Trigo

I had a good time with Trigo. Decent time-trial platformer for a great price. Doesn't feel cheap or thrown together like similar (and pricier) games I've tried. 71 levels (Chapters 1-7 + Hard mode) that are an obstacle course of jumps, lasers, moving platforms and red "water" that kills you. The goal of each level is to collect 3 shards and reach the exit as fast as possible, unlocking the next level. That being said - a lot of the appeal of this type of game is in improving your individual time on a level. [b]You get:[/b] - 4 jumps of increasing height (4 separate jump buttons which hurt my brain at times) - Crouch slide (which keeps your momentum) - Freeze ability (freezes time and red death water so you can walk on it like the saviour of time you are) You unlock a new jump at the start of each chapter (up to Chapter 4) so I wouldn't worry about optimising any times until you have all of them. [b]General thoughts:[/b] The level design is alright, all of the courses are in a large rectangular room. Jumps and obstacles are spaced well enough for you to keep your flow if you use the correct jump. The on/off phases and positions of lasers usually line up well enough (to be there as an obstacle to avoid, not just to screw you over). It's essentially all irrelevant as you'll make you own route with your freeze power and super jumps. Triangle geometry, it giveth and it taketh away, is occasionally annoying. Walls aren't smooth, lots of triangles, opportunity for shortcuts, but lost count of the times I bonked my head on a jump. The floor is also made of them, jumping off of one that is slightly raised above the others can be the difference in making or not making a jump. Not much flow to the game. A bit vague, but basically, if you're imagining picking up and maintaining speed as you bunny hop, whizzing, weaving and air strafing between obstacles - this ain't really that. You walk, you 2x jump up to a platform, you quickly turn to make a 4x jump, you slide under a laser and hop over the next, freeze time, walk across the frozen water etc. It's a bit more stop/start precision jumps/movement than flowing through with speed. Very difficult to build up speed (and hey, maybe you aren't supposed to). Top speed walking forward is 900u. You can jump, bunny hop, crouch slide, strafe or do a cartwheel and - regardless of what those anime speed-lines around the edge of the screen says - you will still be going 900u. There's no easy way to increase it. Jumping with moving platforms will give you a boost - and you can crouch slide, jump, re-crouch slide to maintain that speed, which is great, but opportunities to do so are limited (see lack of flow above). The only other way I found to gain speed isn't much fun and involves jumping into a wall and hoping you see a big number. [b]Gripes with the game:[/b] - Mouse input has weird deceleration at points. It may be when crouching or in the air, but it feels like pulling through sludge. Not great when you're trying to do a 180 to make a precision jump and your mouse only turns halfway. - I feel huge in this game and everything is so cramped. Like a big kid in a kindergarten playground. - I'm too dumb to find the (x5) Secret :< [b]Summary:[/b] I prefer a bit more room and speed to my parkour games, but Trigo scratched an itch and I had fun playing.