Playing Every Game in the Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality
PEGBRJE: ‘Cabbibos Play Pack’, ‘Colour Jumper’ and ‘Infiniboss’
Three Games to Round out Your day — Well, technically Two.
Cabbibos Play Pack is a collection of surreal and strange experiences crafted by cabbibo for VR. There are ten games that span simple exploration to bizarre interactions, all of them made to played within a virtual space.
Unfortunately, I am unable to actually experience them in their full glory for I do not own any kind of VR. As such, I cannot gauge my feelings on its design nor give recommendations for who might enjoy it. I didn’t really feel comfortable putting it in the software section, as it is still a digital game. Instead, if you have a VR headset I encourage you try out a few of the titles yourself and see how they feel.
Colour Jumper is a hardcore platforming game created by Tallbeard Studios, the solo indie studio run by ben_burnes, who has gifted us audio assets earlier in the bundle. This time, we get an entire game involving a cube with four colours trying to get to a door of light without touching a single speck of darkness.
As this little cube of four colours, every jump players perform will rotate it clockwise. So if the yellow side is on the bottom, a jump will rotate it so that the green is on the bottom, and so on. While only a single jump can be made, repeatedly pressing the jump button mid air will continually rotate the cube. This is important because the coloured walls and floors can only be interacted with by the side on the cube of the same colour. That means that the green side is the only side that can use a green wall; every other side will pass through it. So when an entire platform is a specific colour, the simple action of jumping is now something that requires serious planning. Unless the cube rotates all the way back around, the player will not be able to land.
It’s simple but extremely effective at creating challenging platforming sections. Players need to worry not just about their platforming skills but also how many times they’ve ‘jumped’. This also allows for two different metrics to be graded against the player for achievements, as the number of rotations is a stat for each level. Each rotation adds 90 degrees to the counter, and exceeding that number nullifies the player’s ability to get that sticker for the level. It does not stop the player for completing anything, it is just like the timer achievement that is above it; something to challenge oneself against, but not something that limits play.
Colour Jumper is an addictive game that’s a lot larger than it first appears. It has more than 100 levels for players to beat and bosses to go against . I’m not entirely sure how a cube fights bosses, but that shouldn’t stop it from trying. Of course, I didn’t make it that far due to my abysmal platforming skills, but it was able to suck me in regardless. To top it all off, as a musician has added some sweet tunes to bob along to, even if you keep dying like I did.
For those looking for accessibility options, Tallbeard added colourblind support to ensure that the four colours didn’t stop you from enjoying the platforming fun.
If you are a fan of hardcore platformers that make you pull your own hair out yet you can’t stop playing, this is definitely a title worth diving in to.
Note: Do be aware that the dualshock 4 controller issue I’ve highlighted many times before is present here, as the right stick is also able to control movement of the cube. Seek alternate controllers if possible, because a controller is definitely the best way to play this.
Infiniboss is an infinite survival jumping game created by Happy Frog Games, an indie dev based out of the USA. Players will pit themselves an ever changing boss-room in the hopes of scoring as many points before they are inevitably felled by it.
Using only two directional keys, a jump and a special, players will try to survive against this terrifying monstrosity for as long as possible. The moves will all originate from one of the five boxes, from lasers to projectiles to a combination of the two. The boxes will light up in a pink-ish colour to signal that they are the current attacking box, giving a slight heads-up before pelting the player.
The clever aspect is that while the box gives a fair warning, what exactly will appear is much more difficult to discern. The boss is constantly altering their moveset, so each box does not have a ‘set’ attack for the player to be aware of. The symbols on the boxes seem to give a small indication of what move may be coming, but further playthroughs are needed to solidify that theory.
Each move that is survived will give points, indicated at the top right. These points allow players to buy things from the shop, such as new character to play as. The starting character is just a simple dash, but other characters can allow for some strange special powers such as the Puppet above — this one allows for the player to switch between the two bodies to dodge the attacks. There are 8 in total to collect — although one of them is not much of a ‘character’ — with differing directives to give them their own unique flavour. Finding one that gels with a player’s style is crucial to getting as far as possible.
It’s a simple concept of survival, yet Infiniboss feels the same as Colour Jumper as it sucks you in to its repetitive yet addictive gameplay. The threat of moves being memorizable yet random keeps things fresh and exciting as you work towards your own point goals. There is no end to infinity, only as far as you are willing to go. If you love this style of arcade-esque games where the only limitation is your own involvement, then this might be a game worth trying out.
