The unnamed boy who walks the world of “Limbo” just can’t survive bear traps. Or electrocution. Or roving buzzsaws. Or being impaled on long thorns.
“Limbo” introduces our child hero to his demise in so many ways, it’s like the video game version of Edward Gorey’s “Gashlycrumb Tinies.” But the many fatalities in this platform-puzzler are not intended for comedy. Consider how the camera holds on the scene for a few seconds after you’ve made a fatal mistake. Imagine how different “Super Mario Bros.” would have felt if Mario had lain down and died instead of jumping into an implosion. “Limbo’s” approach drives home the consequences of death much better than spiritual predecessors “Flashback” and “Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey” did by taking away a life, as if keeping track of lives was the point of those games anyway.
With “Limbo,” Danish indie outfit Playdead has created a world that makes indisputable sense. Whether you’re dealing with pulleys or a giant spider, every situation demands that you think, and no situation pulls rabbits out of hats. “Limbo” is not for the impatient, but for those who enjoy mystery novels or “Zelda” puzzles, “Limbo” packs the best “aha” moments since “Take On Me.”
“Limbo’s” puzzles would be great presented in any form, but “Limbo” just happens to be the prettiest game since “Muramasa: The Demon Blade” hit Wii last year. The game is entirely in black and white, the boy a black silhouette with shining eyes. And the 2-D plane your character walks along is only the beginning, as Playdead gives us blurry hints of passing branches in the foreground, and a background of unprecedented depth, with passing glances at horrors you can’t be sure you didn’t just imagine.
A member of my household, immediately mesmerized as she glanced at the world of “Limbo,” said, “Are these side-view kinds of games coming back?” If they look anything like this, they deserve to.
And that’s nothing to say of what “Limbo” sounds like. The game is for the most part entirely silent, so when simple chords do chime, it’s incredibly powerful.
There are only two downsides to “Limbo.” The first is the perennial problem of Achievements, which, for the 10 guys who entered their actual initials into arcade games’ high-score lists, are a real thrill, but for everyone else, are disruptive reminders that the experience we’re having is not unique to us.
The second is length. “Limbo,” available for download on your Xbox, took me about six hours to complete, and will doubtless take others half that. Still, at $15, this game is many times better than most games that ask four times its price.
When it comes to setting the bar for downloadable titles, other games be nimble, other games be quick, other games go under “Limbo” stick.
