Freware Game: Iji

2008-09-04 | by LaughinCrow

| Categories: Freeware Games, Daniel Remar

Link: http://www.remar.se/daniel/iji.php

Iji by Daniel Remar

Iji is an action platformer by developer Daniel Remar. To be completely fair I wasn't too excited about this when the trailer came out, but I should have as it is one of the greatest games I have played this year.

As said, Iji is a mixture of genres, it's a platformer shooter with RPG elements, with lots of decisions to be made and diferent paths in each level, and tons of secrets and sidequests.

The control scheme is easy, arrow keys to move (up to jump, down to duck), Z to kick, X to shoot, C to interact with most things and the numbers to change weapons. Controls are very solid and intuitive. Personally, I don't like having up as jump, but that's personal preference. Sadly there is no option to change this (all other control keys can be changed except the movement ones).

The game tells the story of Iji, a girl who visits her dad's job with her family. While they are visiting an alien race takes over the planet. Months later Iji wakes up to discover that only her and her brother survived, and that some human scientists applied the alien's nanotechnology on her to turn her into humanity's last hope. The story varies depending on your playstyle, although I confess that I found being good and stealthy is much more difficult that simply killing everyone.

The visuals and soundtrack are outstanding, adding to the atmosphere, I specially enjoyed the various sound effects, such as the aliens' and Iji's warcries.

I think this is a game that no one who likes action games should miss.

Via IndieGames Blog

Follow the link to the full post to see how much I suck at taking screenshots.

Follow up:

Iji by Daniel Remar

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2 comments

Comment from: Blaise [Visitor]

DUDE. This game is great! I'm only on level 6 (hoping there's like, 10), and the story's well written, the gameplay is perfect, and it's just plain fun! Reminds me a lot of metroid, but only in good ways. This is no cheap rip-off.

2008-09-06 @ 21:33

Comment from: Lyx [Visitor]

I really enjoyed playing the game and someway regularily had flashbacks to "another world" - though, besides of the visual style, i cannot point to anything specific.

My only gripe with the game is its braindead model of "morals". Not that the "good/evil" "aggressor/pacifist" scheme is anything unusual, but it really pisses me off in games, because i've got to pick between resembling the one stupidity or the other stupidity. Sanity, common sense and logic has no place in that model. The beginning of the dialog in the ending scene puts it quite well "i'm an "aggressor", because i return fire, since everyone tries to kill me - and in most situations, i dont even get a FAIR option of avoiding combat without putting myself at unreasonably increased risk. A world full of people shooting on sight, with only rare/unreliable ways to avoid encounters, and i'm supposed to not defend myself - and then get moral issues for that? WTF? This is beyond naive, though, as i mentioned, its popular and not specific to this game.

Why does that bother me then so much, since many other games do that as well? Because this game is awesome in every other aspect besides of this.

Of course there are worse examples, like the annoyingly oversensitive and theatralic dialoges in aquaria (another otherwise awesome game, except of this. Its so bad that i turned the dialoges off, because they were ruining an otherwise great gaming experience).

Though, i'm simply sick of gender-stereotypes in games, which either follow a cheesy macho-mindset, or theatralic and overemotional feminist-mindsets. "Normality" is unnormal nowadays. Take for example the ending-dialoge of IJI... now THATS interesting and deep - not those cheesy gender-stereotypes and stupid "good/evil"-schemes!

/rant off

- Lyx

2008-09-15 @ 01:49

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