; you may be overly meticulous and do everything as slow and accurate as possible. However, being so blinded by rage and trying TOO hard will almost definitely bring about your demise anyway, and so you’re back at the start!
Working in unison alongside frustration, quite comfortably, is repetition. Like I mentioned earlier, Voodoo Vince does show sign of replication in tasks, but as soon as your eyebrows start to drop in disappointment, they raise once again faster than a speeding… eyebrow as the game fronts one of the mini games that have been ever-so nicely incorporated into the gameplay and add the most refreshing multiplicity in any game I’ve played recently. Many smiles entailed those babies!

Voodoo powers aren’t the only method Vince has of disposing of his foes; he can punch, head-slam and also perform a Crash Bandicoot style spin attack that’s also useful in gaining some extra distance when trying to get to a certain platform. The problem with the standard combat, though, is that it’s somewhat hit and miss. When you go into contest with an adversary using nothing but punch, the only thing you can do is slam the button repeatedly until the opposition is dead and what’s the problem with that? Well, You have no control over getting hit or not. I’m not saying I expect Dead or Alive style combat whenever you’re not using Voodoo powers, but there should at least be some sort of way of stopping your opponent from harming you because as it stands, you have no say in the matter, which could result in your death by no fault of your own. Nevertheless, hand-to-hand combat nicely breaks up the Voodoo power usage and adequately stops it from becoming an object of tedium, something you need desperately in a game that’s entire gimmick is based around it.
Finally, something I think is absolutely fantastic and should be in all games that could possibly incorporate it, when you die – as in, run out of lives – after you return back to the scene you died at, everything you’ve done will still be there. This means if you’re fighting a boss and you die halfway through yet you’ve weaken it substantially, it’ll still be that way when you return. Beautiful!