Outland

« Outland is an outstanding game, easily one of the best examples of its genre to emerge on the console download services. I think it's a far better, more dynamic game than something more single-minded style-over-substance games such as Limbo or Braid. »

« It's a visually striking game, combined with a beautiful soundtrack and challenging platforming and the pacing of the new abilities and moments between boss fights is pretty well executed. »

« Ultimately, Outland harks back to a time before celebrity voice-overs and glossy cutscenes, before the industry exploded into the multi-billion-dollar behemoth it is nowadays. It's straight-forward but intelligent, occasionally bastard-hard but never impossible, repetitive but never tedious and, though Outland might not make much sense story-wise, it more than delivers in every other department. »

« Outland is fast, it's fluid, it's unbelievably gorgeous, and it's got some of the finest level and boss design I've seen in a long time. If you fondly remember the days of sitting down in front of your NES or Mega Drive or Amiga with a new platformer, or if you recall Flashback, Strider, Castlevania, Metroid, Ninja Gaiden, or anything else I've name-dropped in this review, you shouldn't hesitate to pick this up immediately. »

« You could easily fill an entire review with the grocery list of games from which Outland cribs its gameplay elements -- Ubisoft's own marketing specifically calls out Ikaruga and Prince of Persia as "inspirations," for heaven's sake. But doing so seems unnecessarily reductive to me, because Outland manages to take those "inspirations" and create something that feels like genuine innovation. »

« A masterful game that grasps players from the start and doesn't let go until the final battle. »

« Both unique and well-developed and will leave you wanting more. If the seven-hour main campaign isn't enough, you can go back and play any number of Outland's inspirations. »

« One of the best downloadable titles of 2011 offers beautiful visuals and atmospheric andventuring, reminiscent of classics such as Super Metroid and Ikaruga. [May 2011] »

« Outland is my favorite platformer. Familiar mechanics and novelty are correctly balanced. The art style stays fresh throughout the game. »

« Nice pure action puzzle driving gameplay in 2D, progressive challenging areas. »

« C'est une habitude récurrente chez Ubisoft que d'éditer quelques étrons indés, histoire de faire "bien" dans leur ludographie et de ramener vers eux les très habituels haineux des gros produits triple A de la firme à l'insu de l'ignorance de ces joueurs très égarés. Ainsi ce Outland en est la preuve la plus flagrante -parmi tant d'autres- lui et sa 2D 256 couleurs et ses phases obsessionnelles de plate-formes complètement nazes, lesquelles feraient presque mourir de honte Nintendaube et ses marioles moustachus. Le "produit" est ici sous-traité par quelques débilos qui feraient mieux de faire cuistots chez Macgerbal que de nous affliger de leur hommage à quelque vieille merde des années 80. »

« Outland may borrow from a great many games but it still manages to feel innovative and refreshing. The platforming is great, the levels were magnificently designed, the puzzles are fun. The game has charm and is visually very impressive. Any fan of 2D platformers should pick this up. »

« Let me start out by saying that Outland is absolutely beautiful. The art direction is fantastic, in fact that was what hooked me into this game. But then the gameplay is just kind of... meh. The whole dark/light color mechanic is interesting, though I have seen it used in other games. The developers made some good puzzles using this mechanic, however combat against enemies is either extremely easy or annoying and frustrating. Often times they try to mix the light/dark platform puzzles and with combat and the result is a hectic mess. I also found the boss fights more to be tests of patience than any sort of challenge involving the skills you learn in each level. The final boss is particularly frustrating. For me, it all kind of boils down to one big problem, the game just isn't that fun. I have chipped away at this game over the months since it came out because I would play, lose interest and then think, "Oh yeah, that Outland game was pretty cool," only to play again and be reminded of why I still have not finished this game. It's still worth checking out for the art direction alone, and hey, maybe you may find something in Outland that I could not. »

« Outland was unexpected. As a platform, it's entertaining. It's beautiful. But it's also limited by a very familiar pattern. As far as platforming goes, that's not necessarily a problem so long as it progresses to fruition. By this, I mean the story must offer something to fill in the gap between the simplistic shift between red and blue. While there is an arc and purpose, it's little more than the archetypal fight monsters = saving the world. There's innovation, but it's limited to artistry rather than playability and story. While fun and stylish, Outland peaked my interest in traditional platformer without reinventing the wheel. It's more like they put shiny new spinners on that old wheel we're all used to. »

« I currently have to look for something to complain about since this game is purely epic, nearly flawless. Outland brings some nice 2-D platforming and some great combat and blends them with the using of dark and light similar to Ikaruga. The art style is just beautiful and the price is pretty low and the sound and music are beautiful too. When you are looking for an amazing arcade game at a cheap price this is completely worth it and should be played by everyone. »

« A nice play on the Ikaruga mechanic in a platformer with good controls and interesting level design. The boss battles are absolutely a blast and feel much more rewarding than the rest of the game itself. The main gripe I have with the game is it seems like every three screens there is a checkpoint. A lot of the time I was tempted to simply ignore bullet patterns altogether and just rush to the next checkpoint. If you are expecting a challenge on the level of the even moderately hard bullet hell shmup, than this is probably not the game for you. If you want a more than solid platformer with an interesting new mechanic throw in than I would recommend giving this game a shot. »