Nimbus

 
Developer: Noumenon Games
Steam Release: Oct 2010
Hours Played: 3.3
Similar To: Colour Bind / Dustforce DX / JumpJet Rex / Storm In A Teacup / Tinertia
Rating: 5/5 Parsnips




GAMEPLAY
If you're a humble precision platformer and you don't go by the name of Super Meat Boy, it can be difficult to get any sort of recognition let alone acclaim. Contrary to popular belief there are other quality precisioners out there that don't involve propelling a hunk of meat around, one of which being the massively underrated but bright and beautiful, Nimbus. You control a spaceship whose movements rely solely on the help of various contraptions that lie around the landscape. These devices include: cannons; arrows that jet propel you; springy trampolines and wind tunnels - all of which can be interacted with to lead you in the direction you need to go. This, along with the extra momentum induced by gravity, is all the energy you need to get to the chequered blocks that indicate the finish.


BALANCE & PACE
As you progress, more interesting mechanics get introduced such as different coloured keys to unlock barriers, huge beach balls that block your way and lasers. Completing levels in the best time is all about trajectory, taking corners at the right angle along with trial and error. The ship has a light, airy feel, floats gracefully and is a joy to control as it leaves a subtle smoky trail. Restarting a level, which you'll do regularly, is immediate and done in a blink of an eye or as quick as pressing the R key - with no annoying load screens. Times are recorded to one-thousandth of a second and part of the fun is shaving off that fraction of a second and seeing your name rise up that leaderboard. There is an option to turn the ghost ship on to see how you compare with your previous best and you can also collect an elusive gold coin in each level.


PRESENTATION & DESIGN
A happy electronic tune is heard as you bounce off barriers, get fired out of cannons and jet-propel along one-way systems. This also mixes well with the sound-effects which are soft and light. Graphics are bright and clear but may look a little dated to some. Yet I think the presentation and animations suit the game well. Finishing is accompanied by a full and explosive, glittering sparkle. I'm not a fan of the map screen though as I'd rather see the levels mapped out in their entirety or presented as a chart rather than revealed bit by bit. The sparse start-screen gives you the basics with Settings taking you to a reasonable set of options to tweak but with one bizarre choice to click Clear that doesn't seem to do anything at all.



PROGRESS SYSTEM
The map-screen consists of a path of glowing cubes that signify each level. You scroll through these cubes with the arrow keys. Each shows your best time on the left hand side with a rank indicating where you stand. However, a screenshot or a distinct marker of the level would have been useful as it's easy to forget which is which. Personally, I don't like being kept in the dark regarding how much of the game is left to be completed. Although progress is recorded by way of blue and gold cubes appearing on a pathway, you are not given the full picture beyond that. Best times are recorded and stored in a user-friendly way and is as simple to refer to as selecting the relevant cube. As you improve your time, your name moves steadily up the rankings on the solid leaderboard table for that level and this is clearly a good way to show progress.

CONCLUSION
Nimbus is a joy to play and definitely gives titles like Super Meat Boy and Mutant Blobs Attack a run for their money. The ship handles in a gracefully flowing fashion and floats nicely around the environments, making the physics aspect of the game silky smooth. Players can get nerdy and choose to redo levels over and over to shave off those seconds or simply plough through the game by completing levels. You even have the option of collecting a total of 68 elusive coins if you wish to go that route as well. One of the few boxes Nimbus doesn't tick lies in the issue of the restrictive map-screen which doesn't keep the player as well-informed as I'd hoped. But with super-strong gameplay and great gimmicks to keep the player absorbed, this offering makes up for that big-time!