To the Moon
Oh hai. I’m back again from a little self-imposed hiatus/break with the fall crush of big games week after week. But I’m back now and I’m here to share a great little game called To the Moon.
First off I should say that To the Moon is not a game about getting the max score, defeating your enemies, or even really about “beating the game.” It’s more about the experience that’s part RPG, movie, machinima creation, and visual novel; all blended together to deliver a story. It’s actually a whole new unidentified genre that takes a bunch of techniques from every type of media for its story telling.
Telling a story is really To the Moon’s strong point or only point for existing. You follow two company scientists who use technology to dive into people’s memories and implant desires into their very young state to create a new memories and life for that person. You could say it’s a blend of ideas from “Inception” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”
As you go through the game, you learn more about the patient, Johnny’s life from his most recent memories to when he is the youngest. It starts off very mysterious, and honestly a little eerie, because things are being explained to you at their conclusion with no context. Eventually things begin to unravel as you travel though Johnny’s past of a bitter sweet love story with his wife and his own dreams.
The story is not breaking any new ground but it’s delivery is damn near perfect. It has a perfect narrative arc that builds up with mystery and revelations. All the while it’s entertaining with some humor and keeps you involved with a point-and-click adventure and puzzles.When the climax rolled around, I was fully engrossed with the story and felt a connection with all the characters. The game becomes a little bit more high stakes with a sort of combat section, and I totally fell for it. I felt like I had to win, to make sure that I saved everyone and the story that I had invested in. Which ultimately made the resolution pay off so much more.
Another thing I loved is that every time you jump from memory to older memory, you have to travel by using a memento that existed at both points of that persons life. When the game changes scenes it uses a match frame flim trick that focuses on one object that allow scenes to bleed into one another. It also uses a gamey trope of locking you out from progressing in the story until you have explored and seen all the story elements in the environment. So the experience is essentially on rails and trigger based, but you never notice it because you are always given a great degree of movement.
But the thing I loved the most was that the game goes over some really mature and human—with fallible characters—themes and it can convey as much emotion as a dialogue less Pixar scene, like the intro from “UP,” and it does all of this only using some 16-bit Super Nintendo graphics, text boxes, and basic sprite animations. It’s mind blowing how this game can convey so much story with so little.
Welcome to my rambling blog about gaming.
Baggingspam 