Ophidian Wars: Opac’s Journey – An Xbox Indie Game Review

Developer: SmallCaveGames
Genre: Platformer
Game Rating: Unrated
Countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States
Players: 1
Custom Soundtracks
Price:  80 Microsoft points.

Developer Summary:

As Opac, you will will climb, blast, glide, and dash through an ancient network of caves. Search for six hidden relics that unlock new abilities, and collect roots to upgrade them. Think you can platform? See if you can reach the surface to fulfill Opac’s Journey!

What We Think:

Journey from the Center of the Universe

Buried deep in the center of the…. perhaps maybe just “a”… planet, there lives an ancient race called the VOS, a slumbering tribe that have been awoken by a disturbance on the surface, and as such they have called forth Opac, a dark hero with a fate that is not quite known to him. Spurred on by the cryptic disembodied messages of these unknown mystics, Opac is called forth to ascend from the depths of an endless expanse of caves so that he may reach the surface and realize his destiny.

Much like the protagonist, the story itself seems to be born in shadow and acts more as a precursor to upcoming titles in the series rather than an actual story itself. As you progress through the twisted trail of caves small hints about the VOS themselves and even other characters whose paths you will eventually cross are revealed, but none of it ever see’s the light of day (yes…. again… pun intended… because they’re in a cave…) . Consider this a prologue to possible upcoming titles filled with enticing enigmas and prolific possibilities.

But the real question: Should this shadowy soldier see the sun, or should he just stay buried?

Tunnel Vision

First off, this is a pretty, almost picture perfect nod to earlier platformers that may have been seen on systems like the NES and even early Sega Genesis titles. Where it’s background design and tile sets seem to be set in the style of Early NES (sparse, simple and repeated), the character sprite (yes there’s only one character) and animations are advanced enough that they would seem right at home in a first generation Sega Genesis titles. I felt like I was caught in a weird time-warp between Castlevania I and Castlevania Bloodlines, which is by no-means a complaint. Ophidian Wars: Opac’s Journey is really one of the first games that I’ve played in a while that managed to mimic the early style of those games all while managing to maintain a graphical motif of their own.

That being said I would like to have seen as much originality put into the level design (aesthetically, not structurally) as there was into the character sprite. There are different surface tiles, and different colors assigned to the various stages of the caves, but a few more background touches would have helped to mould and differentiate the environment a little more.

Opac himself looks fantastic though; a solid cross between Ring-Wraith and beetle, there’s a definite believability in both his look and his animations. He runs, glides and strides with tremendous style and while calling him a beetle may seem like an odd decision, it’s actually a perfect persona choice for a character being summoned from the depths of the earth, which could add greatly to the upcoming story if I am in fact correct.

Complete with gorgeous concept and box-art, an elegantly animated character and thoroughly welcomed nostalgic nuances, graphically there’s nowhere for this series to go but up. I’m sure as the developers manage to flesh out their story a little further in future iterations, we’ll see a much more grandeur game with increased variety, but seeing as the game retails for only a dollar it makes sense that the production values currently seem light. I would like to suggest that they keep working in the 2d realm as well even if they do plan on pushing into the 3d world.

And though music and sound effects don’t shine as brightly as the graphics, they are by no means an afterthought. The music creates a tense but driving atmosphere while the few sound effects used do well to develop the subterranean environment and don’t take anything away from the overall feel.

I Don’t Want to Say Metroidvania But…

Okay… I guess I can’t really help it, but this game does clearly take a nod or two from the game play of early platformers such as Metroid or Castlevania, but really only in the exploratory sense as there is actually no combat to be found in the game.

You begin the game with the bare minimum of abilities, you can run and jump… That’s. About. It. But as you traverse the small portion of cave which is initially available, you’ll come across ancient relics (offered to you by the VOS) which will give you new abilities. The abilities boil down to 6 different categories: the ability to glide slowly, Cling to walls, extend your view in any direction (a good way to scope the current level you’re on), blow up crumbling parts of walls, double jump and lastly gain a burst of speed when you walk over a certain plant. You can also find roots scattered about the various caverns which allow you to upgrade your newly acquired attributes, some upgrades are vital such as boosting your ability to cling to walls up to the very handy talent of being able to climb straight up them.

All the various skills you learn are quite helpful and you’ll notice after awhile that the gaps don’t seem quite so treacherous and before long you’ll be bounding about with little concern. Though a noticeable augmentation of character features in a game is a welcome addition, in this game it’s both a blessing and a curse.

First the blessing: This is clearly a game that has been carefully laid out. If there is one thing that this game excels at in terms of game play design, it’s the flow. Platforms are placed just so, so that you have exactly the right amount of time from landing on one surface to jumping to the next. This is definitely a plus as there are few indie platformers I’ve played that get this aspect right, and it is much more of a talent that people realize. Also you will know exactly which direction you will have to head in once you have acquired new powers, and though you are buried deep beneath the surface of the earth, you never really feel lost.

Now the Curse: Though the platforming feels great, once it becomes too easy this game offers little else to hold your attention. There are no enemies to vanquish, and there is literally nothing else to impede your progress as you barge towards the surface.

On top of that it seems as though the skills you attain may be a little too powerful. Of the 6 Skills that you are able to acquire I needed only 5 of them to actually finish the game. I completely bypassed the “dash” ability and was still able to surmount the game’s final time-based challenges (though just barely) in only one attempt per challenge, which sadly made the otherwise enthralling exploration feel oddly anti-climactic.

I can ignore the lack of combat (though I think it would add a little more to the mythos behind the game), but when a game is a dedicated “exploration-platformer” you should definitely have to use all of your abilities to explore it fully. I also have to note that I wasn’t able to pick up the “dash” relic due to what seemed to be a bug of some sort, I found the relic however when I walked over it nothing happened. If there are some stipulations involved in acquiring abilities the designers would do well to let you know what they are.

Also the game crashed as soon as the final credits were done, which isn’t really a big deal but something that could stand to be fixed.

At the end of the tunnel…

When all is said and done, this is a game well deserving of its miniscule one dollar price tag. I’ve paid triple for indie games that didn’t contain a fraction of the style, swagger or skill that’s been put into this brief but beautiful platformer. It’s over quickly, but for the most part, it’s deftly crafted.
Though some more care could have been taken with the necessity of each upgrade, and some light combat elements would have been the cherry on top, there’s more than enough game here to justify taking this inexpensive underworld excursion.

There’s definitely light at the end of this tunnel.

Rating: