Organic Panic Review

Platformers are one of the most overcrowded genres these days, but each of them attempt to have a specific theme or catch to boost their character. Sometimes, these premises can make a game more intriguing than others. Organic Panic is one of these games. Worked on for seven years with a crowdfunded budget of $40,000, Organic Panic focuses on physics experimentation with a colorful, fruit and vegetable based twist. But as always with games of this caliber, there are many ways in which it can go rotten or sour. Let’s recount all the ways Organic Panic achieves this, and the ways it stays sweet.

Gameplay:

Mechanics involving water, slime, or ice, make a large portion of the game

In Organic Panic, you’re tasked with jumping and running through bite-sized levels (no pun intended), whilst shooting enemies and overcoming obstacles in puzzling ways. It sounds like a good case of fun and games, but Organic Panic lacks this magic and replaces it with a sense of confusing unevenness. Some levels can be finished in a matter of seconds, while others can take minutes, all due to the factor of the wonky controls. It’s unfortunate matters like these that stall Organic Panic from doing what it so ambitiously sets out to accomplish.

Story/ Design:

Enemies are pretty mindless, with turrets gracing a much-needed alternative

One of the worst things about Organic Panic is it’s AI. While other platformers may have AI that goes back and forth in a clockwork cycle, Organic Panic’s go completely berserk and aggressive, for seemingly no reason. They’ll jump and attempt to attack you, and with no clear reasoning on how to attack them, the game lessens and starts to feel nonsensical. A goofy story calms some of this, but it only does so much.

Presentation/ Visuals & Audio:

Comic book style cutscenes are placed around every level pack

Organic Panic is also a game that doesn’t look great in action. There’s a lot of screen-tearing, and the crude art style doesn’t match what was presented in menu screen and story intros. Some may say graphics aren’t everything, and while they are right, Organic Panic does not excel in audio and presentation departments either. Sound clips can quickly become aggravating, and little to no work was done to improve this. Organic Panic does have a slightly fun coop mode, but with everything else being so dire, it’s insufficient in scale and scope.

Conclusion:

I have major respect for what the developers of Organic Panic tried to come through with, but the physics experimentation is too cluttered and messy to work well with what the rest of the game offers. This is what Organic Panic comes down to. It’s a mess, with a few salvageable points here and there. When it’s on sale, placing it in your cart for a couple bucks would seem far less egregious.

Organic Panic gets a 4/10 (Bad)

We’d like to thank Last Limb for sending us a code!

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