INSIDE

I'm typing up this review as I thought Inside needed more attention. I waited for it to be completed before diving in and I'm quite pleased I played this game.



The game starts off with a few choices you can make to the game. These are difficulty, change default name and skip the cut scenes. I went for the Normal difficulty as I thought that's the standard for games to be reviewed by. As for cut scenes, I recommend you keep them unless you've played the game once already but they're not that long anyway.



The story follows a games developer named Jack (that's you) that has somehow got sucked inside (cue the "Inside" title) a virtual reality game. The virtual realm doesn't offer much in terms of safety so every step almost always a hazard. As the game progress through the levels you get to see the story unfold. However, there are only four levels in which Relyt tried to give a compelling story. This resulted in the pace of the story moving along faster than I would have wanted so characters were not fleshed out enough. The general idea behind the story was quite interesting and it would certainly be a hot topic up for discussion in debating groups.

Graphics aren't the greatest you'll see on RM2k3 but they do what they suppose to do so I have no complaints really (apart from the rainbow coloured HP display!).

Now onto the core of the game, gameplay. It certainly excels here as it carries the game forward to the levels of addiction. Spikes often need to be shut off via a switch somewhere else on the level or avoided by timed movements. Doors always need a key (that's not a gun, I made that mistake) and monsters are unbeatable so you must cleverly outmanoeuvre them.



The structure of each level is divided into three parts and the last part features a boss battle which can take several tries to understand what needs to be done. There are also welcomed diversions such as a maze and a chase sequence.

The sounds you hear in this game are passable. The monster groans are not the greatest things you will hear but the game's music theme is entirely original and fits well with the game.

Lastly, as with any technical RM2k3 game there are some bugs in the game. The glitches happen when you get stuck to a moving object, be it a monster or some spikes. The result: you'll receive damage until you die. Thankfully, the game is saved after each level within an area.



A couple of other glitches I found arose during a chase scene where my chaser got somehow stuck in the walls allowing me to breeze through the level. In one scene a log book is shown with white text on a white background, this occurred after the first area was finished. None of these bugs really deter you from playing the game to the end though.

As a treat for "cheaters" (as Relyt puts it), there is a hidden map within the RM2k3 editor where you can make your own levels and submit them to Relyt who'll decide if they're worthy of being included in the game. I couldn't make any that matched the standard Relyt set which goes to shows how good the level designs in this game are.

To conclude, Inside is a short but brutal game that requires the player to learn their mistakes and push forward to the next challenge. Kind of like what the NES games were like except this game reduces that difficulty with an abundance of save points. If you're thinking of downloading this game, do it. It's not going to take up a lot of your time and I'm sure you'll enjoy it too.