Bipedal Computer Processor: Human Resource Machine Review

Power failures? Robots attacking the city?  Humanity on the brink of doom?  Stop worrying about that nonsense and get back to work!  There's a busy Inbox and Outbox to take care of and you haven't got time to think about petty, mundane things like mankind's forthcoming robot enslavement.  You are the Human Resource Machine!

Yes, the boys from Tomorrow Corporation have returned, this time with a unique take on the puzzle genre that may have left me in the dust, but it made my wife giggle with glee.  How did they make this so?


Control

Although a cute little character appears on screen at all times, what you really are controlling are the various tiles that make up the commands you input in order to make.  They slide around easily, and discarding incorrect tiles is also easy.  The interface is both functional and very user friendly.  Not much to say beyond that it works well for the tasks at hand.


Music and Sound

The music shifts from having an upbeat tone, to oddly melancholy, to mysterious and foreboding.  In short: It's the typically awesome music you come to expect from a Tomorrow Corporation game.  I would download all of these in a heartbeat because they often remind me of Danny Elfman's better work.  There are few game makers I know of outside the major companies that pull off such a rich level of music with such strong personality.  Kyle Gabler just knocks it out of the park again.

"Title Track"

Sound design for this Tomorrow Corporation game also remains as strong as its predecessors.  From the blips and bloops as you enter computer commands, to the pleasant whir of the conveyor belt; each sound in Human Resource Machine carries with it a weight of personality which again feels distinctly Tomorrow Corporation.  Likely they've borrowed assets from previous games, but they are as welcome here as they were in the previous games.  Even though World of Goo hasn't even reached a ten year anniversary, I already feel a twinge of nostalgia when I hear the already familiar sounds.

Graphics and Style

Yup, it too has got that Tomorrow Corporation feel, and that' alright.  All the characters look like something out of Tim Burton's sketchbook, and that works great.  It's amazing how much emotion you can get from the simple little figures.  You really feel like they're tiny little people in a cartoon world.  From the bespectacled boss, to the pop-up book-ish building, to the odd charcoal like shadows--Human Resource Machine has a style which feels familiar, but in a comforting way.  Like, "I know this world and what's happening in it.  They're doomed, aren't they?"

I'm not sure if the games are all connected just because the art style is the same, but I really hope they are.


Gameplay

As I sat down to treat myself to another clever puzzle game from the Tomorrow Corporation people, I quickly found myself out of my depth.  I was working along, got to roughly level 7, and was a little lost as to what to do next.  I kept trying to figure out the puzzle, but being more of a wordsmith, the numbers aspect was throwing me off.  I pondered what to do next when suddenly the controller disappeared from my hand and the weirdest thing happened next:

My wife was holding the controller; playing, smiling, and plugging away at the game like it was nothing.

"You're doing basic programming," she said with delight.  

Ordinarily my wife does not play video games, as most of the more modern 3D games make her motion sick fairly quickly.  However, thanks to the 2D graphics, there she was was beside me plugging away and finishing each level with ease.  Oh sure, there came a point where she slowed, but she thanks to her intuitively knowing what the game was all about after watching me play for a few minutes, she was able to chug through half the game with a ease.  (Or at least what seemed like ease to a person who does writing, not programming for a living.

My wife and I had previously enjoyed playing Little Inferno together, so she was drawn to the game when I told her it was from the same people.  However, where I wasn't able to figure out the puzzles past a certain point she was able to pick up and play through the game because she recognized it for what it was:  A math and computer programming game.  Her talents, abilities, and the lessons learned via her computer science Bachelors degree had come to use in playing a video game!  Why was this?  Well...

Each level involves you moving objects from the Inbox to the Outbox in ever more intricate ways, but you do so by creating a list of commands for your little office worker to perform.  In essence, your human icon is a machine or computer.  You plug in the commands and it does the job you told it to do.  Math and computers just aren't my strong suit, but this did not detract from my enjoying watching my wife play the game.  There was something fascinating about watching a game about "programming."


Final Thoughts

I guess I should have known what the game involved seeing as the website itself has a section where it flat out says, "About the Game:  For Expert Nerds" in big bold print.  Despite it being geared more towards people with my wife's skills, it was just too awesome to pass up though.  I have to really hand it to Allan Blomquist, Kyle Gabler,  at Tomorrow Corporation.  I may not have had the chops to solve the game, but by golly I loved just watching the story, however bleak, unfold.  So much atmosphere and cleverness in a simple but highly effective package.  Bravo guys, you made math and computers interesting to a word nerd like me.



Final Scores:

Graphics: 10/10
Style:  10/10
Music:  10/10
Sound: 10/10
Control: 10/10
Gameplay:  10/10

Midweek Music Box: World of Goo

Faster and faster!

