Lucidity Review
Saturday, October 10, 2009 at 5:39PM Lucidity is a game about Sofi and the dreamworld that she is in based on stories that her grandmother has told her. The game is told as if Sofi is taking a stroll through a storybook - and that sets the pace for the rest of your frustrating journey...
Continue for the review.
The game starts off simply enough, Sofi lands in her dream world and rather than controlling Sofi, you are given a couple of tools to use in the world that will help her avoid frogs, snails, dragonflies, and a few other enemies, and get her to the next page. The idea here that you are building the dream world as Sofi travels through is nice and interesting, and the visuals are gorgeous, but the game gets a little bit jumbled up trying to do too much. If the game was just about utilizing a single tool or two to make it through each level, it would have been a moderately easy game with an interesting story and great visuals. Instead, as you progress through the game you are given more and more tools to "help" you get through the game, and not only that, they are given to you at complete random. The gmae basically turns into a Tetris/Lemmings mix but much more difficult. The game actually gets frantic at times because of the scrample that you have to go through to place pieces randomly around the screen so that you will get one you need. I avoided ripping into the gameplay initially because the game looks great, sounds great, and has an interesting story - and the problem with the gameplay isn't enough for me to tell some people to avoid the title. However, if you have little patience or hate puzzle games, you really need to avoid this title. Those of you who like a great story, artwork, and don't mind a challenge will find a lot to love here. Even after you finish the normal story of the game, you can still go back and collect fireflies - they act not only as a health replenisher, but as a way to unlock artwork that just brings the whole story together.
I have included the video because I wanted to show where some of the frustration will come into place in this game. I had a heck of a time actually getting a useful piece in one particular section and ended up just sitting there, placing pieces randomly around the screen in order to get one that I could use. It's actually unfortunate that I stopped recording on this level because the next level I played actually displayed it even better.
Since this is a game that cannot be rented, I have to suggest that most people pass on this title right now. Although the story, audio, and visuals are all great and creative, the gameplay can be quite a bit frustrating - knowing that you would have made it across the level just fine if you could have had "that one piece" instead of the one that you actually got is something you will notice repeatedly. For the hardcore collector - buy the game - there are so many fireflies to be collected here, you will spend tens of hours collecting them for the game art. Otherwise, wait until the price drops a little bit, $10 is a steep price for the frustration level you are sure to reach.
Do you disagree? Does my review make you upset in some way? Tell me about it in the comments...
Chet Lynch
XBOX LIVE ARCADE recently added a new title the growing roster of games.
LUCIDITY is a fantasy puzzle platformer that to my surprise was a lot of fun to play. It was created by the same developers at LUCASARTS that brought life to “The Secret of Monkey Island”.
It took me back, away from the recent games of Gears of War, Modern Warfare, Halo and other titles in the same vein. It took me back to the days when Mario Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog, Banjo Kazooie, and their ilk ruled the gaming day. It also left a faint imprint of Paper Mario due to the elegant “cut out” feel of the main characters and backgrounds. Mr. Darrell Rodriquez, the President of LucasArts said during an interview about Lucidity that "Lucidity comes from our effort at LucasArts to form several small internal development teams and give them the creative freedom to make games that surprise, amaze and inspire,"
From the opening scene, it’s obvious that his statement rings true. The game is quite elegantly done, with colorful backgrounds that in themselves create a beautiful atmosphere. The musical score along with the graceful art complement one another flawlessly. The buildings and forestry combine odd elements of shape that makes the game a joy to sit and watch. But lest not forget this game is chocked full of puzzling roadblocks that must be solved before you can move forward, and as you play the game, believe me, you will want to move forward.
The main character is Sofi, a little girl with a wildly vivid imagination. When she falls asleep she takes you along on a journey through her dreamscape. Sofi is persistent in her quest to go deeper and deeper into her dream, and she needs you to make sure nothing prevents her from completing her journey. So it is up to you, the player to assist Sofi by puzzle solving through the various obstacles, quite literally step by step. The real twist with Lucidity is that you have no direct control over the movements of Sofi; rather you control her environment where she is walking. In other words, your responsibility is to make sure that every step Sofi takes is surefooted.
To my satisfaction, the controller functions were very simple and easy to learn, so it was a very short learning curve to master the controls. However, don’t let the beautiful scenery and hypnotic music lull you into complacency, as you progress through the chapters the game becomes increasingly more difficult. In one of the earlier chapters I found myself failing Sofi repeatedly in one area. I finally had to take a deep breath, focus harder and I was able to see her through.
Let’s be clear with Lucidity, not everyone will enjoy this game. But, it offers a great change of pace from the everyday, and is most definitely challenging. The game is gorgeous to look at, with great music that adds to the fantastical mood of the game. I have no reservation in recommending Lucidity, especially for those gamers looking for a real change of pace. The game does exhibit a new direction, as well as original creativity with obvious care and special attention to not only the characters of the game, but all other elements such as music and background design. Great job LucasArts, I look forward to what you come up with next.
Chet Lynch
Lucidity, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade 
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Reader Comments (2)
I bought the PC version trough Steam, 10 dollars is expensive for the ones that are just going trough each level one single time, to collect all of the fireflies you would need to invest a lot of time, right now the top achievement leaders in steam have invested weel over 30 hours of gameplay
I do like the game, but as you said, it can get very frustrating
Thanks Jiff. I am getting a full understanding of what you meant by "frustrating". As I stated in my review, the game is beautiful, and although frustrating I still have a good time playing it. Tim and I will have to check out Steam and the achievement levels for some of the players. Thanks for commenting.