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Crush (video game)

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Crush
Developer(s)Zoë Mode
Publisher(s)Sega
Platform(s)PlayStation Portable
Genre(s)Puzzle/platformer
Mode(s)Single-player

Crush is a platformer-puzzle video game developed by Kuju Entertainment's Zoë Mode studio and published by Sega in 2007 for the PlayStation Portable. The protagonist is Danny, a teenager suffering from insomnia, who uses an experimental device to explore his mind and discover the cause for his sleeplessness. Each level of the game, representing events from Danny's life and inspired by artists such as Tim Burton and M.C. Escher, requires the player to control Danny as he collects his "lost marbles" and other thoughts.

Crush's primary gameplay feature involves manipulating each game level between 3D and 2D views, allowing the player to reach platforms and locations inaccessible from within a different view. This element was noted by critics to be similar to one in Super Paper Mario, also released in 2007, though the Zoë Mode team had envisioned the concept five years prior. Reviewers praised Crush's incorporation of this dimension-shifting component alongside other aspects of the game presentation, and awarded Crush several gaming awards.

Story

The protagonist of the game, a young man named Danny, suffers from insomnia caused by worry, stress, and repressed memories. A mad scientist, Dr. Reuben, treats Danny with his Cognitive Regression Utilizing pSychiatric Heuristics (C.R.U.S.H.) device that possesses a sentient female persona. The device's helmet places Danny under hypnosis, during which he is able to regain control of his sanity by collecting his lost marbles, and facing his primordial fears in the form of monsters. He comes to discover what his childhood fears really are, specifically being afraid of the dark, and that these fears are causing his insonmia. In the ending, C.R.U.S.H., finding Danny's nyctophobia to be too basic for its purpose, turns and seems to attack Danny's mind, the screen fading to black at the start of the attempt.[1]

Gameplay

A level in Crush shown in the 3D perspective. The multi-colored marbles (bottom right) and a trophy "thought" (left) are visible.
The same level in Crush, with the level "crushed" to 2D. The crushed trophy "thought" symbol (left), a collectible puzzle piece (top right), and a continue point (middle) are also shown.

Crush contains ten levels in each of the four worlds.[2] The levels represent Danny's mind: a dark city landscape with many tall buildings and the occasional street lamp. Levels are mostly composed of platforms formed by blocks. The player's goal in each level is to collect marbles, which give the player points based on their color. The exit from the level is opened once a predetermined number of points have been collected. Danny can jump a small height and can crawl into narrow areas.

The main gameplay feature of Crush is the ability to transpose the layout of a level between 2D and 3D representations to reach inaccessible areas and solve the game's puzzles. The player can switch the third-person camera between four directional side views and a top-down view at any time while in 3D. When in these views, the player can have Danny "crush" the level, collapsing all 3D elements into 2D; crushing from side views results in a 2D platformer-like view, while crushing from the top-down view provides a 2D top-down perspective. Crushing can connect and merge platforms on the same visual plane in the 3D view but separated by a large distance, creating pathways across the level in the 2D view. The player can also "uncrush" the level at any time, returning gameplay to that of a typical 3D platformer. Certain blocks, when crushed, become either obstacles through which Danny cannot pass, or ledges the player can use to reach other parts of the level. Attempts to crush a level in any manner that would harm Danny are canceled. However, uncrushing can leave Danny in a helpless state, such as hanging in mid-air.[3]

Enemy monsters inhabit the levels, but the player can crush them by flattening impassable blocks against them. The player may also encounter timers that will begin to elapse when crushed for the first time and can only be stopped when Danny jumps on them. Danny wakes from his mental explorations if he falls off the level, is touched by a monster, or fails to stop a timer, but the C.R.U.S.H. device reinserts him at the start of the level or the last checkpoint Danny passed.[1]

Large spheres and cylinders are scattered throughout the levels which the player can roll when crushed appropriately, and can be used as platforms or to depress switches. In addition, jigsaw pieces can be collected to reveal extra artwork in the game's menus. Some of Danny's "thoughts", represented by glowing neon icons on the walls of the level, are only activated when the level is crushed in a manner that does not obscure them and remain in view.[3] Some thoughts allow Danny to jump higher or stop time. Once the player completes each level, they are graded by the duration of Danny's stay on the level, how many times Danny "woke up", and a bonus for collecting all marbles, the jigsaw piece, and a hidden thought trophy.[3] The thought trophy, once completed by crushing, unlocks a level's special challenge mode for later play which requires time-limited completion of the level with an allotted number of crushes.[2]

