Spirits

Developer: Spaces Of Play
Steam Release: Feb 2012
Hours Played: 2
Similar To: Clones / Flockers / Zombie Night Terror
Rating: 2/5 Parsnips



GAMEPLAY
Although classed as a miscellaneous title, Spirits is a logical puzzle game in spirit with the classical Lemmings game of old. However, it is a much softer and more gentle game that doesn't bring with it the anxiety or frantic feelings that Lemmings may have induced. 'Tis a great game to mull over with a glass of fine red wine. Veterans of Lemmings who would like a more peaceful and less complicated version of the game would fully appreciate this title. Your "lemmings" in this case are spirits or sprites that look like delicate white mushrooms with legs. They emerge from their base, one by one, and set off purposefully within a silhouetted-type landscape. Their goal, while overcoming dead-ends and deadly spikes, is to arrive at a whirling portal to be lifted away to freedom. 


BALANCE & PACE
Your job is to save a set amount by issuing them orders by left-clicking on them and choosing one of four abilities which appear as icons in a semi-circular menu. Unlike the madness of Lemmings these abilities are very simple: blow, dig, build or turn into a fluffy ball and roll and expand. The blow, dig and build ability also asks you to initiate a direction with a secondary menu but you can pause the game while carrying these orders out. The strategy comes in anticipating where the spirits will end up by combining these abilities and without allowing too much loss of life. The fact that, without orders, they just blindly walk forward like fearless zombies adds to the challenge. Helped by a delicate soundtrack of a light tinkering harp and soothing sound effects along with its well-pitched difficulty, the game turns out to be quite a relaxing experience.


PRESENTATION & DESIGN
Developed originally as a mobile game, Spirits does not beat around the bush with its plain and simple yet rock solid menu screens. With soft orange and blue hues, you get a simple main-menu design with five self-explanatory paths. In the main game itself, the orange, blue and black colour scheme is prominent throughout. Black is used for the rocky landscape and cavernous walls of caves in the foreground while the orange and blues are used for the ubiquitous sunsets in the background. This contrasts with the bounding spirits that glitter and glow in pure white. 

 

PROGRESS SYSTEM
Hit Select Level from the main menu and you're taken to a list of 46 levels which you can scroll through using the mouse wheel or arrow keys.You may see five levels at a time and of those you have completed you can view how many spirits you saved and how many you need to save if you wish to complete the level perfectly. There are also small plants dotted around the landscape of each level and as an extra challenge you can collect these as well. Amount of plants collected and how many needed for perfection is also shown. Likewise, for the hardcore, the level-select screen displays the total spirits and the total plants collected for the entire game plus the total needed for perfection as well. And if that's not enough, how about a world rank for each level and a total world rank for the game! 

CONCLUSION

Spirits is a toned-down, simple-man's Lemmings with a calm zen-like atmosphere that encourages the player to take things easy. The actions of the spirits themselves are even done in a calm, matter-of-fact way. The blow ability has the spirit turning into a cloud and puffing out little fluttering sparkles of light which the other spirits float on while the build and dig abilities are done in a laid-back manner. Also, with the sound of the harp and a delicate soundtrack tinkling in the background, not to mention the soft tones of the sound-effects, this really is a game to take your time over - and a good job it does in assisting us to do it that too!