 Higher and higher!

EVEN HIGHER THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE!!!

Yes, it's World of Goo by Kyle Gabler and Ron Carmel, the team at 2D Boy.  I remember hearing good things about those goo balls when the game was first released, and I was intrigued by the trailers.  The music in particular for the trailer really grabbed me and sent a surge of excitement through me in a way that few games ever have.  But getting it for my Wii would mean the only way to get it was through download.  I was a bit more hesitant to do that.  After all, what if the early buzz was just hype?  If I downloaded this game simply based on how well put together the trailer was and how pleasant the music was and it turned out it was shovelware...I wouldn't even have a physical copy of something to sell away and get any money back for my folly.  Well, I think you can pretty much guess what I decided to do in the end.


World of Goo was one of the first, if not the first game that I ever downloaded to a console, and I have never regretted for a second.  From the fantastic controls to the clever and challenging puzzles, to the unique and wonderful art style; World of Goo simply "oozes" personality in a way that no other puzzle game has to me.  Sure, Tetris will always be a classic, but to have such a definitive character and to tell an actual story as you progress..,I think I always will find World of Goo a bit of a masterpiece of gaming.  What sold me the most though was the music though, that music from the trailer, the snippets that appeared here and there were as gripping to me as some of the best Legend of Zelda music, no joke.

Here's the soundtrack in it's entirety if you've never checked it out, but I would recommend hunting it down and downloading a copy for yourself, it just makes such fantastic background music for any and all occasions:

Much of the music feels like Danny Elfman himself could have composed, or are even better that some of Mr. Elfman's work.  Then there's other tunes that set a bleak mood without that Elfman-esque feel such as "Cog in the Machine," a slow moving, soliloquy of a song that has mournful echoing metal guitar strains, powerful drums beats, and nice synthesizer padding.  You get a sense of someone relentlessly trying their hardest to overcome an insurmountable goal.  I can almost picture a driving rain as a hero plods along streets more than I can stacking balls of goo into bridges.

"Cog in the Machine"

The entire soundtrack has incredible gems that are constantly in my music rotation, and I always know in an instant when I'm listening to a track from World of Goo without having to look at my computer's music library.  However, one sound track in particular, to me at least, epitomizes the "World of Goo Experience" as a whole.  And that's this one here:

"Tumbler"

Like a carnival calliope gone mad, the music touches something deep inside you.  The track entitled "Tumbler" makes you feel compelled to do all things faster.  You need to type faster, work faster, play faster, speed along before everything comes crashing down...much like it can in the game.  Not only was the soundtrack that buzzed along in the background of the trailer while showing you gameplay, but it provided such a strong emotional hook that it was incredible to me.  If you had trouble trying to describe the game to somebody, all you need do is point them to this track in particular and it should tell them all they need to know.  Your mind buzzes and flits around with possibilities of what can be done and what needs to be done during the game.  You rush frantically around from stage to stage hurriedly completing each task and then...and then there's a feeling of deep melancholy when you realize that you've finished not just the end of the stage, but the end of the game itself.  No more goo balls to rescue, no more bridges to build.  Just an end sequence to watch, and the hope that somewhere, deep in space, more goo balls are out there...

"Ending Theme"

Kyle Gabler gave the adorable little goo balls a distinctive voice, and I don't just mean that cute little squeaky one from the game.  I can't imagine World of Good would have been nearly as memorable as an experience without the fantastic soundtrack.  It's well worth downloading and deserves more praise than I can give it.



-and don't forget the Sign Painter

Touch Screen "Torch-er": Little Inferno Review

 

Something has gone terribly wrong with the world and now snow, wind, ice and chimney ash cover everything in a bleak haze—but don’t you worry about it because the Tomorrow Corporation has the perfect diversion!  You are now the proud owner of a genuine Little Inferno Entertainment Fireplace; so burn all your toys, household goods, and cherished memories as you keep warm, and more importantly, distracted from the snowy world outside.  Little Inferno by Tomorrow Corporation feels every bit the spiritual successor to World of Goo it likely is meant to be.  There’s not much to the gameplay, as much of it simply involves dragging items or “burnables” as I like to call them, from a table in front of the fireplace to the fireplace itself.  You get money for each item burned, and you use the money to buy more items from the catalogs.  Random "passports" appear occasionally, and these are used to speed up the shipping of items if you don't want to wait for the item's "shipping time" to run out.  If it weren't for the puzzle aspect of trying to figure out what items to burn with one another for combo points in order to unlock more catalogs of “burnables,” this might not actually qualify as a game.  Rather, the game could just as easily be billed as a mere point-and-click novelty.  However, the team at Tomorrow Corporation has a rich storyline that not only is revealed by looking at the various “burnables,” but also through various letters from a mystery figure named Sugar Plumps and the fictional CEO of the in-game Tomorrow Corporation.  Thanks to the foreboding nature of the plot, you can easily find yourself sucked in and attempting to beat the game in one sitting as you try to learn your character’s fate. 

