There are exemplary casual games, such as [url=steamcommunity.com/id/atisz2/recommended/356570]Party Hard[/url] which often use a simple, but original idea in a (relatively) well-executed manner, can be played any time in short sessions and are - obviously - highly enjoyable. [i]Waveform[/i] is one such game.
It's uniqueness quickly shows right at the start: instead of controlling our little particle directly, we set its path with the movement of our mouse. As simple as it may sound, the wave/oscilloscope can't be stopped - only extended and narrowed - and must be continuous, while we must avoid objects, such as dark matter, space mines, asteroids and monsters even.
The definition "easy to learn, difficult to master" heavily applies here and while playing it through shouldn't cause any problem at all, if we plan on earning all the extra achievements, we are going to have a nearly impossible task ahead of us... not that it makes the game any more appealing.
We play as a single particle of light travelling through the Solar System (from Pluto to the Sun - although it would make more sense the other way around) collecting all source of light in the galaxy along the way. Halfway through each last level of every planet (Saturn's asteroid belt is counted separately) however we must flee from the Singularity, that consumes everything.
While holding down the left mouse button (RMB pauses the game) moving it upwards increases the length of the wave, downward flattens it; while horizontal movement increases and decreases the number of waves. Diagonal movement obviously combines the 2. While it may be not be clear in written form, during the game it should become obvious after a while as we are adjusting the amplitude and frequency.
But it's not just about collecting light orbs and avoiding obstacles: as we progress through the Solar System, each planet adds a new variety of elements/obstacles or even environments (like distorted view, making our job harder setting the path) which all add refreshing elements that alter our experience. These are introduced to us (along with some backstory) at the beginning of new levels.
The most important element (after the light orbs which we have to collect, of course) is a power-up, the "ring of light", which has multiple purposes: not only does it provide extra 'life' (upon collision we lose a ring - and sadly nearby lights as well), but as we absorb its colour, it also adds extra points for collecting similar coloured light (blue, green, red) AND amongst other things allows us to pass through matching coloured obstacles unharmed. We can collect up to 4 of these, so with the basic ring we have we have 5x lives/multipliers. Warning: asteroids reduce our rings to 1, not matter how many we have.
It's important to mention that only matching colours add up, so picking up a different coloured ring restarts the number of rings from 2.
Later on we can collect "orbitals" (which also serve as lives) and they don't affect the colour of our rings of light - so it's possible to pass through all coloured (not the dark ones!) obstacles...
After completing a level, we get a 1-10 star rating, based on how many light orbs we collected - we get 10 for collecting 100% of the light orbs + we also need to warp through the exit portal of the level, which moves up and down. This is not just for show however, as only by possessing enough stars (we get 3 stars for every achievement we earn as well) can we unlock new planets and gain access to their individual levels.
Each planet consists of ~7-8 levels, where the last of each one involves the singularity chase: if we don't collide with obstacles (therefore lose speed) AND we pick up those fuel canisters with a radioactive symbol on them along the way, it won't catch up with us, but these stages are usually harder, filled with more hazardous objects than usual.
Additionally each planet has a moon, which functions as an extra bonus level and a deep space mode, a randomly generated, endless, score-chaser version with the special elements of the given planet (and of some previous ones). There are also hidden, secret levels that can be accessed through black holes, usually located at hard-to-reach areas.
If we browse through the achievements we quickly notice how the hardest ones all have a fixed value percentage next to them, meaning most of the people have used downloaded saves to unlock these. It's no surprise however, since [i]Waveform[/i] is probably one of the hardest games on Steam in this aspect - [b]IF[/b] we'd like to unlock all of them, which includes collecting every single light orb on every single level of each planet and there’s always a couple of orbs towards the end that narrowly escape...
But to the games credit, it's always fair since everything is set (except for deep space mode oviously): each obstacle, including the moving ones are fixed, there are no random events.
The controls are great, despite the unconventional methods, but the maximum number of waves is limited to 8, which may seem enough, but at times I felt it hard to adjust the path reacting to the quickly changing environment - even with mouse sensivity set to very high.
Pausing the game might seem like a good idea to plan a difficult navigation ahead of us, but in reality it isn't: it breaks the pace and we'll probably end up doing more harm, than good.
Graphicswise the game is pretty in its category: it has an appealing, clean look with lots of colourful elements, visual effects and the dark, cold space in the background - along with the actual planet peacefully floating within.
The music fits perfectly, deploying simplistic, but relaxing electronic tunes which are impossible not to like - switching to a hectic pace when we are chased by the singularity. The sound effects are similarly great: surprisingly clear, high-quality, either subtle (picking up light orbs or changing course) or robust (asteroid collisions, exposions) ones.
Unfortunately the game tends to crash from time to time, usually during loading, but since it always starts from windowed mode, it's easy to close and restart + the individual levels are quite short (except for deep space mode), so it's not that annyoying.
Also the checkpoint in the middle of the level isn't really a save, so if we die and restart from there, we do so without rings and orbitals, sometimes making it impossible to escape from the singularity, thus this feature is pretty much useless.
[i]Waveform[/i] while deploying the same concept throughout its ~100 levels, avoids becoming repetitive due to the numerous new elements - that heavily affect gameplay - each planet introduces. It's only as hard as we want it to be and even that basic little story it has works well enough.
PROS
+ unique idea where we control a wave, rather than our 'character' directly
+ lots of innovative objects to which we have to adapt
+ pleasant graphics
+ great music and sound effects
+ relaxing
CONS
- minor crashes
- control while seems fair, is sometimes restricting
RATING
7.5/10
