Saturday, December 12, 2020

Fracter Game Review

 

Welcome to my quick look at Fracter. I had the opportunity to sit down and play this game through and wanted to share my thoughts. Fracter is a puzzle game at its core. In a world of dark and light, your being has been split apart and you must traverse the various levels and challenges to re acquire your light. 

From the get go, Fracter really captured my interest and set the mood by placing you right into the game with no fan fair or long introduction. Everything is presented in the game itself as you play through it. The controls are straight forward in that you only move and manipulate objects and for the most part they work well. I did fail a few puzzles due to getting stuck on a corner or not quite getting a box or light positioned just right in time, however even when you fail, the game saves often enough that you are never too far away from the puzzle you were working on. Speaking of puzzles. Fracter has some of my favorite kinds of puzzles as a mainstay. In many of the puzzles you have to direct light from a source to a receptacle in order to unlock the path forward. It plays to how my mind works to have to figure out how to bounce lights around the world to get through each piece. Along with orienting lights, you also will be activating platforms to change the height of things and pushing blocks around to trigger buttons and fill in holes. 

Fracter does a wonderful job of introducing players to each puzzle element individually and then incorporating them into more challenging combinations later on.  The puzzles don’t just involve static objects to manipulate in the world. You also have to contend with shadowy figures that roam many of the levels you’ll explore. 

If you get too close, they will run after you and put out your light. Light itself is what draws all of the elements of this game together. The world itself is a canvas of darkness that is only illuminated by the lights you direct and the light your character shines. Due to this limited amount of light, much of the levels you traverse are obscured and only revealed as you move through them. The shadows cast around you and the shine of your light off of the surfaces of the level add a wonderful atmosphere to the game. All of these elements make for a very enjoyable play through and yet Fracter also has an extra charm in the delivery of the story. The only words in the game are those provided at the beginning of some areas. Poetic verses appear on the screen and give hints to what has happened and what you will be challenged with next. These words were more impactful to me as I read them out loud each time they resolved onto the screen. An example, “for every light the soul ignites a twin of shadow sprouts the light you wield can’t shine a shield or cast the shadow out.” 

So is Fracter a perfect game? No, but it is a delight to play. I was able to enjoy it all in a single session. It doesn’t have much replay ability, unless you missed aspects of your light your first time through a level. So for the price, you will have to weigh how much you enjoy the experience against how long it actually lasts. I did enjoy it and you can too on PC and now Nintendo Switch.


Developer: 4L Games

Platforms: App Store, Google Play, Steam, and Nintendo Switch

Link to Trailer

Website: Fractergame.com


Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Indeed_Movies_#05-Duck_Soup

Welcome to Episode#97     #05 Duck Soup (Leo McCarey, 1933)

 Summary: The country of Freedonia is in the middle of a financial crisis and on the brink of revolution. In order to gain a bail-out from the wealthy Mrs Teasdale, the government appoints Rufus T Firefly as its president. However, Mr Firefly shuns the pomp and pretentiousness of government along with the prudence and rationality of it too. Meanwhile, the neighbouring country of Sylvania is plotting to overthrow Freedonia and sends Pinky and Chicolini to spy on Firefly. War seems inevitable.

 Join Keefe, Paxton and Chris are back in WWII, and this time what they filmed was a whole lot different from the truth.  Like Star Wars.

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 Send us emails at indeedpodcast@gmail.com if you like or dislike any of the films or check us out on  Facebook. See you at the movies.

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Indeed_Movies_#07-Airplane

Welcome to Episode#95     #07 Airplane (David and Jerry Zuker, 1980) 

Summary: Ted Striker just got dumped by his long-time girlfriend Elaine Dickinson, who works as a stewardess at Trans American Airlines. In his wish to get her back, he follows her aboard the plane, although he has had a deep aversion against anything winged since he lost several men in the war. During flight, he tries to contact her again and again, but as the crew and many passengers get seriously ill due to a bad fish meal, he has no chance to get to her. In fact, Ted Striker seems to be the only healthy person aboard that has piloting experience. Now, it is up to him to get the bird down in Chicago safely, before the poisoning starts causing casualties. But Ted Striker's aversion really is a serious psychosis, which breaks open and needs to be cured - right now.

