January 12, 2012

Review: Tower of Heaven

The GameBoy graphics are simple, yet strangely effective.

How did I miss Tower of Heaven when it came out two years ago? How did I miss it again when it was ported to flash with extra content last year? I may be late to the party, but this party is so damn good that I don't care. A lot of us here missed this gem, so the logical conclusion is that it flew under many a radar. Well, I'm here to introduce you. This is Tower of Heaven, and he is a work of art.

Yep, all you people out there that say games can't be art should eat your words. Tower of Heaven certainly is. Unfortunately, I can't explain exactly why it is without ruining the experience. Here's what I can say: you play as a, uh, guy (I guess) who's trying to ascend the Tower of Heaven against the wishes of an angry god. It's more or less your basic sidescrolling platformer, except that this god insists on imposing restrictions (or commandments) regarding what you can do. There are five of them and they get progressively more difficult while stacking on top of each other. The first is not to touch the yellow blocks. Seems simple enough, but imagine similar restrictions on top of that! Oh, and there's a time limit. Needless to say, things can get a bit challenging. It's a good thing, then, that the game doesn't punish you for failure. There are no lives, so you simply respawn at the start of the level, Meat Boy style. You often die by exploding into pixles in morbid, yet strangely adorable ways.

You think this looks dangerous? You'll learn to fear butterflies most of all...

Levels are not long, obviously, and there aren't many of them, but it's a blast the whole way through. Once you do reach the top, you'll unlock a speedrun and level-editor modes. Or you could just sit back and listen to the awesome soundtrack. Did I mention how amazing it is? It's really amazing and all based off one melody. Honestly, it's pretty astounding how many different ways that single melody can be mixed to create different moods and emotions. Actually, the soundtrack was one of the reasons I continued to play on even when things got pretty rough. I found the music so compelling, I was motivated to progress in order to hear what was in store. Don't give up if you're stuck! Tower of Heaven is absolutely worth playing to the end. In fact, you might enjoy your time with it no matter your progress, but you won't truly get the game unless you go all the way. The game's concluding "Oh, wow" moment is beautiful and shouldn't be missed.

For a short little indie game, Tower of Heaven has a lot to say and manages to say it all.

Menu theme: "The Lonely Tower"– Soundtrack available here for only $1!

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