Binaries Game Review – Two Sides of the Same Coin

<p>It seems like Blue and Orange go hand in hand when it comes to puzzle games&period; This time&comma; however&comma; we see the lives of little blue and orange orbs as they traverse various mazes of death and attempt to escape the clutches of their designers&period; Maddening and not&comma; there are no portals here&comma; none whatsoever&period; Just two loveable orbs trying to make it out of the clutches of evil game designers&period; Time to put those orbs through their paces as you tackle a host of mazes and obstacle courses in an attempt at freedom&period; Get ready for more colorful puzzle madness in <em>Binaries<&sol;em>&period; Featuring no portals at all&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>… There are some forms of portals in this game&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure style&equals;"width&colon; 785px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"mainImage accessible nofocus" title&equals;"View source image" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;xboxoneuk&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;08&sol;Binaries-800x450&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Binaries 1" width&equals;"785" height&equals;"450" &sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Awww a love heart &lpar;<em>Binaries<&sol;em>&comma; Ant Workshop Ltd&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><em>Binaries<&sol;em> is simplistic in practise with easy to learn mechanics and objectives&period; Well&comma; there’s only really one objective&semi; get from point A to point B&comma; which usually includes avoiding death traps and other obstacles on the way&period; Players will control both orbs at the same time with the use of the left analog stick which includes moving left to right and jumping&period; So it’s rather a perplexing challenge when you have to move two objects at the same time through complex and risk filled mazes and while doing so in the best time possible&period; It’s difficult&comma; let alone if both orbs are traversing the same path&comma; but when they’re separated&comma; oh wow you’ll be ripping your hair out soon enough&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Saying that&comma; however&comma; there is a healthy sense of challenge for the most part&comma; where players will engage their minds in lateral and cognitive thinking to succeed&period; It presents an engaging dynamic for a puzzle game to move both orbs at the same time&comma; and with only one player&period; It can be rather tricky&comma; yet the game&comma; for the majority&comma; is fair and the rewarding sensation is extremely satisfying&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I do wish that a co-op feature was in place as the game will break up the orbs within more complex mazes&comma; making it very difficult to keep track on both objects&period; It creates a form of trial and error gameplay and&comma; for many&comma; this might be a little too much&period; It doesn’t help when the game decides to throw you into a level that is littered with dozens of turrets and spikes making it difficult for even a single orb’s progression&period; It’s understandable that one person will find it difficult to traverse two orbs through the more difficult mazes and&comma; for me&comma; there were some which I gave up on after so many attempts&period; Thankfully though&comma; players will never be stuck on a single level as you can proceed through multiple paths on the level selection screen&period; So this helps players progress in a different route and they are able to come back whatever stage they were stuck on later&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure style&equals;"width&colon; 723px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;media&period;gamerevolution&period;com&sol;images&sol;games&sol;mac&sol;binaries&sol;binaries&lowbar;001&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Binaries 2" width&equals;"723" height&equals;"413" &sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Binaries<&sol;em>&comma; Ant Workshop Ltd&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>There were some moments the game decided to freeze&comma; which did not appear to be a frequent problem&comma; yet it happened a couple of times&period; Even so&comma; it can be unbelievably annoying as you may be almost through a difficult map and at the last moment when you need to make a jump it could freeze for a second and ruin your chances&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Binaries<&sol;em> has a great sense of pacing as it introduces new elements&comma; such as turrets and teleporters&comma; to change the perspective of the map&period; These changes elevate the pacing of the game and above all breaks up any repetition that may arise&period; I preferred the smaller mazes with various death traps than the larger&comma; more complex ones as these do become a slight annoyance after a while&period; While smaller maps can be frantic as hell yet so energetic and maddening&comma; it’s just a pure rush to play them&period; Larger levels tend to feel bloated or long-winded&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A nice little touch are the extra options which players can turn on at any stage&comma; such as making the game’s visuals become gray&comma; thus increasing the game difficulty&period; Or players can just make things look a little more retro in aesthetics for some visual flare&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure style&equals;"width&colon; 1040px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"mainImage accessible nofocus" title&equals;"View source image" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;winbeta&period;org&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;08&sol;binaries-1040x580&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Binaries 3" width&equals;"1040" height&equals;"580" &sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Yeah&comma; no way&period; Screw you Game &lpar;<em>Binaries<&sol;em>&comma; Ant Workshop Ltd&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The soundtrack is fairly decent with a good mixture of electronic tones and beats that fit the mood of the game perfectly&period; It’s no <em>Impossible Game<&sol;em> yet the background music does a decent job at keeping you in the mood&period; There is also a strong sense of humor in the game with various texts popping onto the backdrops in an attempt to get under your skin&period; These moments did actually make me smile and many of the jokes fitted the tone well as they often reflected your own misfortunes and failures in a map&period; I did notice that some of the jokes were repeated or just sounded the same&comma; making it a little tedious&period; But the game brings forth a huge selection of different maps with plenty of variant themes and styles to make sure you’re never bored of the aesthetics&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Binaries<&sol;em> is a simple yet engaging puzzler with plenty of content to keep you busy and enough of a challenge to make you rip out your hair&period; Indeed&comma; the game can be a little too troubling in difficulty and there’s not really much outside the main set of mazes&period; With no co-op feature as well&comma; you may not feel the need or desire to complete certain mazes&period; Overall&comma; the game is strong&comma; and a great puzzler which is colorful&comma; fast and fluent&period; There are a few issues&comma; but <em>Binaries<&sol;em> is definitely worth checking out&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><strong>An Xbox One Review Code for <em>Binaries <&sol;em>was provided by Ant Workshop Ltd for the purpose of this review<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;