Suite: Pictures at an Exhibition

wonderfully odd little game. what you see in the trailer is what you get, you collect colored obstacles while dodging all else for the duration of the entire piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition (just over 30 minutes.) there is no way to die, getting hit just resets your progress towards the next bullet pattern, of which there are 88 in total, [strike]hence the otherwise-strange name of the game.[/strike] [i](Edit: the name of the game at the time of this review was 88 at an Exhibition)[/i] it's got its quirks. the portrait screen resolution makes the game [i]much[/i] harder, and getting a good full-game playthrough is decently difficult to begin with. the difficulty's also completely all over the place, there are some bizarrely hard patterns early on that thwart just about everything that gets thrown at you later on. there's also absolutely no text beyond the title screen, credits, and song transitions, which is a choice i don't personally dislike but you aren't ever told how to play the game (ignoring the trailer) or how to pause (enter key.) there is a readme file included in the game files, which helps, but i couldn't honestly tell you when the last time i had a readme file for a [i]game[/i] was. do people read game manuals these days? the game is good at teaching you its later mechanics without words but i do think it would benefit from an initial, quick, verbal tutorial. i'd say that's about all the issues i have with it though, [strike]besides the fact that it won't be available to be purchased anymore starting tomorrow. (eagerly looking forward to the remake!)[/strike] [i](Edit: looking forward to the update! glad to see it's staying!)[/i] even in midi form it does take you on a surprisingly expressive journey through the suite, with the varying gimmicks playing quite well into the music. i hadn't actually heard the suite in full prior to this, only being familiar with the opening and closing movement (both of which i adored,) and i'm pretty happy with this being my first exposure despite the lower music quality. it's very charming! if the latter half of the trailer looks like it'd be fun to play, then by all means buy the game before it's gone! the bullet patterns are creative and often fun to figure out and i'm sure you'd enjoy at least one playthrough.