Taste #8 - Gish (PC)

Gish

Developer: Cryptic Sea
Publisher: Chronic Logic, Stardock, Steam
Released: May 2004
Time played: 20 minutes

Notes:

• Indie title co-created by Edmund McMillen who went on to create Super Meat Boy, The Binding of Isaac and others.

Observations

• Bland. Some basic platform mechanics and physics combined to create a simple platform/puzzle game.


• Controls are simple with 4 direction buttons, buttons to turn sticky/slick/heavy, and a jump button. Activating these abilities took some getting used to, maybe partly because I'm so used to playing this kind of game with a gamepad rather than keyboard.


• The theme and art design really didn't appeal to me. Very bland palette and simply animation. Some fluidity in the movement of Gish himself, but the world is very lifeless.


• Couldn't keep going passed the first few levels.


• Interesting contrast with Super Meat Boy which I've played for 2 or 3 hours. I found the controls of that game much more comfortable and direct, and although it is another example of simple art design the presentation had more weight and character. I can see links between these games though, and it's interesting to see where a now well respected designer started. Good luck to him.