Finally, accessing one of these only to find out you need that power is quite disheartening. This comes into play a lot, so you’ll always want to make sure you’re powered up. This makes you look all Tron-like, and hitting the X button passes the spirit power onto the mural. It’s used to activate stones, murals, and such that unlock new areas, but it needs to be powered up by “barking” in front of blue flowers. Second, one of the continuing puzzle elements in Spirit of the North is the mystical power provided by the spirit fox. You have to specifically select the new chapter in order to start there. Curiously, if you do make the next chapter and quit, then select continue when you next start up the game, you’ll be returned to your last auto-save in the previous chapter. First, you can’t determine when to save your game, so you’ll be returned to your last auto-save if you quit before reaching the next chapter. Getting to that area only to find I didn’t have what I needed more than once prompted me to quit the game. The controls allow you to slow down the fox to make this a bit easier, but there were still times when I had to attempt tricky leaps nearly a dozen times to land them. It’s a bit harder, however, when you need to calm the beast to line up and time jumps to access out-of-the-way areas. As we learned from games such as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Okami, controlling a lithe, four-legged animal is surprisingly fun. When you’re running through the countryside, taking in all of the game’s visual splendor, the effect is rather cool. This is mainly a linear tale with environmental puzzles to solve in order to access the next area.Ĭontrolling the fox through these areas is fun and frustrating in turn. There are times in the game when the environment opens wide around you, but exploring it all provides little reward. Visual cues tell you where to go: sweeping camera shots, your spirit fox guide, a red trail in the sky. So, the purpose of it all is to get from point A to point B. Everything you know and learn is pulled from the game’s wordless cutscenes and puzzle elements. Maybe you’re just being guided towards something by a spirit fox who, according to the game’s description, is the “guardian of the Northern Lights.” Spirit of the North gives you no setup and no dialogue throughout the game. Throughout this entire puzzle adventure, you play as a nameless fox wandering-or, more accurately, searching the landscapes of Iceland for…something. But who knows? Maybe that’s just the way it is for a fox. This creates a somewhat disjointed experience.
In parts, that’s by design, but in other parts, it’s by accident. Spirit of the North is the type of adventure game in which you could get lost. A calming, occasionally frustrating journey through Nordic folklore.
0 kommentar(er)
