QCF: Contrast

hose familiar scenes from a movie you can’t quite remember, the ones with the atmosphere of streetlights and Deco art posters, streets filled with cabarets and burlesque shows for fellas and dames— The Great Gatsby withstanding , the 1920’s is an era so vaguely romanticized for its appearance over culture . It was always what was seen or heard versus what was said or done, with all of the style and bravura on stage and never too much indulged on the history and culture behind it.

Compulsion Games means to tell a story that’s born in the thick of it, and while the fiction is rich in intrigue and complimented with exquisite eye candy--Contrast is a collective of ambitious gameplay mechanics that manage to grease that platforming wheel, the rotation however, doesn’t come close to spinning full circle.

If there’s anything to take away from Contrast, it’s the overwhelming drive towards balancing fantasy and charm between its presentation and utility—it nails one of these dead on.

Players take the role of Dawn, a silent imaginary friend who plays second fiddle to the real star of the story, Didi and acts as her cipher within the narrative, and the plot becomes one of the best aspects in Contrast for it. The beauty of controlling this silent acrobatic showgirl makes way for a story that happens beyond you between the points of player agency and makes for a perfect organic McGuffin; The story being told here is clearly about Didi but playing as Dawn doesn’t take away from that and actually manages to add to it instead. Going through the motions of understanding a struggling stage singer making ends meet, with a sleazy yet well-intentioned man seeking the redemption all from the perspective of an impressionable child is portrayed in one of the most candid fashions in games yet.

What makes the plot so intriguing to begin with is the initial hook from Contrast’s presentation. The visuals and soundtrack is able naturally sell the game’s fiction by toiling towards the task of being surrealistically artistic and yet faithful to the source material it revels in. Everything from subtle designs within the environment that possess humble touches in its aesthetic that’s appeal to the era it themes around to the character designs consisting of corsets and zoot suits, and jazz breakdowns that would  Adelaide Hall feel right at home .

These themes and more retain all of its charm and effect in Contrast because it’s constantly in the background, free from hinging on player action to advance it thanks to the genuinely thought-provoking voice work and writing that backs it up.

The engrossing narrative may thread you along through the weaves and turns of Didi’s journey, the central gameplay mechanics attempt to deliver a wholly unique way to view its world and unfortunately falls much too short to be redeemed.

The main ability that Dawn has at her disposal aside from lofty jumping is the ability to blend in within her casted shadow against various structures within the physical world she walks in. For example, let’s say Dawn was near the side of restaurant’s outdoor dining area with a balcony above her being her next destination. The method to reach it all depends on the difference certain tables can make with which parasol being opened and which closed in direct range of the spotlight’s glow on the café wall. The real world interaction will determine whether Dawn will have the platforming arrangement she needs to hop and skip her way on the casted object’s shade to ascend her way to the balcony perch that was unreachable otherwise. Casted shadows will also vary in size with the lighting physics based on distance, perspective and size of the object and what way it’s posed to achieve the necessary shape of shade need for Shadow Dawn to advance. On paper, these dynamics sound fantastic with potentially innumerable puzzles that facilitate the mechanic into some smile-inducing brainteasers, but that’s where the excitement ends and the unfortunate reality sets in—the puzzles are bland, and Dawn’s jumping physics are half-cocked at best.

During some particular points, the transitioning between the shadow and tangible realm to solve your way to the next route can be satisfying, but these moments are far and few when the platforming mechanics actually work. A majority of moving through Contrast will have you fighting with Dawn’s spotty collision when landing from a jump; standing near a ledge will lead you unintentionally of its ledge when moving anywhere near it (even in a 2D side-scrolling perspective), and virtually little to no telegraph over what’s contextually accessible from the stage design. Ultimately, maneuvering the nooks and crannies of Contrasts nuanced puzzles feels more like a chore than a reward; especially near the tail end of the adventure, the inventive mechanics that the game is built upon are so rough in execution that it starts to work against the enjoyment the game has to offer.

While Contrast suffers from a number of unsightly blemishes to its design, the immersive experience it has to give shines as its fluorescent diamond in the rough and is still worth a look considering the humble price of admission asked from Compulsion. Just be sure to temper any expectations for a hot new 3D platformer, this one is a bit unripe for most connoisseurs of the bouncy type.