Welcome Time Wasters!
This week my time wasting wasn’t normal. See, I got really caught up playing other games and ended up not actually needing smaller ones to fill my time. This is what happens almost every time a dig out my PSP to finish up some games from my backlog. As a result, I ended up scouring the internet Friday to find something to write about. What I found was Imperil.
Imperil is a 2D action games that has players taking on the role of a hero out to save the world. At least, I think that’s what’s happening. The story is is a bit bare and isn’t directly told to the player. What I do know for sure is that I’m a guy with a sword and some magic powers.
While there is combat in Imperil, it isn’t the main focus of the game. Instead, it chooses to focus on the magic powers for platforming and puzzles. The powers that the player has available to them change depending on where they are in the game.
When the player first get going in Imperil, they will have the ability to create platforms. This allows them to reach areas they couldn’t normally. There are also powers to change the landscape, shoot fireballs and more. All of the puzzles in Imperil are really easy, but some of them do have neat twists.
Imperil also isn’t a very long game. I probably spent about 15 minutes with it, which isn’t bad for a browser game. I also didn’t put much time into looking for secrets. These secrets are orbs that players can trade for a larger health bar. However, there isn’t much combat in the game and the enemies that do show up aren’t very threatening. As a result, I didn’t care much to try and increase my health.
Imperil also features one boss battle at the end of the game. Just like with the other encounters, this one is a breeze to get through. I was hoping for a little more of a challenge, but this just wasn’t the case. There’s and expanded version of the game on Steam for a couple of bucks, but the browser version is too easy for me to consider it.
The visuals in Imperil are nice. It uses sprite art, but not in the normal way. Instead, the characters and foreground are shown with silhouettes. To help them stand out, the background is made up of bright colors than change from area to area. It’s a nice touch that gives the game a unique look.
The audio in Imperil is also solid. Tracks vary depending on what part of the world the player is in. They also seem to change to match the action and appearances of these different areas. It comes together with the graphics to give the game a consistent feel all the way through.
Overall, Imperil is a good way to waste some time. It doesn’t take long to beat and isn’t much of a challenge, but it does have enough polish to warrant a playthrough.
Imperil earns 3.5 GiN Gems out fo 5!