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A Short PC Game Review: The Bridge
By HardRom’s Wife

My initial thoughts upon loading this game were “hmmm, you can move the world, this is going to be interesting.” Let me state that I am not a “Gamer” and prefer actual games rather than a bunch of stuff to blow up. This game, I find, is the former and significantly more to my liking.


Gameplay

The title “The Bridge” doesn’t offer any clues as to what the game itself is like- other than perhaps a visual display of what normally only occurs in your imagination. The goal is to get your character to the door, sometimes requiring you catch (yes catch, not find) a key first or push a button to unlock your door. You do this by revolving your world and triggering special doorways to reverse the gravity of yourself, the key and the evil boulders (as my husband calls them, the "Damnit" that will kill you. There are on screen directions of what keys you need to use but you cannot jump- however you do have the ability to reverse time at any point; including when you die as there are no "lives" in this game.

Mini spoiler: Once you “Q” and “E” yourself awake via gravity and an apple, the game begins. Your character has a small on-screen, written dialogue with himself as you walk to your first doorway at your home.


This game will invoke your mind whether you wanted it to- or not. The layouts; gravity factors, and techniques are relatively simple- but the multilevel thinking processes to coordinate them are what I enjoyed about this game. It’s almost like you can see the solution, but still have to figure out how to get there.

Gameplay: ★★★★★/5


Graphics

The graphics are simple and effective; the whole thing looks like it was sketch drawn in black and white. I think it works wonderfully since "flashy things" are not the point of this game. Some scenes look like the top is cut off, but I assure you that everything that you need to see is visible.

There seems to be no way to adjust resolution or full screen the app in the Beta we were allowed to play. Key word though: BETA.

On a different graphical note; I love the black-on-grey theme that the designers (Ty Taylor and Mario Castaneda) went for. Another little item I truly like is the little sketch lines that are constantly in motion around your character- it’s almost as if he’s being redrawn every frame, and the designer doesn’t have an opportunity to clean up his sketch marks before you see it. These little touches create a sort of aesthetic that is pleasing, and shows that they went just a little farther than most, to put small markings of their own into the game.

Graphics: ★★★★★/5


Audio

This is not really something you can rate, since the effects are as to be expected in this genre of game in general.
Audio: User Decision


Replay

As with most puzzle type games, replaying them isn’t as fun. There are levels in this game that you could replay simply because you’re probably not sure exactly how you got the solution the first time

Replay: User Decision
** After you pass the game the first time, you have a secondary mode to explore; with significantly higher difficulty, and added twists.


Value

The levels’ difficulty increases rapidly and the user is quickly forced into treating this game like chess; sitting back and planning moves and observing how they will adversely affect the character with the added bonus of immediate trial and error- thanks to the ability to reverse time.

I don’t think a paypal donation of at least $5 is a bad price for this game even in its beta, unfinished version. I can see the completed game being worthy of potentially a $10 pricetag.

Value: ★★★★★


Final Thoughts

Although you can’t minimize the (beta version of this) game and walk away (it seems to freeze) you won’t really want to. This is also easily remedied by closing the game instead of leaving it running when you walk away. I would recommend this game to anyone that is looking for a mental distraction or a puzzle type game

Overall
★★★★★/5