Beautiful Platforming | Never Alone Review

<p><em>Never Alone &lpar;Kisima In&eng;itchu&eng;a&rpar;<&sol;em>  is quite an interesting game&period; On the one hand&comma; it is a solid platformer with some unique&comma; and sometimes challenging puzzle elements&period; On the other hand&comma; it is an important piece of media&comma; which gives us an insight into the obscure but fascinating world of the native Alaskan people&comma; the Iñupiaq&comma; done in unlockable&comma; documentary style extras&period; Presentation-wise&comma; it is all done very well with plenty of insightful and interesting tidbits to uncover&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The story of the game is actually one of the old legends of these people&comma; and hearing the actual native peoples talk about their legends and culture remind us how important tales and traditions like these can be to the people who own them&period; It almost seems as if the entire package was put together as much for a piece of electronic entertainment&comma; as it was as a historical and cultural education piece&period; On those fronts it succeeds admirably&period; <em>Never Alone<&sol;em>&comma; however&comma; is a video game and needs to be reviewed as such&period; Luckily for all of us&comma; the gameplay holds up just as well as the other facets of the package&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;70290" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-70290" style&equals;"width&colon; 750px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;beautiful-platforming-never-alone-review&sol;image-13&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-70290"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-70290" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;12&sol;05052346&sol;image-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&quot&semi;Sup&quest;&quot&semi;" width&equals;"750" height&equals;"421" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-70290" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&&num;8220&semi;Sup&quest;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The story revolves around one of the native girls&comma; Nuna&comma; befriending an arctic &lpar;and magical&rpar; fox&period; Together they must stop an evil force&comma; which takes the form of a large man&comma; from destroying their entire homeland and way of life&period; On top of that&comma; they must find the source of the otherworldly snow storm that is ravaging the land&comma; and put a stop to it as well&period; It is a tall order for such a young girl and her animal friend&comma; but the player finds that Nuna is more than capable of handling herself as she traverses multiple environments&comma; each with their own unique set of challenges&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The gameplay is familiar&period; It is a basic side scrolling platformer with various puzzle elements thrown in to make proceeding through the levels interesting&period; The actual moment to moment gameplay is solid&comma; but nothing spectacular&period; The real treat is watching it all unfold against a backdrop of rich and exciting native Alaskan culture&period; The various characters&comma; creatures&comma; and enemies that you meet are some of the most interesting and intriguing that I have had the pleasure of interacting with in games this year&period; From ghostly but helpful animal spirits&comma; giant ghost whales &lpar;that you spend a good deal of time inside of&rpar;&comma; vicious polar bears&comma; and terrifying&comma; green flying apparitions&comma; I was encouraged to press on for anticipation of what I would see next&comma; as much as I was for just needing to complete the game&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;70291" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-70291" style&equals;"width&colon; 750px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;beautiful-platforming-never-alone-review&sol;never-alone&lowbar;01&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-70291"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-70291" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;12&sol;05052329&sol;never-alone&lowbar;01-1024x576&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"A face you can trust" width&equals;"750" height&equals;"421" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-70291" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">A face you can trust<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The entire game can be completed as a single player experience&comma; but two player co-op is really the way to go in this game&period; I typically do not care for multiplayer games&comma; and I will usually avoid playing with others &lpar;except for my kids&rpar; when I can&period; However&comma; co-op is really where this games shines&period; One player controls Nuna&comma; and the other plays her arctic fox friend &lpar;who is&comma; incidentally&comma; cuter than any video game character has any business being&rpar; and the two of them constantly work together to help each other across the various obstacles and platforms necessary to proceed&period; None of it is brain busting&comma; and the solutions always make sense&period; You can play it single player if you like&comma; but constantly switching back and forth between characters can be a bit of a pain&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Never Alone<&sol;em> is simply one of the better platformers I have played in quite some time&period; Grounded in a solid&comma; well worn&comma; platforming package&comma; this title offers much more than just another side-scroller&period; It is an important look into the lives&comma; culture&comma; and legends of one of the overlooked Native American people that exist&period; I can only hope that <em>Never Alone<&sol;em> is the first of many titles to dig from what is obviously a very deep well of history&comma; culture and mystery&period; Definitely give this little indie title a shot&period; I dare say you will not regret it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;