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Fading Shadows - Hands On Preview
Gwynne Dixon
28/01/2008
Control the soul of a young boy as you guide an orb across the fantastical puzzle world of Fading Shadows...
Puzzle games have always fitted nicely on handheld consoles. Ever since Alexey Pajitnov's Tetris was bundled with millions of Gameboy's - creating the console's iconic game in the process - puzzle games have always seemed somewhat at home on a handheld. True to form, Sony's PSP has seen its fair share of solid platform games. Lumines and Mercury were both relatively successful during the handheld's early life, while other genre-straddling puzzlers such as GripShift have also entertained many a PSP owner.
Fading Shadows, from Lithuanian developers-come-publishers Ivolgamus, is the latest puzzle game to grace our PSP's screen and, at this stage, it looks set to offer some fairly well balanced gameplay upon its release at the end of February. In its simplest form, the aim behind the game is to guide an orb around various puzzle filled levels, fitting it in the same broad, ball-rolling puzzle genre of games such as Mercury. The twist comes with the fact that you don't control the orb itself, but a beam which drags it around the game world.
This is essentially the game's unique feature, without which it could very quickly become a generic ball-rolling puzzle game. Another way in which Ivolgamus are attempting to add depth to Fading Shadows is with a bit of back story, which is nice, and it takes on a distinctly fantasy feel alongside the medieval looking levels. Encapsulated within the orb is the soul of a young boy called Erwyn. It seems his clairvoyant sister, Aira, put his soul there for a couple of reasons: 1) to save him, and 2) to stop the dastardly Master Gardal from using Erwyn's soul to open the Castle of Heaven. It seems like an obvious solution when you think about it.
Of course, Erwyn needs to be taken to the Castle of Heaven in order to be freed and that's where you come in. If you were wondering why there are so many puzzles along the way, it's because Master Gardal's henchmen, Quiph and Morg (who're apparently not as stupid as they sound), have been setting the puzzles to stop Erwyn from reaching the Castle of Heaven. One might suggest that they just set deadly traps, rather than stimulating puzzles, but whatever.
Anyway, the intensity of the beam of light can be varied. The square and X buttons change the intensity, with a more focused beam attracting the ball and a broad light beam having little effect on the ball whatsoever (which is often helpful as it allows you to scan levels without affecting the orb). The sliding scale of the beam's intensity enables gamers to have a deft touch over the declination of the orb, and this is helped by sturdily designed physics which simulates the attraction of the orb to the beam.
The resulting gameplay mechanic provides Fading Shadows with its unique hook, but Ivolgamus has also added different states to the orb which have the effect of balancing out your use of the light beam. The 'safe' state of the orb is glass (gamers can return to this state at any point by pressing triangle), while there are also wood and metal states. The orb can change to these other two states via various platforms that appear throughout the game. These varied states balance how you use the beam because, if it's focused and allowed to touch the orb, then it will burn/melt it, sending you back to the beginning of a section.
The 'safe' glass state has few benefits, but also few major drawbacks. Being glass, it is fragile, so you might not want to drop it from height. It won't float (like the wooden orb), or jump (like metal), but it is less liable to burst into flames than the wooden orb (although prolonged exposure to the beam will eventually melt the glass).
The advantage of the wooden orb is that it can float in water, making it crucial for water-based puzzles. While it is durable, it is also the most prone to being destroyed by the beam, meaning that you have to be cautious while leading the orb around with an intense beam. Finally, the metal orb sinks and rusts in water but it can't be burnt by the beam. In fact, if you heat it up with the light beam, you can even make it jump by pressing circle.
Ivolgamus has made sure to base its puzzles around these gameplay dynamics between the orb and beam. You'll often need to get to higher platforms by jumping with the metal orb; sometimes a puzzle will require close control of the orb, meaning that you'll need a focused beam and an orb state that doesn't burn easily; the presence of water also plays a critical role on many levels, and often a durable orb is needed to get through some of the more turbulent puzzles.
There are also brain-teasers that don't rely on the orb states, in order to keep the gamer stimulated. Ivolgamus provide the odd cryptic puzzle, such as finding the right path through a floor of panels that have to be traversed in the right order (based on a number game involving Roman numerals). Then there are platform based sections involving ramps, conveyor belts and gondolas (not the Venetian boat type of gondola, by the way), and figuring out how to utilise these transports is often quite tricky.
The developers also involve the beam (minus the orb) in a lot of head-scratchers, such as bouncing its light off a series of mirrors to heat up a panel on the wall (the mirrors have to be aligned correctly before the light reflects at the right angle). You'll also need to use the beam at certain points to evaporate water, heat up floor panels and start fires.
The difficulty of these puzzles is gradually increased throughout the game's 40 single-player levels. Fading Shadows' first few levels are very accessible, although you'll soon be firing those brain cells on all cylinders to figure out the later sections. Ivolgamus insists that Fading Shadows is a game for the hardcore crowd, meaning that more seasoned puzzle gamers will soon find themselves at home as the game progresses. From what we've played, the rising difficulty seems to be well paced, leading to gameplay which feels rewarding rather than frustrating.
In addition to these single-player levels, there are also 10 levels of specifically designed for the multiplayer game. Fading Shadows has an Ad-hoc mode for up to 2 players which sets players the challenge of completing a level in the fastest time (thereby winning that level). Participants play through the multiplayer levels randomly until one player gets to five level wins.
While this does sound like a decent multiplayer offering, we can't help but feel that more could be done with the orb/beam dynamic for multiplayer gaming - perhaps head to head sprints emphasising close orb control instead of puzzle solving, or battle levels where the aim is to get your opponents ball down a hole. Ivolgamus did tell us, however, that they tried out features like this with limited success. Apparently, the physics goes a bit haywire and unplayable when two orbs/beams are allowed to interact with each other (as a result, an adversary's beam will have no affect on your orb in the 2 player game).
We do have a slightly cautionary note about Fading Shadows' length, though. We got through the opening levels rather quickly and, with 40 levels altogether, this might suggest a slightly short game. However, we also expect the levels to get longer and considerably harder as the game progresses, providing a decent amount of longevity for the title.
Graphically, Fading Shadows does enough for a puzzle game. It's not going to be as visually impressive as PSP titles such as Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow, but then why would it be? It's a puzzle game after all and with environments that are rich and vibrant, Fading Shadows looks like it'll do enough to keep you visually, as well as mentally, stimulated.
