Retro-styled platformers are all the rage these days in flash and indie games. Insidia is another addition to the genre that doesn’t really bring anything new or exciting to the table, but it does a good job of standing on its own two feet.
You take the role of an alien stranded on a planet unbeknownst to you, and you need to find ten repair kits across the area to repair your ship and get out of there. The story, again, isn’t all that new or original. It’s pretty simple stuff, and in a way that works because of the game’s presentation. Besides, no one plays platformers for the story anyway.
We don’t come here for the food
Insidia’s atmosphere is really the best part. The controls are tight and the platforming is overall solid, but Insidia’s graphical style and music will stick with you for much longer than the gameplay. Your character is an orange humanoid, which is a stark contrast from the black lands you need to traverse. Behind the areas you get to see are cliffs and metal constructs among blinking pastel colors. What a strange planet you’ve landed on.
The atmosphere and music kept me playing and made me come back to it later. Sure, you can double jump and wall jump, but the game is riddled with checkpoints and isn’t really difficult overall. It does have two endings, with the second one being unlocked if you find the ten hidden switches along your travels. It also has some pretty solid progression, as many areas are blocked off until you find the jump and movement upgrades necessary to keep going. But it just doesn’t have any “oomph” in the gameplay department.
There are better platformers out there from a gameplay-perspective, but Insidia is one of the better flash-based ones in the atmosphere department. It won’t be blowing you away, but it is memorable in its own way and worth a play if you’ve got some free time and want a platformer that isn’t going to frustrate you too badly.
Published: Nov 6, 2012 05:14 pm