Contrast Reviews
As its name suggests, Contrast is a game of light and dark: a puzzle platformer with two well-realised female leads that occasionally buckles under the weight of its own mechanics. It's beautiful in parts, but also a little broken; I admire it for the first and can almost forgive it the second.
Contrast is a game full of heart, beauty, and at least a few excellent puzzles.
The story, characters, and aesthetic are incredible and have the power to linger with the player after the credits roll but it's up to each player to decide whether or not getting to those credits is worth the headache of playing a game that feels unfinished.
Contrast has a lot of heart, but its protagonist and environments lack some soul. It's not the best puzzle platformer you'll ever play, but it's far from the worst.
Lovely story and atmosphere marred by bad pacing and some broken puzzles
Contrast is a frequently beautiful mess
Wonky physics and prosaic puzzles prevent Contrast from making the most of its intriguing concept and intoxicating atmosphere.
Its setting and art style are as romantic as its storyline is dark. The dichotomies of #d and 2D and light and dark complement the game well.
Contrast is a mess. It's ugly, tiresome, insipid and occasionally insulting.
Frustrating glitches and a lack of polish dim the brightness of 'Contrast,' an otherwise brilliant indie title for the PlayStation 4.
PC owners get the raw end of the deal on Contrast, which goes for 15 bucks on Steam right now. It's really only worthwhile for PlayStation Plus members getting it as a free download, especially since it doesn't even feel like it was finished on time.
The voice acting is decent, though. Some excellent performances really hammer home the setting and mood, matched by the theme tune, which is beautifully sung, and genuinely feels like a reward when the credits roll. There's not a huge amount to come back for, as there aren't many collectibles overall. However, some of them are rewards for solving optional puzzles, which is a nice touch.
A great hook falls foul of terrible bugs, inconsistent mechanics, and woeful performance issues.
Contrast is, again, many things: in more than one way, it's vibrant and dark. It's beautiful and surreal. It's heartwarming and compelling. But at the same time, it often feels like it could use just a little more polish, a little more expansion.
Contrast is best when the story and the puzzles complement each other, like the platforming sections of the Lighthouse later in the game. Though short, Contrast can be replayed to get all the collectibles and is worth a look for the way the story and gameplay integrate, even if at times it's a little rough around the edges.
Despite these setbacks, Contrast crafts an amazing world and continuously invents clever new ways for you to interact with it. The story is fantastic, bolstered by strong voice performances and a jazzy soundtrack that nails the mood. Few games can consistently grab your attention and wow you with each passing moment like Contrast can.
It'd be nice to say that at least it's something different but Contrast is far more mundane and derivative than it first appears. It's also a near farce on a technical level.
There really isn't a whole lot to Contrast throughout its roughly three hour tale. It's a perfect game to pick up on PlayStation Plus for free, but if you're a non-subscriber or you're musing on another platform, I'd wait for a sale. It does a nice job of weaving a sweet little tale of a young girl and her struggle to maintain her innocence in a (literal and figurative) dark and dreary world, but it's nothing special, and nothing you haven't really seen before.
Like the shadows that inspire the game, Contrast just doesn't have much substance.
There were also a few minor gameplay glitches in which I would get kicked out of shadow mode for what appeared to be no reason or stuck to objects in the world. I would find myself setting down boxes and then unable to move afterwards or stuck on invisible objects in the environment. This didn't happen throughout the whole game, but it occurred enough that it warranted mention. For the most part the shadow mode works pretty well. It is a fun and unique twist to your standard fare puzzle-platformer, but really only adds underutilized potential when the curtains prematurely fall.