Bit. Trip Void
Published by: Aksys Games
Developed by: Gaijin Games
Genre: Action
Reviewed by: Shawn Hendrickson
The current era of gaming may well be the best ever for independent game companies – all three of the current gen consoles (Playstation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360) allow for indie games to be downloaded at a low price, which is commonly known as a microtransaction. It is because of these microtransactions that smaller game companies can afford to make a budget title, see it released on a console (as opposed to being free on the internet) and make a profit from its sales.
Bit.Trip Void is the third title in a mini-series created by Gaijin Games specifically for the WiiWare system. All three of the games feature gameplay similar to older games – for example, Bit.Trip Beat is played similar to Pong – with a rhythmic twist added in. Void has the player take control of a small dot, known as the ‘Void’, which travels through several pieces of chiptune music, picking up black dots to add to the Void and increase the player’s score while avoiding white dots, which causes the Void to shrink back to normal size. Like many other rhythm style games, the Bit.Trip series has no real story, only gameplay.
The graphics in Void are very reminiscent of old games, which is fairly appropriate given the game’s style of play. Everything is very blocky in appearance (Including the Void, which is essentially a circle made of square dots) and the entire game is done in about three different colors – black, white and orange. While it does make for a very retro game, the backgrounds do add to the game’s difficulty by changing to the same black color of the Void, making it nearly impossible to know exactly where to go to hit the oncoming black dots.
Void features only three levels of varying difficulty, each named after Freud’s three parts of the human psyche (Id, Ego and Superego). Each level contains three checkpoints, making for nine total areas of the game that can be played. While this is a fairly short game, it is not forgiving in the slightest. The player must keep a combo going by collecting black dots to the music and ‘cashing’ them in by shrinking the Void down to normal size again, all while avoiding white dots. The reason this becomes so difficult is that the game constantly throws a variety of patterns of dots at you – and every missed black dot or hit white dot takes the combo down. Too many, and a life is lost. Oh, and did I mention you only get one, with a new one every certain number of points?
Bit.Trip Void is actually a fairly decent game at its WiiWare price. While it is a short game, it requires a lot of memorization to get through the levels, and quite a bit of trial and error to survive all the way through the game’s three stages. Though its graphics are nowhere near modern standards, it does add a certain retro charm to the game – but be ready to tear your hair out in frustration when the backgrounds start going dark.
Recap: Bit.Trip Void features rhythmic gameplay that is actually fairly addictive, albeit very frustrating at times and steeped in trial and error. Despite its difficulty, it is a very retro style game, and at a low WiiWare price it’s definitely worth picking up for a few hours of play.
Final Score: 7/10 – Good
