I almost stopped playing The Magic Obelisk shortly after I grabbed it on its debut this past Monday, because I thought it was going to bore me silly. I knew that it had over 30 stages, and I was clearing level 10—about ⅓ of the way into the game—without being challenged in the slightest. Couple that with the charming, yet juvenile, storybook sequences and I thought that maybe I'd picked up a game for kids.
I put it down and came back to it the next day... and the game had a completely different story to tell me. Now past the admittedly lengthy tutorial, I found The Magic Obelisk had a lot more to offer, particularly at its meager asking price of $5 in imaginary Nintendo money.
In The Magic Obelisk, you control Popo, a little blue flying fairy tasked with guiding Lukus, a tree spirit, through each of the game's levels. Lukus can only travel within shadows—if he ends up in the sunlight, he'll take root—so it's your job as Popo to activate the titular magic obelisks' shadows for Lukus to safely cross. All Popo can do is temporarily cast these shadows and call Lukus over to a spot; the game's genius lies in how it takes this simple mechanic and expands it.
For starters, shadows are elemental; red obelisks cast warm shadows and can make plants grow to provide additional shade or anger robots, setting them off on a rampage to smash into something; yellow obelisks blow Lukus up as he traverses them, letting him cross chasms; and the blues provide an icy shadow that is slippery and can be traversed quickly. There are ghosts within some shadows that will try to knock Lukus off if he gets near them, so you'll need to avoid them entirely or time Lukus' crossings very carefully. The deeper you get into the game, the more the levels layer these things on, making for some truly delightful mental challenges.
Unfortunately, there's also some frustration to go with the challenge, particularly noticeable in some of the very complex levels. Popo moves around the levels with the d-pad on a sideways-held Remote, which isn't always ideal, especially in levels where you may have to activate more obelisks quickly before the shadows that Lukus is crossing expire. The camera angle is also mostly-fixed, and sometimes it's just plain difficult to see what you need to do or where you need to move. Lukus doesn't cross shadows like you expect him to sometimes, either, which led to more than a few failures as I worked through the levels.
But even considering these rough spots, there's no denying that The Magic Obelisk is an excellent value. The unique puzzle mechanics tickled my brain in new ways, it's charming and visually appealing, and there's a lot of content you get for its tiny price. That first hour or so threw me and worried me, but once I got into the rest of the title, I saw the light (ahem, sorry)—The Magic Obelisk is definitely worth every point and then some.
I put it down and came back to it the next day... and the game had a completely different story to tell me. Now past the admittedly lengthy tutorial, I found The Magic Obelisk had a lot more to offer, particularly at its meager asking price of $5 in imaginary Nintendo money.
In The Magic Obelisk, you control Popo, a little blue flying fairy tasked with guiding Lukus, a tree spirit, through each of the game's levels. Lukus can only travel within shadows—if he ends up in the sunlight, he'll take root—so it's your job as Popo to activate the titular magic obelisks' shadows for Lukus to safely cross. All Popo can do is temporarily cast these shadows and call Lukus over to a spot; the game's genius lies in how it takes this simple mechanic and expands it.
For starters, shadows are elemental; red obelisks cast warm shadows and can make plants grow to provide additional shade or anger robots, setting them off on a rampage to smash into something; yellow obelisks blow Lukus up as he traverses them, letting him cross chasms; and the blues provide an icy shadow that is slippery and can be traversed quickly. There are ghosts within some shadows that will try to knock Lukus off if he gets near them, so you'll need to avoid them entirely or time Lukus' crossings very carefully. The deeper you get into the game, the more the levels layer these things on, making for some truly delightful mental challenges.
Unfortunately, there's also some frustration to go with the challenge, particularly noticeable in some of the very complex levels. Popo moves around the levels with the d-pad on a sideways-held Remote, which isn't always ideal, especially in levels where you may have to activate more obelisks quickly before the shadows that Lukus is crossing expire. The camera angle is also mostly-fixed, and sometimes it's just plain difficult to see what you need to do or where you need to move. Lukus doesn't cross shadows like you expect him to sometimes, either, which led to more than a few failures as I worked through the levels.
But even considering these rough spots, there's no denying that The Magic Obelisk is an excellent value. The unique puzzle mechanics tickled my brain in new ways, it's charming and visually appealing, and there's a lot of content you get for its tiny price. That first hour or so threw me and worried me, but once I got into the rest of the title, I saw the light (ahem, sorry)—The Magic Obelisk is definitely worth every point and then some.