Platform games are not something I tend to think about, in my youth, my days were filled with bouncing plumbers, blue hedgehogs, loveable yet acerbic cats, and round-headed aliens called Zool. Now, I tend to think of large sprawling epic rpgs, or micro-managing city simulations. Thankfully, there are still huge amounts of people who do think of platform games, as the genre is still going, strong as ever. Effie a puzzle platformer released on the PS4 is proof of that. Created by Inverge Studios, Effie is a game that tells the tale of Galand and his quest to rid himself of his curse.
You play as Galand, telling the story of”¦ well, himself. Galand is a warrior, he’s rather arrogant and makes the rather unfortunate mistake of turning away a woman who was in need. Turns out, that woman was in fact a witch who cursed Galand to be trapped in the body of an old man. Not overly terrible in itself as it turns out even as an old man, Galand is rather spry, but this witch is a bit of megalomaniac and that’s the type of person you don’t want to have a grudge with you.
Galand, who’s
looking for a way to restore his youth, is told by the elders that they will
help him in return for his help in getting rid of Melira the witch, and the
dark gems she used to control the monsters and create large choking vines of
death.
Once you
get to the Effie gameplay itself, it’s a fairly standard affair of jumping to
get yourself across the various obstacle strewn landscapes, and using your
shield and all the skills you can use with it to help you do this and not
succumb to the nasty monsters along the way.
At the
start of Effie you have a light and heavy attack, but as you progress through
the game you get hold of a double-jump, an earthquake drop, a dash and a
boomerang attack.
The enemies
themselves range from small goblinesque monsters, to large troll like goliaths.
Some will swarm you, others may throw knock-down bombs at you, or swing a
massive club at you which does nothing to improve your day. Outside of these nasties, there are still
large gaping chasms, and stretches of water to fall to your death or drown in,
so the opportunities to harm yourself are plentiful.
Luckily the
landscape is strewn with gems, which will restore your health and stamina pools
and fill an experience meter. Honestly, not really sure what this experience
does, I assume it increases your health pool or damage but haven’t really
noticed anything. Though, for the completists there is a 100% gem collection achievement
you can go for.
There are five chapters in the game, and for each one you have to solve the various puzzles in order to find a set of keys. They’re a kind of Simon Says type deal in most cases, so not too taxing. Once the puzzles have all been done, you can move on to the next area. There are too few chapters, in my opinion but the ones you do have are well designed and fun to play through.
Effie is
bright and colourful, and very much in the style of the old platform games of
the 90’s and early 2000’s. Where even the villains are created in a fairly
happy palete. The animations are smooth, and the enemies are distinct enough. It’s
not going to blow you away with photo-realism but it’s nothing more than is
required for a game like Effie.
Most of the
difficulty is found within certain timings. Sure, the monsters hurt but they’re
not that much of a problem. I found that most of the time, I died by way of a
poorly timed jump, or being knocked off the edge by a bomb or a knockdown or
something. The general progression of the game was at a good pace, and never
felt like I was gliding through it or stuck on one point for too long.
One thing
worth of note is that there lies a lot of extra content and side quests in
Effie, right before you get to the final battle with Milena. Opting to take a
little more time and explore, will open a load more things for you to do. There’s
side-quests, runes and plenty of hidden things for you to find.
Effie is
available on the PS4 as a digital release only on the European and
American Playstation Store, for £19.99 / $19.99.
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Jim Franklin
Jim Franklin is a freelance writer, living in Derby UK with his wife and his player 3. When time allows he likes nothing more than losing himself in a multi-hour gaming session. He likes most games and will play anything but prefers MMO's, and sandbox RPG's.
