One trend I have notice lately is the “modern retro” style that many indie developers are getting into. I feel that it’s like killing two birds with one stone. You appeal to the retro crowd with the nostalgia factor. You also appeal to the casual newcomers to the world of indies, ones who don’t want to play old games but feel that if a game has modern mechanics is not retro, at least that is what I think. Now we have V.O.I.D. (VOID) which feels like a blend between old and new with some clear nods to some of the all time classics, but nostalgia is not enough to win players over.
In VOID you play as either Alpha or Omega, they are known as PLOIDS, sounds really familiar, and their job is to collect shards of a powerful stone scattered through different time periods and places on earth. This is done while fighting against aliens that want the same shards to ultimately conquer the earth. This is the story in a nutshell. Some examples of the places and locations you visit are the deserts of Egypt or feudal Japan. What makes VOID interesting is, that depending the PLOID you choose, the gameplay changes. If you play with Alpha the game plays like your standard platformer, her movement speed is good, she has a double jump, and like a world famous plumber she jumps on top of enemies to defeat them. This is the mode to play for those who like to speedrun or that want a classic platformer feel to the game. Playing with Omega things change his speed is not good, although he has more energy and carries a blaster for a classic run and gun feel to the game; it feels kind of like a blue bomber of sorts. The routes you take in the game vary depending on the PLOILD you choose so it keeps the gameplay somewhat fresh.
My main concern with VOID is that, while it had good ideas, the execution of them is where it faltered. First off, you only have 5 lives and no continues, so in order to get to the end of the game you need mad skills to make those 5 lives count. In the case of Alpha is a bit easier due to her double jump, but with Omega you start to see that his design choices were not thought through. Because his jump is less than stellar, I had several instances in which jumping from the last possible pixel of the edge, to get to the last platform still wasn’t enough to get to the other side. While he has a wall jump, it serves no purpose, because you can only wall jump once, so if you are not high enough you won’t make it and you’ll fall into the pit and lose a valuable life. While you can get more lives as you progress, it sets the difficulty too high without any reason to do so.
Another oversight that I found is the lack of save data, so if you die without beating a world, you start again as if you just booted the game for the first time. The only thing the game offers is a password system of sorts. If by any chance, you lose all of your lives but you have beaten some worlds, you can continue from the beginning of the next stage. However, the issue with passwords is that they are not letter or number coded but instead color coded, meaning that you move your character to a series of colored portals, and when you get the right combination, you continue the game. However, instead of being novel it’s outright tedious.
Graphically the game looks good with the pixel art being well done, and each of the locations where you play, reminds me of Mario Bros., Megaman, and even Ninja Gaiden. The music is passable but is not something that I was hyped for, but it fulfilled its purpose at least.
Bottom Line, V.O.I.D is a game that had really good ideas but that it couldn’t put those ideas in a way that feels more rewarding for the player. If you are one that thrives in adversity and love hard as nails platformers you will feel right at home here. Inversely for the more casual crowd out there, this is a game you should avoid.
A Review code was provided for this review.