 Join Keefe, Kerry and Chris are leaving on a jet plane, except it sounds more like a B-17 bomber.  Kinda flies like it too.

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 Send us emails at indeedpodcast@gmail.com if you like or dislike any of the films or check us out on  Facebook. See you at the movies.

Monday, March 23, 2020

Indeed_Movies_#08-Playtime

Welcome to Episode#94     #08 Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967)
 Summary: In yet another outing by the bumbling Monsieur Hulot, we find him lost in an ultra-modern Paris as he tries to locate someone. As always seems to be the case, chaos erupts wherever Hulot is to be found. Meanwhile, a group of American tourists frequently crosses his path and staff struggle to have a new restaurant ready for its opening night. Sight gags galore.

 Join Keefe, Paxton and Chris are off again to France to the final of Tati's films where it is all about modern dystopia and mayhem.  Granted we wonder why anyone ever thought it wouldn't be?

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 Send us emails at indeedpodcast@gmail.com if you like or dislike any of the films or check us out on  Facebook. See you at the movies.

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Indeed_Movies_#09-This_is_Spinal_Tap

Welcome to Episode#93     #09 This is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984)

 Summary: In 1982, the legendary English heavy metal band Spinal Tap attempt an American comeback tour accompanied by a fan who is also a film-maker. The resulting documentary, interspersed with powerful performances of Tap's pivotal music and profound lyrics, candidly follows a rock group heading towards crisis, culminating in the infamous affair of the eighteen-inch-high Stonehenge stage prop.

 Join Keefe, Paxton and Chris when they pull out their musical instruments and jam out a tune you ain't never gonna believe, nor will want to hear again.  Yeah, we ain't so good.

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 Send us emails at indeedpodcast@gmail.com if you like or dislike any of the films or check us out on  Facebook. See you at the movies.

Sunday, March 8, 2020

Indeed_Movies_#10-The_General

Welcome to Episode#92     #10 The General (Clyde Bruckman & Buster Keaton, 1926)
 Summary: Johnnie Gray is an engineer on his train, The General, on the Western and Atlantic railroad. When war is declared between North and South he does his best to sign up with the Confederate army but is refused because he's in a designated occupation. His sweetheart Annabelle and her family don't believe him and she's ashamed, thinking he's shirking his duty. Meanwhile the Union army hatches a plan to steal the General and when it stops in Big Shanty they snatch it and head north. Annabelle Lee is a passenger on the train and Johnnie goes behind enemy lines to rescue his train and his girl.

 Join Keefe, Paxton and Chris are back to the silent films.   When you mix southern rebels and trains, you can only get gold.   Unless it has Wil Smith, that was a mistake.

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 Send us emails at indeedpodcast@gmail.com if you like or dislike any of the films or check us out on  Facebook. See you at the movies.

Thursday, March 5, 2020

Indeed_Movies_#11-The_Big_Lebowski

Welcome to Episode#91     #11 the Big Lebowski (Joel & Ethan Coen, 1998)

 Summary: When "the dude" Lebowski is mistaken for a millionaire Lebowski, two thugs urinate on his rug to coerce him into paying a debt he knows nothing about. While attempting to gain recompense for the ruined rug from his wealthy counterpart, he accepts a one-time job with high pay-off. He enlists the help of his bowling buddy, Walter, a gun-toting Jewish-convert with anger issues. Deception leads to more trouble, and it soon seems that everyone from porn empire tycoons to nihilists want something from The Dude.

 Join Keefe, Paxton and Chris are ready to go with drinks in hand.   Let the Dude take you on a adventure just don;t forget to pour you a drink, a White Russian is preferred.

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 Send us emails at indeedpodcast@gmail.com if you like or dislike any of the films or check us out on  Facebook. See you at the movies.