Proun+ 3DS Game Review
Proun+ 3DS Game Review
Review Written By: Adolph Vega
3D:
The stereoscopic 3D within this game really gives the player an immersive experience and adds to the gameplay. The abstract objects and environments within the game clearly move from the background to the foreground and the 3D element really helps to showcase this. The 3D element helps the player navigate and predict when and where to move. Most of the 3D is depth based and turning the 3D up has no impact on the overall fluidity of the graphics engine. The 3D does have some contrast issues that cause cross talk / ghosting as many of the environments backgrounds are white and the objects in the levels have contrasting colors and can cause a annoying and distracting double image. This ghosting image issue is a 3DS hardware problem and not directly because of with the games graphic engine. The graphics engine for this game is gorgeous and uses 3D space in interesting ways to make an interesting surreal look and the stereoscopic 3D only adds to this art. Proun+ has well implemented 3D that really adds to the experience of the game.
Final Verdict: Great 3D
Game:
This game is a very abstract and difficult to explain because it’s unlike anything else I have ever played. Before discussing this game I want to discuss the term Proun is and it’s context within this review. El Lissizky was an early 20th century Russian artist who created the term Proun to describe his surreal modern art. This modern art is supposed to look like a combination of painting and architecture. This collision of different art styles typically uses 3D space and simple designs. This brief art history is important because the graphical art style is such a huge aspect of the gameplay and is almost like playing with interactive modern art. This game has some outstanding art design and is simply gorgeous to view. At times the graphics can hypnotize the player and give you a sense of motion sickness and can be difficult to play because the art is so pretty. In Proun+ you play as a sphere and it travels along a cylinder shaped cable that travels into 3D space to reach the end of a level. You can control the sphere's speed and rotate the sphere clockwise or counter-clockwise on the cable. Sometimes the cable you travel on is a full cylinder and other times it’s a partial cylinder, which limits your movement. The reason to why you want to move your sphere is because various environmental objects will collide with the cable and obstruct your path. The point of the game is essentially to reach the end of the track as fast as possible. Certain areas within the level will boost your sphere to hyper speed and the sense of speed and momentum is well done and can be very thrilling within the game. A button press can also initiate hyper speed if you successfully avoid several environmental obstacles a meter will grow and give you limited boost abilities. The many levels within the game are varied but can have similar hazards and visuals so they can blend together at times. As you play the various fascinating levels within the game you gain stars based on your final time and these stars are used to unlock more levels and faster modes of play. The game does change things up by occasionally changing the rules with different modes. Sometimes the game will feature AI sphere's racing on the same cable as the player to get the fastest time. The other computer-controlled spheres are transparent ghosts that cannot affect the player. The AI races are fun to play and bring out a competitive aspect to the game. The game also offers a point system race. In this points race certain sections of a level have different assigned points that you collect as your sphere rolls over them. The points multiply as you collect them and getting a higher score is balanced out by dodging the various environmental hazards. This points race sets up a nice risk / reward dynamic as some higher points may cause the player to slow down or hit parts of the environment. Finally the game has an endless mode, which is a one hit fail mode. Obviously this endless mode is very difficult because it requires perfection, but can become addicting as you continue to replay the levels to increase your distance. All the levels have a time attack mode so you can directly compare against your previous times. The game gives you the option to post your high scores on an online leaderboard. This process to upload your scores to the leaderboard is seamless and quick and works well for this type of game. The game has many control options for the player to use during gameplay. The game has motion controls where you physically rotate the 3DS hardware to move your sphere. I think this method works, but is not practical as the 3DS system is too big to move quickly and the gameplay is typically too fast. This motion control breaks the 3D element even on the new 3DS with the super stable 3D. Overall the motion controls are a gimmick and something to experiment with but not a legitimate way to play the game. Fortunately the default control method is to simply move your control pad or circle pad left and right to rotate the sphere on the cable. This control option is very precise and easy to use and is the ideal fashion to play the game. An additional control option is to play the game using the L and R shoulder buttons to move the sphere left and right. This L/R button movement is actually pretty interesting and works well. You can also adjust the sphere movement sensitivity within the menu so the control options are very extensive for the player. The game has no boss battles, no story, no characters; no dialog yet is a joy to play. The game gives the player a fantastic sense of speed and becomes thrilling and enjoyable to play as you attempt to achieve high scores. One element of the game I am very impressed by is the amazing original sound track. The music within the game has a 1960’s psychedelic jazz influence and fits the surroundings perfectly. Without a doubt the soundtrack for Proun+ is a masterpiece, and is one of the best original compositions I heard in a video game in a long time. The game only has a few songs but all of them are memorable and perfectly complement this unconventional game. One aspect the game is missing is the ability to share high scores with your 3DS friends and compete via asynchronous passive multiplayer. Asynchronous multiplayer would be nice way to compete scores by taking turns. I also think this game would be perfect for comparing high scores via street pass too. I find it odd that this game lets you compete against the computer AI on levels but has no options for local or online play. I hope these aspects are implemented into the game via update in the future. The game can become very repetitive as earning stars can be difficult and forces the player to replay the level until they get better. The different ways the game mixes up gameplay are nice, but I wish more elements were introduced to keep the player engaged. Proun+ is a very simple game, and is very portable friendly and can easily be played for a few minutes at a time. I recommend playing this game in small chunks to get the most enjoyment. I can appreciate a game that has simple concepts and executes on them without unnecessary fluff. Proun+ is simple enjoyable game with amazing music, fascinating visuals and unique gameplay that I highly recommend.