Developer: Egidijus Bachur , Alexey Davydov
Publisher: Flazm
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Scrap Garden – Review
Scrap Garden is a game by two people namely Egidijus Bachur and Alexey Davydov. The game has received 4 awards, among them being ‘Best Indie Game’ and ‘Best Game Art’. Scrap Garden is off to a flying start even before you’ve pressed purchase. The title itself is slightly misleading as you won’t be digging around an actual scrapyard, getting your mittens dirty. The only thing coming close to the titular Scrap Yard is the opening of the game, which doesn’t really encompass the word quite well. Then again a game is more than just a title so it’s best to look beyond that.
Story
You are a robot named Canny and you find yourself awakening in a harsh post-apocalyptic world. That’s basic sci-fi writing right there. As you wander around the world you’ll notice you are nearly alone in your survival and must find a way to reverse the effects of the event that has transpired and save the world. When the topic of the writing surfaces, it feels a bit off. It feels really copy pasted and the writers have often cornered themselves.
Giving a robot emotions is a good approach, but telling the player or the viewer that a robot does not have emotions but can somehow guess what it would feel by assessing the situation sounds like bullocks. An example is when the writers say: ‘Canny did not know what fear was, but he sensed that this place must come close to being ‘eerie’.’ Either you give the robot the ability to evolve emotionally and become more humane or you keep it as a product of the marriage of binary code and metal. The in-between solution can work, but the game is too short for the actual character arc to take place so the writing feels contrived. The plot exposition is clear so when you do finish it, you’ll be left with no questions.
Graphics
When it comes down to graphics, the game holds up quite well. It’s simple in all aspects, which makes running the game a joy. However there are some issues when it comes to enemies clipping through the foliage or ground, making them difficult to see and having them damage you unfairly. It’s fine if you cock up and miss the enemy, resulting in you getting damage but when an enemy jumps out of a bush or looks like a part of the landscape for no apparent reason other than just a glitch, it’s annoying. This only happened once or twice, but still, a little bit more polish on that front would have been nice.
Sound
Scrap Garden’s sound is nice, soothing and consistent. The soundtrack is calming and doesn’t annoy you when you try to figure out a puzzle. The sounds the enemies make however is slightly distressing. Whether it is the result of the story event or something else, they barely sound like their real life counterparts. Rats and wolves sound more liquid than they should like they aren’t really growling or squeaking, but more vomiting up their innards. They aren’t quite themselves so in a sense it’s fitting. Quite vile, but fitting. Scrap Garden has voice acting an quite decent, when you look at the price of the game as voice acting can be expensive.
Gameplay
Scrap Garden is a Puzzle Platforming game where you try to save the world as a robot named Canny. The tutorial level is straight-forward then again, so is the rest of the game. Scrap Garden is quite linear and rather short, in about two hours you can speed through it. The gameplay is simple and options are often few so you’ll get the hang of it before long. On the other hand, the game doesn’t hold hands by showing markers or telling you how to take down bosses, you just need to figure things out.
Controls don’t deviate from the formula. W,A,S,D moves you and the right mouse button/spacebar makes you jump. Left mouse button lets you grab objects. The game can also be played with a gamepad if you are so inclined. Scrap Garden is all about platforming and making your way around the maps so you can solve the puzzles. This is often just finding an object and placing it on another. There’s a lot of creativity in Scrap Garden. You won’t be traversing the maps on foot, at moments you’ll be sliding down a mountain or riding around on a minecart. The only complaint about this is that these moments are too few and too short.
The game has quite bad collision detection. At times you’ll miss hitting the center of your target and slide of the sides and sometimes this will mean your instant death while at other times you’ll magically clip on the edges of the map and you’ll be able to get back onto it, resulting in a rather strange feeling of panic when you frantically try to do so.
When you roam around the landscapes, you’ll be collecting gems, these are used as currency and they’ll let you open up doors or unlock items needed to complete puzzles. They are ever in abundance, so you’ll never need to be fussed over finding enough to finish a certain segment of the game.
Conclusion
If you are looking for a game that is both easy to control and has puzzles that offer a certain challenge but for which you don’t really have to wreck your brains, then Scrap Garden is just for you. It’s also very kids and wallet friendly, which is certainly a notable feature. Real hardcore puzzle/platform fans won’t be turned on by this, but as a casual pastime this one might do the trick. Scrap Garden is a great game to get players hooked on puzzle games. The game is about solving a problem humanity might face one day,namely energy shortage, all the while you get to collect shiny diamonds, too!
Scrap Garden - Review,
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