Defunct Reviews
Despite its shortcomings, Defunct is still a mostly enjoyable little game.
Defunct is a decent game that offers a fair bit of fun through its high-speed puzzles but also lacks depth. The character makes you want to love him but with only basic animations and limited storytelling, he's not as endearing as he's clearly meant to be. If you're a fan of Sonic the Hedgehog, it's worth a look. At $14.99, however, it's probably worth waiting for a sale.
Defunct combines speed and exploration in a package that's simplistic but engaging. The gravity functions lack a variety of uses but they're necessary in nearly every situation, and there's so many ways to engage with the game the way you want. It doesn't have all of its screws tightened, but what's there is packed with replay value.
Defunct isn’t a game that must be played, and the damn camera and poor audio don’t ever breed much confidence. But underneath the issues is a fun little title that is just begging to get out.
Above all else, Defunct sells itself on an exhilarating sense of speed matched with excellent level design and exploration.
Not terribly engaging, not that great to look at or listen to, no characters or themes to get attached to, and no real point to the entire story mode. Just a generally underwhelming experience.
Defunct's way of conveying the sense of motion and fluidity works great with the control and management of the robot's position. However, its simplicity and strange objective design can present some drawbacks.
On the whole, the game is a lot of fun for those who live for speedrunning. Using your robot to make the most of gravity as your ally will be a very fun ride, and while the game is a bit short, the price is right, and there's a lot of replayability in this one.
Defunct is a simple game at all. Although not very appealing for other aspects such as visuals and sounds the fluid gameplay has its adrenaline moments when you get the hang of it, providing very fun moments at high speed. Ironically, it is an interesting title for those who want a “slow down” on life or from other games.
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Overall, while I can appreciate some aspects of what the developers set out to do Defunct seems to be rushed or possibly just given up on. When everything clicks, you get your speed up, and you’re jumping around it has its moments of fun. Unfortunately, those are few and far between with the bulk of your time spent trying to slowly get around, cursing the weird movement and jumping physics, and hitting performance hitches. Perhaps with more work Defunct could have been a better game but in its current state the title can practically double as a one word review.
Defunct is a fun little indie platformer. If you persevere with the game and become accustomed to the controls then you really start to enjoy yourself a lot more. The game itself isn't very long, so the worth of the amount of content you get is totally up to you, but I feel that with the time trials, collectibles and the replay factor of wanting to replay once you are used to the controls; you are getting a decent amount of content for the price.