Up until this past weekend, the only bit of info I’d ever come into contact with regarding Outland was one picture that looked kind of like Shadow of the Colossus crossed with Tron. Since then it’s been fairly quiet, but fortunately I managed to track down a playable version at Ubisoft’s booth on Friday. It’s safe to say that my hands-on time has renewed my interest quite a bit. Quite a bit indeed.
Outland takes after many classic adventure/platformer-style games with its sword-swinging combat, ledge climbing and wall-jumping. Granted the controls are a bit more responsive than these classic games (seriously, they are), but what immediately makes it stand out is the unique art style blend of shadow puppets and neon. While it may look intriguing in stills, believe me when I say it looks even more amazing in motion. The masterful touch of developer Housemarque’s animators is apparent throughout.
All of the features you’re undoubtedly hoping for are present: large areas to explore, Metroid-style ability and power progression as well as multiple game modes including story, arcade and co-op challenge modes. The other modes can be played in co-op as well. But there’s one last feature you probably weren’t expecting, and despite sounding like a weird idea it works incredibly well in practice. In this case I’m referring to an Ikaruga-style energy switching mechanic.
Eventually, one of the abilities your hero will acquire is the power to shift between blue and red energies. On a basic level this means you’ll have to swap between the two in order to utilize energy-specific platforms and the like, but it also leads to some incredibly complex (and fun) sequences that will put your reflexes to the test. Jumping from a red platform to a blue one and shifting in midair is one thing, but doing that, then swapping back in order to pass through a stream of red energy projectiles, switching yet again to land on another blue platform before swapping to red once more as you land on solid ground in order to successfully attack a blue enemy takes everything to a whole new level. Luckily all the wall-jumping and enemy juggling becomes second nature fairly quickly, so rather than feeling overwhelmed, you can focus most of your attention on keeping your polarities straight.
Outland is tentatively scheduled for a late April/early May release for both Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network. At the moment a price hasn’t been finalized, but it’s probably safe to assume it’ll fall within the $10 to $15 range. Either one will be worth it, trust me.
PAX East 2011 Screenshots
