Boson X

Developer: Ian MacLarty & Jon Kerney
Steam Release: Sept 2014
Hours Played: 1.1
Similar To: The Collider / Cosmophony / TEC 3001 / Unpossible / Velocibox
Rating: 4/5 Parsnips

GAMEPLAY
It may have started with our journey out of the womb but let's face it - we're all fascinated with trips through tunnels. Like many, my most memorable impression of this was the swirly opening sequence to Dr Who back in the 1970s. Mix this with freaky music that gave you nightmares and you knew you were on the way to something mysterious yet terrifying. Well with a swirling endless tunnel combined with intense and freaky music, suggesting something trippy in itself, Boson X steps up to the plate. It may not be terrifying but, for a mobile port, will certainly be something that will hold your focus. Running is constant and like Bastion, the Boson X 10-sided tunnel is continually constructed with unfurling planks opening up in front of you as you tear along the central platform at the bottom of the screen. 

BALANCE & PACE
The camera is in third-person view tracking behind you so you see the placements unfold as you run. Your job is to leap onto the safety of the planks with short or extended leaps avoiding a drop into the abyss. Each sideways jump rotates the tunnel and you score by spending as much time as possible running on the blue platforms and avoiding the red ones which raises the planks causing jumps to be more difficult. Hit 100% and you're warped through a bright light speeding up the game. Like most games of this nature many quick deaths will ensue early on and although you'll find it relatively easy to hit the 100% mark on the first level or two, blue planks are hard to come by on the later levels and with even more brutal speed and fiendish obstacles in your way, it's hard to get even half-way close to 100%.

PRESENTATION & DESIGN
Boson X has made it to the PC via the mobile route and it's easy to see why it was successful. It is a very small download with environments being simple and made up of very few plain colours. With the streaky background being drawn in barely three colurs, detail is not a huge priority but its simplicity is effective enough. Unfortunately, use of the Xbox controller proved inconsistent when navigating menus. The Return key and Escape key worked on the keyboard but there was no equivalent of these with the controller. In the actual game jumping is exclusively done with the left-stick. Finally, sound-effects are sparse with the main highlight being the electronic dribbly sound while running on a blue plank and the sizzling sound from the sparks. With the decent music it is a game crying out to be played on headphones.     

PROGRESS SYSTEM
On starting the game you're given the choice of playing three characters. With nothing to distinguish between how they play, their differences are merely cosmetic. Clicking a character will then take you to three boxes named SMAC, DERC and ASPA which are referred to as research facilities but in reality are nominal terms for the levels of difficulty. Each one of these has six unlockable levels which also go by the name of seemingly random letters. For good measure, these are given names of terms used in the advanced science of space. As you unlock each one, it displays your high-score in the form of a percentage. Advancement through these is anything but swift. Finally, scroll along to the Rank section on the home page and you can view your score and global rank for each of these levels. 

CONCLUSION

Yep, we know, the through-a-tunnel concept has been done to death not least with loads of similar and relatively unknown titles such as Dyad, Fotonica and The Collider not to mention those that have positively evolved the genre like Distance, TEC 3001 and Unpossible. Yet with its simple concept, instant restarts, zero load-screen count and that all important "one-more-try" call that comes from your inner voice while playing, Boson X has enough to certainly put it ahead of the former group of three mentioned above. For the average player or for mere mortals like myself, I think the game could have been a little more forgiving (not to say been more generous with laying blue planks) in the middle stages of the first difficulty setting or even early in the second level. Nevertheless, at such a rock-bottom price, it's hard to let this one pass.