Development

An interview with Zoë Mode executive producer Paul Mottram revealed that the game concept was born in 2002, but work did not actually begin until 2006. The initial game concept was built on the crushing mechanism between 2D and 3D, and they only had to create appropriate obstacles to prevent players from simply "crushing" across the level.[4] Mottram noted that at the time during the development of Crush, the gameplay of Super Paper Mario had not yet been revealed, and thus the team was surprised to learn that the two games shared a similar feature.[5]

Mottram stated that the crushing mechanism had been developed and refined for six months prior to developing the story and characters; the development team wanted to have "a normal person in an impossible situation".[5] The art and level design were inspired by Tim Burton, Mike Mignola, and M.C. Escher. The plot was originally more morbid than in the final product, with Danny dying and the rest of the game told as flashbacks.[5]

The game levels were developed on a level editor on the PlayStation Portable, but Zoë Mode were not able to refine the editor in time for shipping. Mottram said "It would be great to see user generated content and this is something we have been seriously thinking about for the future" and that downloadable content "would work perfectly with the Crush level structure and I am sure that fans of the game would be eager to see more levels."[5] Mottram has stated they would like to bring a sequel to market based on the highly positive feedback they had received;[4] however, with other Zoë Mode projects such as SingStar and Play taking precedence, he does not know when such a title could occur.[6]

Reception

Crush received generally positive reviews, with aggregate scores of 84 out of 100 from Metacritic[7] and 84% from Game Rankings.[8] The game was highly praised for its innovative approach to gameplay. Ryan Davis of GameSpot appreciated Crush for owing "very little of its novel concept to games that preceded it."[1] Nick Suttner of 1UP called the game a "cognitively rewarding, expertly designed puzzle experience that truly plays like nothing else."[9] Reviews were mixed on the game's learning curve. IGN's Jeremy Dunham praised the ordering of the puzzle elements, that "there's always something new to overcome, but they're introduced at an ideal pace and most have perfectly logical solutions... you just have to think 'outside the box."[2] Eurogamer's Dan Whitehead commented that the game "doesn't give you much time to put the basics into practice before it starts throwing even more complications into the mix".[3] However, some found that other elements of the game detracted from the game's uniqueness. X-Play's Greg Orlando, while stating that the game was "one of the most novel games ever made", noted that the game itself was "simply not very fun", as it lacked many player incentives beyond manipulating the world and collecting objects on each level.[10] Reviewers noted that some puzzles were awkward due to the selection of the PlayStation Portable's controls.[2][9] The game's story was found to be poor by reviewers, but this was overcome by the gameplay elements; as stated by Charles Harold of the New York Times, "the minimal story is as forgettable as its puzzles are ingenious."[11]

IGN awarded Crush PSP Game of the Month for May 2007.[12] GameSpy called Crush the third best PlayStation Portable game and the "PSP Puzzle Game of the Year" for its Game of the Year 2007 awards.[13] Similarly, IGN awarded Crush the "Best PSP Puzzle Game", "Most PSP Innovative Game", and "Best PSP Game No One Played" awards in their Game of the Year 2007 selections.[14] Crush won the 2007 Develop Conference Industry Award for "Best New Handheld IP".[15]

According to Paul Mottram, sales of Crush did not meet the team's expectations, but Mottram hopes that the game "will hopefully stick around for a while and continue to shift units".[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Davis, Ryan (2007-06-05). "Crush Review". Gamespot. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
  2. ^ a b c d Dunham, Jeremy (2007-05-31). "Crush Review". IGN. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
  3. ^ a b c d Whitehead, Dan (2007-05-24). "Crush". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
  4. ^ a b "Interview: Paul Mottram, Zoë Mode senior producer". Sega Nerds. 2007-06-11. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  5. ^ a b c d Modojo Staff (2007-07-09). "Interview: Crush Executive Producer Paul Mottram". MoDojo. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  6. ^ a b Wallis, Alistair (2007-08-26). "Media Consumption: Zoe Mode's Paul Mottram". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
  7. ^ "Crush". Metacritic. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
  8. ^ "Crush Reviews". Game Rankings. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
  9. ^ a b Suttner, Nick (2007-05-29). "Reviews: Crush". 1UP. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
  10. ^ Orlando, Greg (August 2007). "Crush". G4TV. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
  11. ^ Harold, Charles (2007-06-16). "What if You Met the Enemy and It Really Was You, and Then It Happened Again". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-10-02. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ IGN PlayStation Team (2007-05-31). "PSP Game of the Month: May 2007". IGN. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  13. ^ GameSpy Staff (December 2007). "GameSpy's Game of the Year 2007 - PSP Top 10". GameSpy. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
  14. ^ IGN Staff (December 2007). "IGN Best of 2007 - PSP". IGN. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
  15. ^ Boyer, Brandon (2007-07-26). "2007 Develop Industry Award Winners Announced". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
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