[h1]A David Lynch’s fragmented nightmare full of Kung-Fu poetry, constructed via the sampling of past retro-masterworks. Mixing [i][b]Prince of Persia[/b][/i] with [i][b]Mirror’s Edge[/b][/i], a Sega’s Master System color palette with NES tight controls, [i][b]Another World[/b][/i]’s influences with [i][b]Yie Ar Kung-Fu[/b][/i], a Radiohead inspired soundtrack with Bruce Lee’s awesomeness. A raised in the 80s kid’s warm dream that confirms Larry Stover as one of the most distinctive creators in the indie scene since Nicklas Nygren alias [i][b]“Nifflas”[/b][/i][/h1]
If [i]The Way of the Pixelated Fist[/i] would have been published in the early 90s, it would have become one of my favorite games as a child. With its wise combination of frames extracted from 80’s hallucinatory martial arts movies, mixed with all the elements that made me love videogames.
Its creator Larry Stover works with the same philosophy as a DJ, using a sampler structure to create remixes of old beloved classics with a contemporary approach.
The game takes a clear inspiration from influential cinematic plattformers like [i]Prince of Persia[/i] or [i]Another World[/i], but while you are doing almost impossible jumps through the city skyline, you can feel this same sense of awesomeness of being playing [i]Mirror’s Edge[/i]. Its color palette resembles past Sega’s Master System games, but the minimalist approach taken in its graphic design is used to create a relaxed mood that evokes Nifflas classics such as [i]Knytt[/i]. Its combat parts are a homage to Jordan Mechner’s first creation, [i]Karateka[/i], that was the precursor to [i]Prince of Persia[/i], but its tight and accurate controls are more close to Konami’s [i]Yie Ar Kung-Fu[/i]. There is jumping parts that requires the same millimetric precision as the original [i]Prince of Persia[/i], but its controls are so responsive as modern indie plattformers. There is automatic checkpoints in every new screen visited, but to save the game you need to access the menu, like in the old PC titles. Its graphic style suggest old 8 bits titles, but its soundtrack has a modern drum’n’bass tempo with a floating line of melancholic keyboards that looks at Thom Yorke’s solo works
You can feel this contrast and amalgam of influences also in its animations. The combats are inspired in classic Kung-Fu movies, so you can expect a lot of frames of animation, with every enemy infused with life and transmitting a constant sense of movement. But its jumping parts looks directly to contemporary deviations of the martial arts film genre, such as Ang Lee’s [i]Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon[/i] or Zhang Yimou’s [i]House of Flying Daggers[/i]. So these animations are intentionally static, with the main character floating suspended in the air.
But the most distinctive part of [i]The Way of the Pixelated Fist[/i] is its original reinterpretation of the cinematic term applied to videogames. Instead of drawing all the screen, [i]The Way of the Pixelated Fist[/i] opts for showing its world from a camera angle perspective. Like if every shot was filmed by an invisible fixed camera, an then mutilated in the editing room by a schizophrenic and highly experimental filmmaker. This aesthetic approach submerges the game in a distant halo of unreality. And seeing other past games from Larry Stover like [i]Samurai Jazz[/i], seems as a characteristic trait that surrounds an immense part of his works.
This fragmented visual approach creates one of the most controversial gameplay features in [i]The Way of the Pixelated Fist[/i]. Because all the city’s main map is connected in an illusory loop. And the mutilated film frames only serve to increase the confusion and disorientation in the player. Resulting in an experience similar to watch some of the most experimental movies by David Lynch, in the vein of [i]Mulholland Drive[/i] or [i]Inland Empire[/i]. With the concepts of time and space being heavily distorted.
Personally, in a game that lasts for 4 hours, I don’t dislike the idea of being an entire hour completely lost. There is something hypnotic in describing constant circles through the city while you are doing gravity defying jumps in this Larry Stover’s hallucination. And I really appreciate that he has dared to make a game with this level of personality, which is so far from all of its contemporaries.
Luckily, the 6 levels that we can access through the main map are single screen based and they use a lineal construction. Every set of chambers completely changes the focus of the gameplay. One set is based in the original [i]Prince of Persia[/i], using the same color palette and the same ground spike traps. Another set has a modern stealth approach, with robotic eyes that will shoot laser rays if they are able to detect us. And in its level structure, Larry Stover shows a lot of talent as a game designer. With a perfect difficulty curve not based in the frustration.
I feel so fascinated with [i]The Way of the Pixelated Fist[/i], that I can’t wait to discover the rest of the games created by Larry Stover. One of these rare artists that is able to sculpt unique and distinctive universes surrounding his games. And with a certain sense of coherence between his different works. Thanks to his postmodernist approach to the martial arts genre, taking influences from the Nouvelle Vague, from Tarantino’s reconstruction of classic genres or from the characteristic contemplative gaze found in Jim Jarmusch’s films.
[i]( The writer of this review is not an English native. So you should expect occasional grammar errors. I apologize in advance. )[/i]
