Black Hole Fun – Blackhole Review

<p>As a man with Czech in his blood&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;ve taken a large interest in the movies and games that the Czech Republic &lpar;or Czechoslovakia&comma; depending on the time period&rpar; has released&period;  Whether it be the surreal <em>Alice <&sol;em>by Jan Svankmajer&comma; Karel Zeman&&num;8217&semi;s <em>Deadly Invention<&sol;em>&comma; or the gorgeous games of Amanita Design &lpar;<em>Machinarium<&sol;em>&rpar;&comma; there&&num;8217&semi;s a certain vibe to Czech art that simply can&&num;8217&semi;t be explained&comma; but must be experienced&period;  That sense of style is present in FiolaSoft&&num;8217&semi;s <em>Blackhole<&sol;em>&comma; an unapologetically difficult puzzle-platformer that provides heartwarming chuckles and hair-pulling frustration in equal measures&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;04&sol;05011708&sol;Blackhole-2&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-large wp-image-80577" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;04&sol;05011708&sol;Blackhole-2-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Blackhole 2" width&equals;"620" height&equals;"349" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Blackhole <&sol;em>follows the crew of the starship Endura&comma; a ship whose sole mission is to track down black holes and close them up before they can consume humanity&period;  Their most recent mission goes incredibly pear-shaped&comma; with the ship being sucked into a mysterious dimension and reduced to scrap&period;  The only known survivors are the ship&&num;8217&semi;s Cortana-esque AI&comma; Aluria&comma; and the most menial laborer on the Endura&period;  The laborer&comma; your player character&comma; transfers Aluria into a tablet&comma; and sets out to find the remaining crew members&comma; repair the ship&comma; and hopefully return home&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This is achieved through a series of small&comma; puzzle-based levels that task you with finding &&num;8220&semi;selfburns&comma;&&num;8221&semi; nanobots that can be used to repair the ships&period;  The levels start off simply enough&comma; with a few platform jumps being enough to grab all of the selfburns and return back to the main hub world&comma; but that soon changes with the introduction of gravity platforms&comma; glowing patches that flip the gravity of the level in four different directions&period;  Think in terms of Terry Cavanagh&&num;8217&semi;s <em>VVVVVV<&sol;em>&comma; and add an axis&comma; and you&&num;8217&semi;re headed in the right direction&period;  At this point the game becomes the sort of challenge that will drive some players mad&comma; involving split-second timing and fancy footwork in order to grab every last selfburn&period;  The game is definitely puzzle-driven&comma; and any missteps in the more time-sensitive moments fall completely on the player&period;  It&&num;8217&semi;s the sort of accountability that some gamers may not be comfortable with&comma; but it&&num;8217&semi;s really their loss&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;04&sol;05011722&sol;Blackhole-1&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-large wp-image-80576" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;04&sol;05011722&sol;Blackhole-1-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Blackhole 1" width&equals;"620" height&equals;"349" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The audiovisual presentation of <em>Blackhole <&sol;em>is another standout&period;  The 2D graphics are sharp and colorful&comma; and the voice acting is shockingly good&comma; with comedic timing being almost perfectly honed&period;  The game is genuinely funny at times&comma; with Aluria stealing the show with her machine-logic&sol;nihilism heaping thinly-veiled insults on your character&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Blackhole<&sol;em> is not the sort of game that has universal appeal&comma; but its sharp presentation&comma; sharper witt&comma; and vicious challenge will suck you in if you&&num;8217&semi;re into the hardcore platform genre&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;