PS4 Launch Party - What's That In The Shadow? Oh, it's Contrast. Hi Contrast. (It's A Review)

Written By: Tyler Selig

                This is my first article for what I’m dubbing, “My PS4 Launch Party.” I intend to write a long review for Killzone: Shadow Fall and Knack. I plan on reviewing Resogun and Contrast, which will be shorter reviews. I may even throw in an article detailing what I think about the actual Playstation 4 itself, but I will not be giving it a rating. I'll probably tease you with the reviews of Resogun and Contrast first, just to tease you before I unload the big daddy reviews, because you're a dirty dirty girl, and you like that.

                So read on for my review of Contrast, a multi-platform game that I played on PS4.

Rating: 6/10

Verdict: Contrast is an entertaining game, but nothing that will set the world on fire. At its core, it’s a solid puzzle-platformer but while it has a cool idea, outside of a couple neat puzzles, it doesn’t use it all that excitingly. A 6 doesn’t mean “shit game,” it means “decent game, worth playing but not exceptional by any means.”

            Contrast reminds me a bit of Lost in Shadow, a superior game that was released on Wii a couple years back. The fact that both games have you using shadows to platform your way through is why I say this. The idea to me was fascinating back when Lost in Shadow was released, and you don’t see many games use that “gimmick,” so I was pretty excited to play Contrast.

                Unfortunately Contrast doesn’t hit the levels of Lost in Shadow, but it’s not a terrible game by any means. You play as Dawn, a mysterious woman who helps a little girl named Didi as she goes through family issues. It would actually be pretty heartbreaking if the writing allowed it to be, as you get to see your parents go through marital problems and you find some things out that would potentially damage a little girl for life. It tells its tale mostly seriously and in a noir-like fashion, which is appealing to me but verbally and visually, but the voice acting and the quality of writing sometimes lets it down… which is a shame because there’s an emotional story here to be told and it doesn’t reach those heights.

                With that said, the visuals aren’t exactly next-gen, but it’s also not a triple-A game. It’s not full-priced, and if you get Playstation Plus right now (which you should because they give you 30 days just for buying), the game is free. The visuals do a competent job of making the world feel alive.

                The biggest disappointment lies within the biggest aspect of gaming: the actual gameplay. It has a cool feature revolving around shadows but it doesn’t really give you engaging platforming or puzzles (outside of a couple which I found slightly challenging and interesting). I felt like there were some real innovative things that could be done here, and since the game only clocks in at about three hours, I felt like the developers should have went balls-to-the-wall and gave us some really intriguing puzzles. Unfortunately, most of it is pretty average and doesn’t live up to its potential.

                If you’re looking for a quick puzzle-platformer to spend your time with in between other games, you can’t go wrong with Contrast. It’s just that if you’re a gamer that’s interested in Contrast, you probably have a backlog of games to play anyway so while I’d give Contrast a minor recommendation, you also won’t be missing much by avoiding it.