Limbo

Limbo does not feature anything contemporary video games are known for: No sweeping dialogues, no explanations and no flashy cinematics. You’re just thrown into the game from the moment you press the start button.

To make things even more minimalistic, all you know of Limbo is what given on its Xbox Live description, which is that you’re jumping around and solving puzzles across a monochrome landscape to rescue your sister. A neat idea leaving most of the game’s narrative up to interpretation.

Thankfully, the narrative is the only thing left open to interpretation. The controls are rock-solid. You see, games like Limbo require deft, responsive controls and this is where the developers, PlayDead have excelled. With a single button for jumping and another for activating items, ploughing through this stark world fraught with darkness is a treat.

Speaking of darkness, in spite of being a game wrapped in shades of black and white, Limbo‘s presentation is its strongest point. With every other game aiming to show off as many colours as possible, the lack of colour makes Limbo stand out even more, making it seem, at times, more like a survival horror game rather than a platformer. This helps build up the curiosity to see what happens next. Each moment is filled with a sense of interest and dread making it extremely addictive to play.

And play you shall, manoeuvring across some well-designed levels ranging from deserted industrial areas to creepy forests and nicely thought out puzzles which are intuitive enough to prove a challenge without being extremely tough. The gameplay is perfect. Rather as close as perfect it can be for a game that does not have the word ”˜Mario’ in it.

Also, instead of having a grand soundtrack like we’re used to in most games, Limbo‘s aural effects solely consist of an extremely eerie ambient track, which complements its visuals brilliantly.

While this is by far as close as it can get to being a great game, Limbo lacks in two very crucial areas, namely price and gameplay duration. 1200 Microsoft Points (approximately Rs 800) for a maximum of six hours of gameplay leaves a lot for one to consider given that you have a slew of games available off the shelves for under Rs 700.

All in all Limbo is a brilliant game which sadly won’t get the recognition it deserves because of the high price on the Xbox Live Marketplace; quite tragic really as it really is one of the best games available digitally in quite awhile.