Furi

Release: 2016
Developer: The Game Bakers
Publisher: The Game Bakers
Genre: Action, Boss Rush, Bullet hell, 3rd person
Gameplay Stats: 4 hours, 18/33 achievements, evil ending

I know what you're thinking, "4 hours? I thought you tried to beat games before you reviewed them!" Well, I did beat this game. At least mostly. Let's get into the meat!

Visuals: This game uses a stylized, low poly, extremely colorful aesthetic. It looks phenomenal. I think since this was put out by an indie studio that the relatively simplistic graphics really let them put their effort into other aspects of the game. That's not to say that the game looks bad by any means, just it's simple looking. There is enough design in the environments for them to be striking, but not so much that they clutter up other parts of the game. They knocked it out of the park visually.

Audio: The music in this game is so good! I thought that after playing Nier: Automata it would be a while before I was wow'ed by a soundtrack and I was wrong. They chose a synthpop style of music for the game, with several different artists offering up various tracks. Think Hotline Miami. Pretty much every single track is very good, with several stages of buildup suited to the bosses also building in intensity. The tracks are fundamentally similar, but listening to them in the background now I know immediately which boss lines up with which song. They did a great job her as well.

Gameplay: This game is tight. And I mean that in the best possible way. The controls are very simple to remember, easy to implement, and they are predictable. When I made a mistake I was accutely aware that the mistake was my own. It wasn't the game being weird or wonky, but I was being weird and wonky. The game is a series of boss fights with some exposition and walking between them. The walking segments are a little odd since you can't control the camera, but there is an auto-walk if you want to use it. It seems like this is paced pretty well for you to listen to the exposition in the game with a little bit of time to marvel at the scenery. I didn't much care for the walking breaks, but the fights were very well done.

Plot: This is far and away the weakest part of the experience. You start the game in prison with no clear motive apart from escaping the prison. To do so you have to defeat a series of prison guards in combat. You are followed by a narrator type character in a bunny hat, but he often speaks in vague statements without directly answering much. With a bit of assumption and creativity I think I know what happened, but I won't know for sure. It feels like the game was over-written to the point of being a little grating. I checked my phone while the auto-walk carried me between fights.

Overall this game was a joy to play! I might very well play through again now that I have a better understanding of the controls and how to maximize some of the damage to bosses. I'm not looking forward to the walking segments, but the rest is absolutely fantastic. [8.5/10]