Controls:

                Using the Wii U pad for Little Inferno never feels like a chore and never turns into an endurance marathon of bent necks and little use of the TV screen.  You can scroll through the combo list, browse the catalogs, and select items to purchase for burning from said catalogs with relative ease.  Occasionally when dragging an item from the table where “burnables” are stored to the fireplace itself, things seem to slip from your grasp, but this doesn’t happen often enough that it really feels like an issue.  When you set something alight from your “burnables” by dragging your seemingly eternal flame around the screen until the item catches fire, you get a real sense of interacting with the items in the fireplace.  Overall the control feels solid and simple as it should be.

Graphics and Style:

This too shall pass...or will it?

                Tomorrow Corporation employees Kyle Gabler and Allan Blomquist (formerly from 2D Boy) continue the dark tone and style started in World of Goo.  The characters and storytelling have a Tim Burton-esque feel, which perfectly suits the whimsical-yet-foreboding world of Little Inferno.  Marshmallows scream when burned, toy buses full of people yell when lit, and an assortment of other odd items will have you chuckling as you gleefully set each alight and await their reaction to an impending fiery demise.  There are nice visual touches that help remind you of the grim reality of a doomed world as well; suit-covered brick walls, worn out and patched up dolls for you to burn, weather reports in the mail that tell of ever-worsening snow, and occasional letters with pictures of a wide-eyed girl named Sugar Plumps who seems borderline insane.  It’s amazing for a game that largely remains on a single-screen you get a real sense of an expansive world facing a deep-freeze doomsday.  The vibrant red and gold hues of the flames as they incinerate everything and anything put before them really strike you on a visceral level.  You'll feel like a 10 year old kid who found an endless supply of matches with which to burn things consequence free.

Putting this here just so I don't sound all pyro-ee with that last comment...

Music and Sound:

Everybody Sing!

                This outing by the former team of 2D Boy does not have nearly the extensive soundtrack of its predecessor, World of Goo.  Certainly there’s some great atmospheric music here and there, like an overly cheery, 50’s sounding music loop whenever you go to buy something from the catalogs.  There’s also an incredibly catchy theme song about the “entertainment fireplace” which helps explain a little of the plot but has a sad undercurrent that further sells the bleak narrative and tone.  Not bad, but the lack of music will make you wish for the haunting tunes of World of Goo.  I wish there was more music here as I loved the Danny Elfman-like music from World of Goo.  However, if you do like the tunes from this game, they are available for download from Tomorrow Corporation's website. As far as the sound itself goes, every little crackle and pop of the flames not only feels authentic, but oddly pleasurable as well.  Sure I could go on and on about the hilarious marshmallow screams, popping, corn and exploding batteries--but let's face it, the flames are the star, and the sound team delivered.  Even if it weren't for the funny sounds made by the various "burnables," just the fire itself is soothing to hear.

Game Features of Note:

So much to burn, so little time to do it in...

                The combo system used to unlock more catalogs and progress the story line has a few minor flaws.  Had I the chance to do a minor edit on this, I might make it clearer to the player what catalogs they should look through to solve combo-burning puzzles.  Not that this made things too hard or less enjoyable, it just made sections of the game last a little longer than felt necessary.  Were I to play the game again, I would attempt to complete as many combos as possible early on so as to avoid confusion later.  That said, even if you decide to just goof around and burn random things together and see what happens, there’s still joy to have in seeing stuff quite literally go up in smoke.

Final Analysis:

Little Inferno was one of the downloadable games that drew me to the Wii U, and I was even more enthused when I learned that two of the guys from 2D Boy were working on the game.  Given the ending of World of Goo, it seems safe to say that this game takes place in that same universe, only farther down the timeline.  If ever I need cheering, I sometimes open this game and fill the whole fireplace with marshmallows just to watch them hop along and scream before they explode into gooey bits.  Does that sound a bit grim?  Well, it is, but I love every minute of it and I hope the development team decides to make either a sequel to this game or World of Goo.  Two games from these guys and now I feel invested in knowing what happens to this world they've created, even if the ending means a terrible fate for those who live in it.

Graphics/Visual Style: 10/10

Music: 8/10

Control: 9/10

Gameplay/Fun Factor: 10/10

Overall Rating:  9/10