Contrast
Created by Compulsion Games
Published by Focus Home Interactive
You play through Dawn. A silent woman with an amazing power to faze in and out of the shadows. You are best friends with Protagonist, Didi, and you help her out with her family problems using your shadow powers.
There is very little known about the character you play as. Dawn has no speaking roll so you have to get what characteristic you can from her by Dawn's interactions with Didi and with the snippets of information you collect over the course of the game. If I told you what I know about Dawn I would be telling you spoilers. What I little I can tell you is that Dawn cares about Didi and that it's no accident that Dawn decided to become friends with this little girl.
Didi is a spunky little brat who loves her family very much. Despite being nine years old she gets herself into a lot of trouble that Dawn constantly has to help fix. If her parents are in a pinch then this girl with her technical wizardry can fix any electronic problem, as well as lockpick some doors.
Johnny, Didi's father, is a bit of a scumbag. Johnny dearly loves Didi and he loves Kat, but this man makes friends with the worst people. Johnny makes deals with thugs, gang members, and the like. Then there's his dark past that he'll never escape from that has always hurt his family in the end.
Kat is a hard working singer who tries to take good care of her daughter, but can't seen to be able to afford a babysitter in the 1920's apparently. She has aspirations to become a singing sensation in the world of Contrast but her singing job is barely enough to keep the apartment rent paid. She is so use to working and raising a child alone, despite how difficult it is for her.
Vicenzo is a hard working magician. Nothing gets in the way of his work and he loves it that way. Puzzles and illusions are his bread and butter and nothing brings him more joy than the looks on peoples faces when he performs a new magic trick.
The artwork of Contrast is lovely. The world is like a romanticized version of 1930's Los Angeles. Everything is so grand and colorful in the way when you look through an old, sepia photo. Making the light that you find in the game even more important as it reveals brighter colors. The design of the characters aren't bad either. Both Didi and Dawn wear striking bright colors, like red, making them stand out from the background. The creators of Contrast cheated a little bit with the design of the other characters as everyone else are nothing more than shadows. I can't complain too much about the shadow people though as they are important to the game play, plus it allowed artist to focus on the background art to make it more visually striking and interesting to look at.
The music in Contrast is absolutely amazing. The makers of the soundtrack for Contrast perfectly captured the essence of 1920-1930's swing music. Their one singer, Laura Ellis, just sells it. Her voice has that beautiful, husky, quality to it that melds perfectly with the drums, cello, piano, and sax. There is so much energy in this music, even when it's calm and collected sounding, the music of Contrast gives you this buzz that makes you want to listen to it on repeat for days on end.
Contrast's gameplay is the coolest thing about this game. At its core Contrast is a platformer game in third-person view. So you typically just jump from one platform to another but with Dawn's ability to turn into a shadow person she can also walk on shadows. Imagine, if you will, a normal bike. It's nothing special, but shine a light in front of it to show the bike's shadow, you could turn into a shadow person and ride the giant, shadow bike pedal up to a terrace. It's amazing when you actually see it.
You can buy this game on Steam: $10, Playstation Store: $10, and Xbox Live: $10. Reasonable prices.
I give this game 5/5 stars. I warn you, however, the video game is a bit glitchy and despite all the good things I've listed those glitches might ruin it for some people.
Vicenzo is a hard working magician. Nothing gets in the way of his work and he loves it that way. Puzzles and illusions are his bread and butter and nothing brings him more joy than the looks on peoples faces when he performs a new magic trick.
The artwork of Contrast is lovely. The world is like a romanticized version of 1930's Los Angeles. Everything is so grand and colorful in the way when you look through an old, sepia photo. Making the light that you find in the game even more important as it reveals brighter colors. The design of the characters aren't bad either. Both Didi and Dawn wear striking bright colors, like red, making them stand out from the background. The creators of Contrast cheated a little bit with the design of the other characters as everyone else are nothing more than shadows. I can't complain too much about the shadow people though as they are important to the game play, plus it allowed artist to focus on the background art to make it more visually striking and interesting to look at.
The music in Contrast is absolutely amazing. The makers of the soundtrack for Contrast perfectly captured the essence of 1920-1930's swing music. Their one singer, Laura Ellis, just sells it. Her voice has that beautiful, husky, quality to it that melds perfectly with the drums, cello, piano, and sax. There is so much energy in this music, even when it's calm and collected sounding, the music of Contrast gives you this buzz that makes you want to listen to it on repeat for days on end.
Contrast's gameplay is the coolest thing about this game. At its core Contrast is a platformer game in third-person view. So you typically just jump from one platform to another but with Dawn's ability to turn into a shadow person she can also walk on shadows. Imagine, if you will, a normal bike. It's nothing special, but shine a light in front of it to show the bike's shadow, you could turn into a shadow person and ride the giant, shadow bike pedal up to a terrace. It's amazing when you actually see it.
You can buy this game on Steam: $10, Playstation Store: $10, and Xbox Live: $10. Reasonable prices.
I give this game 5/5 stars. I warn you, however, the video game is a bit glitchy and despite all the good things I've listed those glitches might ruin it for some people.
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