ElecHead Review

 









Shockingly Deep-An ElecHead Review

In another example of games I initially found out about early in development and forgot about till their release, ElecHead launched just a month ago! From what I can remember back from what I saw on twitter, the game had a very neat main mechanic that I was interested in seeing delved into into. So just how does solo developer Nama Takahashi (alongside the help of composer Tsuyomi) handle this interesting mechanic?

Losing your head...playfully!

In ElecHead you traverse various platforming puzzles as every platform you step on lights up as long as you have your battery pack head on tight. In addition to this, you can also throw your head in three directions to light up a far away platform and remain without a charge yourself (you can only be in this form for 10 seconds). Its extremely simple, and yet there are so many nifty uses of the mechanic that it felt like Takahashi found every single way possible to deepen it. 

Just take a look at the release trailer, which shows more than 15 different ways of using this idea in under a minute!

Mind you, this can't even begin to explain a fraction of the ways you'll use your head to find secrets and hidden areas. My favorite of which occurs near the end of the game, where you traverse through an area backwards using platforms you deemed unnecessary before and utilizing knowledge of the main mechanics you didn't have back when you first entered that area earlier in the adventure. 

For $10 there was a short, yet packed to the brim experience to be had here. Finding all of the little secrets in each area will push you to really rack your mind to find the solution-and yet, when you pull them off you can't help but congratulate the developer for creating all these multifaceted puzzles. Some of these secrets had me confused for many a minute, until realizing I could utilize my throwing placements more effectively, or scan the surrounding area for potential electricity connection spots. Just when I thought the idea couldn't be pushed anymore, Takahashi adds in another environmental piece to flip it on its head. I really can't find words to describe the raw ingenuity of this game in detail, but just know it is truly something special. 

One of my favorite parts of the game are these transition areas between levels where you get a cute little cinematic as a sort of reward for solving harder puzzles. It provided a nice break while traversing each level, and was a cute little touch that could go unnoticed. This is the only real semblance of a story you're gonna get here, but it is not as though ElecHead needed one. 

Verdict

ElecHead is truly the result of what happens when you take a little idea and truly flesh it out to its potential. Around every corner lies another little clever way to use its mechanics, and I can hardly fathom the amount of game design expertise Nama Takahashi packed into this worthwhile little gem. 

9.5/10-A Bite Sized Masterpiece of Game Design


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