Although it suffers from the dated standards of structure and action—acting more as an imitation of what we might remember of the SNES-era than a succession—Citizens of Earth flourishes when it embraces its own silliness.
Still, there's something to be said for small pleasures. Clicking the left joystick to make my teenage rave robot transform filled me with the same sense of glee I felt when playing with these toys as a kid. Inasmuch as a game might be an exercise in nostalgia, Dark Spark brought those toys to life. Being a robot that can transform into different shapes and use cartoony weapons to blow up other robots is fun, and maybe story is unnecessary for this kind of play. Sometimes, all you need is for neon strobes, dry ice machines and deep house bass to blast your senses into joyful oblivion.
Broken Age succeeds, however, in being exactly what it sets out to be: a tightly woven, succinct, pleasantly told fairy tale, full of enough brain prodding to begin it all over again. A huge endgame twist both satisfies and questions the full extent of the story, accomplishing the challenging task of leaving the player both fulfilled and wanting more. If this is what the Kickstarter revolution will yield—tightly authored works with immaculate aesthetics—then we're ready for much more.