Developer: Pixel Pi Games
Publisher: Pixel Pi Games
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Pulse – Review
Pulse is a one of a kind game that offers you a journey through a world of artistic delight. You play as Eva, a blind girl who uses the power of echolocation and imagination to shape the world around her in a ray of bright colors. Guided by a creepy crow you travel this unknown world, solving small puzzles to progress. Here you will need the help of the Mokos, adorable puff balls with their own little character, whose purpose is to be thrown around at your very whim.
Story
The game starts out with a tale told by a campfire. You are a girl named Eva, who has become blind at a young age. She goes on a journey through a mysterious world to figure out why it is close to destruction. Despite her loss of sight, she can see the world through a form of echolocation. This is an ability that allows her to send out pulses of sound that visualize the world around her for a short moment. Besides that skill, she also has an unique imagination to help her way through this unknown land.
The purpose of your journey is told by a disturbing-looking crow with a huge red eye that materializes on occasion in the game. Whether those messages lead to an interesting plot is actually to be frowned upon. It’s a shame you don’t get to discover where Eva comes from or what the purpose if for her being in this unknown world. Even the existence of her Pulse ability remains a mystery.
Graphics
With the help of echolocation, the moments you send out the pulses of sound, you are awarded with a pallet of bright colors. You uncover bridges, hills, plants, etc. As you walk, those footsteps generate bright ripples of sound to lighten up the world around you. Eva truly has no lack of imagination as she visualizes each area in a different shade of color. From bright and warm orange to the cool blue, to the appearance of furry creatures in a forest of deep blue-green. It’s simply stunning to take a walk in the world of Pulse.
There are, however, no rules to what is illuminated or not. Sometimes the pulses only light up everything in a three foot distance, other times they can reveal hills that are yards away. It might be illogical at first, the array of colors offers a beautiful scenery that makes you think of Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole into a land of Wonder.
Sound
As the game starts, the stage is set with mysterious music that make you thinks of shamans around a campfire. The soundtrack mainly exists out of soothing New Age music. The sound of your footsteps changes whenever you switch surface. You can hear yourself walking on hard floorboards or soft sand. Even the crow speaks in an unknown wave of sound that makes you think of the Twili people from Zelda: Princess of Twilight. The sound of birds, falling waterdrops and frogs add well with the visuals and make you believe you’re walking through a jungle. The Mokos even make an adorable sound whenever they are picked up and thrown away again.
Gameplay
Pulse is an adventure game but despite the unique graphics for an Indie game, the developers of Pixel Pi Games haven’t put much effort in the gameplay. The game is fun to play, but there isn’t much of a challenge since you only posses a few basic skills. The levels exist out of simple platforming where you have all the time in the world to figure out where you need to go. Even as you play in an easy pace it only takes two-hour gameplay where you travel in a linear path from one area to the next.
As you discover this world, you come across Mokos, marshmallow-like critters with huge black eyes that can make the cutest Pokemon proud. These little creatures have only two purposes. The first is to be picked up and thrown into the distance to create sound and thus illuminate the environment. Second, they can be placed in hamster wheels to open gates that lead to a next level.
The puzzles exist out of opening paths by using the Mokos, triggering switches or standing on objects. They are easy to figure out and don’t exactly pose a challenge. There have also been a slight number of bugs, though these where gone when restarting the game.
Conclusion
Pulse might not be the most challenging game out there, its art style is one of a kind and close to a masterpiece. The developers of Pixel Pi Games have outdone themselves on this level. If only they had put more effort in the story and gameplay, it might have felt more like a fully-developed game instead of an early-access game.
No Comments