Time to Beat: 4.4 hours
Writing the Brigador
review a few weeks ago, I reflected on my, simple method for
composing these video game reviews: take notes on whatever come to
mind during play, and use the notes to write one or more 1,000 word
articles. Brigador remains remarkable for its ability to
produce not a single memorable thought, not a scribble on a sheet of
paper. It was remarkable because of its lack of remarkable
qualities. Question: Are bad games, also, paradoxically capable of
generating a lot of notes? It didn't take long to answer this
question with a unequivocal yes, and Oxenfree
(strike-though intended), a supernatural adventure game designed by
Night School Studio
in 2016, is the proof. Like Technobabylon,
the desire to begin Oxenfree originated because of a
particularly thoughtful review,
and like Technobabylon, Oxenfree
produced a copious collection of notes, but in conclusion
their worth is less than a single blank page. Let's begin the story
afresh.
In Oxenfree the player controls
Alex, a long time resident of Camena (a fictional town on the
coast of Oregon) who attends a traditional, senior-year spring break
on local Edward Island with stoner and friend since toddlerhood, Ren,
brand new stepbrother, Jonas, Alex's late brother's ex-girl
friend, Clarissa, and Clarissa's friend (and Ren's love
interest) Nona. A tourist island, whose only permanent
resident, Maggie Adler, died three days ago, Edwards is the perfect
location for a secluded overnight party. After settling down on the
beach, and thoroughly pissing each other off with a game of “Truth
or Slap” (Alex and Clarissa have a history over Alex's brother),
Ren leads Alex and Jonas to a nearby cave which, he says, causes
radios to act oddly. Alex has brought hers to demonstrate and
accidentally unleashes a strange, powerful terror, referred to in
subtitles as “???”.
As the source of conflict in Oxenfree,
this activation of ??? could have produced a spectacular story, but
Oxenfree is hopelessly hampered by an incoherently
contradictory tone. In spite of being trapped on an island,
terrorized by some supernatural phenomenon capable of possessing
their bodies (aliens, ghosts, or demons) none of the characters
appear to appreciate the seriousness of their situation. Instead
they spend their time strolling around the island sans plan,
discussing favorite pastimes, and whether they should date the girl
down the street or go to college out of town. Oxenfree's tone
vacillates between playful and deadly as fast, and as often, as it
takes to change the station on the radio. The problem arises from
Oxenfree's aesthetic, which is a combination of soft and
goofy. The backgrounds feel ephemeral, produced with a palate of
pale pastel colors and a gorgeous wooded scenes which uplift instead
of cast down. The characters (though not as well rendered) share the
same hue and design. But the insane ramblings scrawled upon the
walls, the terrified shrieks echoing across the radio waves, and the
ominous music which noticeably builds to a crescendo just before an
encounter, contrasts absurdly with these aspects.
Most debilitating to Oxenfree's
suspense and tension, is the speed with which the player realizes
nothing disastrous will occur. The characters seem reflect this
reality by taking the ever increasing horror, with ever more
infuriating nonchalance. If some unknown, unseen force kept
possessing my friends at will, creating grotesque illusions of
disturbance and death, and kept disarranging my very sense of time,
I'd be cowering by the dock or searching for a place to hide.
Instead, Alex and Jonas wander around, recollecting their scattered
friends, intermittently frightened, but just as likely to practice
their call and response with, “Hey, doesn't this cave look cool?”
… “Yeah, we should explore it!”
Another disappointment: while Oxenfree
pretends to be about five friends trapped on overnight on an island,
most of the game the player controls Alex in the sole company of
Jonas. Immediately after the activation of ??? in the cave, Alex and
Jonas wake up a good half mile from where they slipped into
unconsciousness, and though the other three friends didn't witness
the event, they've spread themselves across a three mile island in
three minutes.
Oxenfree's mechanics are limited
for an adventure game, with no inventory except the radio Alex
brought to Edward Island. She can walk (no running please), jump (in
certain predetermined areas), use the radio (this is one of the few
cool aspects), activate various switches (not a puzzle game, except
in the most limited sense), and speak. Oxenfree boldly
attempts to distinguish itself with a unique conversational mechanic.
During conversations between the characters, Alex will be offered
two or three word bubbles to choose from. Yet their display does not
pause time, and dialogues don't wait for the player to react.
Options quickly fade, and the other characters keep speaking to each
other, or if speaking directly to Alex, will assume she has remained
silent and readjust according. At first this sounds immersive,
because it reflects reality, but the time which the player has to
choose (while realistic) is too short, about five seconds.
Another difficulty of this
conversational feature is of crossed conversations. Sometimes a
character will have just begun a conversation (A), and immediately a
new location or activated object will interrupt and begin a second
conversation (B). The results looks something like this: A (start) →
B (start) → B → B (end) → A → A (end), and the result is like
listening to two people talk over each other, both conversations are
garbled.
There are a number of other missed
opportunities and absurdities. Oxenfree introduces a new
mechanic which it explains ninety minutes into a four hour game with
limited interactivity. This is an unacceptable infringement on
proper game design. Oxenfree also introduces a scavenger hunt
three hours in. Because the player has already explored most of the
island, completing it would require backtracking, but this is
intolerable for two reasons. The first: Alex has lead feet. She
plods along regardless of terrain or nearby danger. The length of
Oxenfree is not because of a huge amount of material, but a
large space traveled by a character incapable of anything beyond a
shambling lope. To compound this error, is the issue of dialogue.
Entering most areas activates a dialogue between Alex and Jonas, and
these normally last at least part of the scene, but backtracking
returns the player to areas with no dialogue, making them
mindbogglingly boring.
I won't spoil the threat which Alex and
her friends face, but I would be remiss if I failed to warn any
future player about the lack of danger. It's clear early, in spite
of the fact that the malevolent force can do whatever it wants to
Alex (demonstrated by its ability to make her undergo a number of
abominable hallucinations), the developers chose to never threaten
the player. There is no part of the game which the player can fail,
no choice which can result in an early ending or even a “you've
died” black void. I'm not claiming every game requires this as a
possible result, but the threats of ??? are empty without it. There
are a number of different outcomes (or varieties of outcomes) and
only one of the midnight revelers is in mortal peril. Yet, in
spite of intentionally tanking two of the enemy's games (I wouldn't
give them the pleasure of my cooperation), I still managed the best
ending (though this verdict is a bit subjective).
In conclusion, Oxenfree
generated a book full of notes, but few of them favorable in
disposition. A laborious overnight, haunted by demented enemies, in
a beautiful setting, unmistakably (and absurdly) devoid of danger,
observed by a girl who couldn't (and doesn't) run to save her life.
Recent:
Relevant:
Comments
Post a Comment