S&S; Indie Review: Pid

Title: Pid
Format: PC, PS3
Release Date: October 31, 2012
Developer: Might and Delight
Price: $19.99
ESRB Rating: E

Pid inspires to be an original title in a genre that indie developers thrive in.  Even though it has a completely unique visual style, a lot of the gameplay suffers from outdated mechanics that many platformers abandoned long ago.  
Story, Presentation, and Core Gameplay:
In Pid, you're put in the shoes of a young boy named Kurt.  Kurt finds himself on a new and mysterious planet after an unfortunate bus ride, and he desperately wants to get home.  The secretive planet pushes tons of obstacles and traps at Kurt, but that doesn't stop him from uncovering secrets about evil inhabiting the planet and making his way home.  The narrative has one of the more distinctive premises, and I really haven't seen anything like it before.  From the opening scenes, the story instantly grabs you and it never ceases from being interesting.  I've played a lot of games, but this game manages to stray away from basically every style I've seen, the art is something to behold, and its one of main reasons I decided to play the game.  Even the screenshot above reminisces of the Toy Story toys below the bed of the deranged boy, its very cool that this game me regress to my younger days.  The cartoonish aesthetics makes the game stand out, and it seems that everything fits perfectly with, the tone and the narrative benefit greatly from its stylistic art.  The backgrounds for one, they pop out with vivid colors and a certain flair to them.  With the planet's many locales, there are a lot of different environments to gaze at.  It seems that each character is rather peculiar, and with each sporting some quirky voice acting, the amount of imagination the developers have is astonishing.  The best part of the game has to be it's wonderful soundtrack, there are so many tracks that will repeat time after time in your head, long after you've shut the game off. The music is just as varied as its environments, basically pulling inspirations from every genre of music, it creates one of the best soundtracks this year.  The gameplay is where the game takes a dramatic step back.  Early in the game, you obtain a gravity gun, and this allows him to shoot balls that create a cone that has its own gravity field.  You'll be able to float and drift once you create a new field.  This alone creates so many new and fresh opportunities to the platforming scene.  Some enemies and surfaces can't be altered with the gravity gun, this creates a bit of a challenge when you're just getting used to the new mechanic.  As you make your way through the game, the puzzles don't really change, and they ultimately become repetitive and monotonous.  Using the gravity gun to float across a spiked pit is only fine a couple of times.  The game's added co-op ability can almost reinvigorate your experience when things are becoming dull for you.  You can only have one gravity field at a time, this creates some new challenges for you and a buddy.  Playing with a friend was when I had the most fun with the game.  You'll come across a lot of robots in the game, but your interaction with them is limited with a few words of dialog.  I wish there was a little more interaction with the characters, seeing how each one of the robots are really intriguing.  Kurt is a pretty hefty kid, and it shows with his slow movement speed.  This creates a lot of problems, especially with the game's boss battles.  Its a shame because the boss battles could have been amazing, but when you're trying to aim your slingshot and the boss is breathing down your neck, it just ends up being frustrating.  I even found myself rage quitting at times, not wanting to pick the controller up again cause I knew the same boss was awaiting my return.
Final Thoughts:
Pid had a lot of potential going in, with a completely unique art style and some pretty gorgeous visuals, this game is a stunner to look at.  While the music is just as superb, the gameplay really suffers at times.  If you don't have any other games to play, you should give Pid a try.
S&S Rating: 6.75/10 @whatsPlay