I can feel the rising tension. My muscles are primed, my gaze fixed, as I watch the almost hypnotic pattern of the swinging blades. Back and forth, back and forth they swing, giant circular saws attached to thin cables – enough of them to form a wave pattern that you sometimes see when you put a Newton’s Cradle into motion. I watch the pattern for a few more seconds, assessing my movement speed with their rhythmic motion. There! Launching myself off the platform, I jump and flip and land upon a strange, blue, translucent diamond which pulses, flashing red and propelling me up into the air again. Landing on the diamond again isn’t an option, one shot is all it gives you before it becomes insubstantial for several seconds. However, I’m already moving. That bounce from the diamond allows me to forward flip, past the first deadly blades, onto a second diamond. One more diamond, two more sets of blades and a mad air-dash later, I’m on the relative safety of a moving platform. Catching my breath as it ascends, I take a moment to take in the grim vista that stretches before me: several more sets of swinging blades, more bouncing diamonds, and several oblong structures festooned with lethal spikes, and circular saws zipping up and down, just for added measure. And somewhere, at the end of all that is my goal. Welcome to Blue Fire.
Blue Fire is a modern take on the classic 3D platformer, and a very good one at that. Set in the strange land of Penumbra, players take control of the short and cute Warrior of Shadow and Light. (Or is it Light and Shadow? Either way sounds cool.) With a cast of peculiar characters, a gigantic floating castle, and a dark god bent on destroying all life, this is a good example of just what you can do with a computer if you’re not that concerned about reality, and especially if you’re using a genre which lends itself to it. While there is exploration, combat, and a bit of interaction with the world’s characters, this game remains firmly about platforming: the heady experience of leaping from one surface to another, popular ever since Mario introduced the world to animated characters that went ‘boing!’ when you hit the right button. (Actually, before he became Mario and specialized in cleaning evil turtles and carnivorous plants out of oversized sewerage systems, he was actually called ‘Jumpman’. ‘Mario’ is definitely better.)
To this end, the game has taken a good look at the rules of physics, and very wisely told them to go hop. Walls nonsensically float in mid-air. Platforms guide through one another or mysteriously float above lava (yes, in some instances, the floor literally is lava). Floating cubes react to the slightest touch, quivering, then opening and dumping any unfortunate who happens to be standing on them to their doom. And it’s brilliant.
What’s even more impressive is that they’ve managed to produce a fun and challenging platforming experience, without the now-to-be-expected parkour (which I love, it’s just fascinating to see a game which is all about movement going ‘nah, we’ll stick with this’). Remember the moves from the 3D platformers from the late ‘90s and early 2000s? That’s pretty much what you’ve got here: a double-jump, a dash, the ability to grab ledges, and a limited wall-run. That’s it. It’s fun, straightforward, and no small challenge. In part this is because of the precision demanded, particularly in the later stages, but also because of the fact that the developers exploit just about every move combination you could think of. Pretty much every strange move you could pull off in the older platformers, in order to reach some out-of-bounds area (whether it’s exploiting a bit of the geometry that sticks out a little too far, or realizing that you can ‘bounce’ off a wall to get a bit of extra height), is actually demanded. This was driven home to me in one of Blue Fire’s Void Challenges where, to make progress, you actually have to master a move usually only ever seen in speedruns and game-breaking exploits.
And, oh boy, the Void Challenges. These are the most abstract levels the game will throw at you, and I am convinced that they are specifically designed to torture the player. Part gauntlet, part obstacle course, these casually say, ‘so you really think you can play this game?’, then sit back and chuckle. They’re hard, fiendishly hard. Get it right, and you’re awarded with an extra point of health and 30 ‘void souls’ which can be used to increase your character’s power. Get it wrong, and your only punishment is to be put back at the beginning of the course (or the recently added checkpoints). The description at the start of this review comes from my experience of the challenge called “Oriane’s Saw”, and while the whole course will take less than two minutes to complete, you will find yourself doing it again, and again, and again. And again. And you will keep coming back, because it is so blatant a challenge to the player. While some challenges are ‘easier’ than others, they all share one thing in common: you will feel yourself physically relax and let out a breath you didn’t even know you were holding when you get to the finish line.
For those blanching at the idea: worry not. The main world itself is generally far more forgiving, and the Void Challenges themselves are optional. Well, theoretically. The extra health they provide is definitely needed (unless the idea of getting insta-killed by foes in the late game sounds like fun), as is the Void Souls which allow you to equip more power-ups which extend your abilities and move-set.
Of course, none of this would work if the game didn’t handle well, but as you would expect, controls are tight and the camera very well behaved. While you can play with a controller, I used keyboard and mouse as I preferred the precision this offered (and you’ll really want precision), though this did come with some issues which I’ll cover below. In terms of look and feel, Blue Fire itself put me instantly in mind of The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. Not only from the feel of the protagonist and the fact that the first major mission involves a dying god, a corrupt creature and a forest temple (in Zelda it was a mission to save The Great Deku Tree), but also the inhabitants who offer side-quests (including hunting ghosts, or ‘spirits’), and who you can trade with.
In short, it’s a fun world to explore, especially as both your repertoire of moves, and your mastery of them, grows. That said, it is a bit too easy to get lost and not know where you are supposed to be going (a map would have been handy). Also, whenever your character is killed, it respawns at a ‘Fire Shrine’, which can be frustratingly distant from boss encounters – which is where you’re character is most likely to die. Once you’ve got a fully upgraded move-set, you can move like the wind and this distance becomes a minor annoyance - but still an annoyance. Combat is also a bit simplistic, and mainly revolves around timing dodges or blocking. However, given the emphasis on platforming, and that combat really forms the minor part of the game, this never becomes an issue.
It should be noted that at the initial PC launch, Blue Fire did have some pretty severe stability issues, which have now been largely fixed. It did crash once – and only once – during my playtime (and that might have been because I alt-tabbed at one point), though there did seem to be a slightly concerning glitch that reared its ugly head during the last battle, and which seemed specifically tied to my use of keyboard and mouse. It was the activation of the healing ability (which for some unknown reason would take a long time to register during by fight with the evil Fire Lord), and when my mouse was moved so the cursor – if it were visible – would be placed on the extreme left of the screen, the left mouse-click wouldn’t register (curiously, a glitch I’ve encountered in another UE4-based game). While these are minor issues, it did cause my character to get killed a few times. In a game like this, that matters: the game is fun while you know the fact that your character was defeated in combat/ran head-first into a buzz-saw/dropped to his untimely demise, was because you misjudged or handled the controls like a clutz. It’s a totally different feeling when it’s because the game screwed-up. Certainly not a game breaker, but it did take some of the fun out of the finale. (And hopefully this is something that will have been fixed by the time you’re reading this.)
All up, though, Blue Fire is an excellent platformer. It focuses on a particular style of gameplay and delivers it really, really well. If you dislike games that demand precision (and punish you when you don’t deliver), then this is unlikely to change your mind (and highly likely to drive you mad in the process). On the other hand, if you like platformers or have fond memories of the classics and like a good challenge, then you will definitely enjoy this. ■