So our next review is for a game called Chris Unarmed by Chris Hughes. He literally has no arms. The premise is that the infamous “Mango” has released monsters on the world, and only Chris can stop them. Firstly I have to say this game is on the “good” side of “OK”. The platforming aspects are standard and the controls aren’t too hard. Graphics are a bit quirky. I think given more time and better art, this could have been a stand-out title. Of course what can you expect from one person (well he did have a separate musician, but more on that later). Here’s a video (probably the one I showed on the preview).
Okay in Chris Unarmed you play Chris. A head on some feet. The play is fairly easy, you hit A to jump left thumbstick or d-pad to move, and ‘X’ to use stuff. Not difficult at least. The controls are fine, and like the trailer shows, it’s a bit floaty. However I noticed it wasn’t terribly floaty as it seems to give you time to move about. Adventurer Pets HD was worse for that. That was a pain to move through, but here it’s sort of smooth and free flowing. However even though it’s not bad control-wise you can sometimes over shoot your platform or get hurt running into the wrong thing from the physics.
The graphics are as shown in the trailer, very very simple. Single colors, and the backgrounds look like real photographs that have been processed. It’s not really spectacular to look at, but it does have it’s charms. Such as the main guy being easy to see, and the “monsters” easily identifiable. I ran into a yellow baddie which walked not too fast, a faster red one, and a blue one that jumped around. There’s the standard platforming devices such as keys that open specific doors, and coins you want to collect. I don’t really know what I want to collect coins for, but it’s in there. There’s also a nice little tutorial to start.
Music is nice and synth-sounding, however it does get on your nerves as it is short and repeats. The other sounds are ok, but also are someone annoying, for instance the jump sound every single time you jump, and the door sound when you pass by a door. The door opens when you are touching it, however you don’t go in unless you hit ‘X’. It would have been nice to leave the door closed until you open it.
The trailer seems to show more than I got into in my first few times playing it. While this doesn’t impress me a lot, it does show that a lot of time went into making it. But you will only be able to tell that if you play the demo, don’t just watch the video. Most players take for granted the hours the developer has spent coding, and playtesting their games. I would say if you really need your platformer fix and you’ve got time to spare, then go ahead and try Chris Unarmed. The full version is only about 3 bucks, so that isn’t so much to ask is it?
Name: Chris Unarmed
Developer: Chris Hughes
Platform: Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Indie Games)
Price: 240 MSP (about $3.00 which is actually a steal).
Where you can get it: On the Xbox 360 under Xbox Live Indie Games.
Tags: Chris Hughes, Chris Unarmed, game, Indie, Indie Flux, Platformer, Puzzle, review, scrolling, Uhfgood