PixlBit

Puzzle-based platforming? I'm there.

Limbo is part of XBLA's Summer promotion, and definitely created a compelling effort on the show floor this year.

Players control a lone boy, who seems to be the only person around, all by himself, in large, dark, side-scrolling stages. Navigating through the game is largely trial-and-error based puzzle solving. In the demo available to play, any death resulted in a nearby respawn, and trust me: Everyone who played the game died often, due to the thought-provoking difficulty of the puzzles.

At one point, the boy runs into a large spider, garding a tree. The spider's legs are very sharp, and thusly, impaled the boy. On the next attempt, the player thought to push a bear trap in the path of the spider's legs, and after cutting one leg, he attempted to proceed once more. Again, the boy died. Only after this attempt did the player realize that four legs of the spider had to be cut before progress could be made.

In another part of the demo, this time one that was water-based, puzzles are more complex, and platforming requires quite a bit of accuracy. This time, I was playing. I quickly pulled a lever I found, which cut off the pathway of water running along the ground. As the water filled, it became clear the boy could easily drowned. I died, started over, and this time arranged a box to stand on, so I could float to a ladder that I couldn't reach before.

In the next area, after the ladder, there was another box, but this time, the box had a hole in it. What did that mean? The box would float until it filled itself with water. This meant I had to act quickly, and I actually failed to make the jump in the demo that was up on the show floor several times before a successful leap. Beyond this was an area where I had to slide a platform underneath a bouncing balloon or ball, then push the balloon over to stand on, as water filled the room. While I make it sound simple, realizing the mechanics and learning the pathway to manage further progression is difficult and compelling.

The game will be an interesting release over the summer, so keep your eye out for more about the puzzles and the difficulty. Personally, I think some Mega Man fans might like the game for the platforming, and see it as a cross-over game between platforming and puzzles, and might be one of the gems of XBLA this year.