I’m purchasing an Xbox Live Indie Game every day, seeking out the quality titles that got lost in the shuffle and no longer appear in the top 50 downloads. Today is day #44, and today’s game is “Prismatic Solid”.
I’ve mentioned it before, and hopefully I’ll have occasion to do so again, but it’s amazing how many great Xbox Live Indie Games come from Japan given the 360′s small presence in that country. Prismatic Solid is another in the long list of Indie Games from Japanese developers, and one of the best. It took home third prize in the 2010 Dream Build Play competition, and deserves the accolade.
Comparisons to Sylpheed, a stunning-looking rail shooter on the Sega-CD many moons ago, are unavoidable. But while both games look great against their peers, Prismatic Solid is the better playing of the two.
One of the more interesting elements of the game is that you pick up coloured pellets left by defeated enemies, and add them to the similarly coloured orb flying in formation with your ship. The more pellets you have, the better able you are to survive the waves of enemies thrown at you. Every time you switch weapons the coloured orbs change to a different alignment around your ship. The stronger weapons have the orbs arranged in a (generally) less useful defensive way.
In one of the more interesting levels, you have to actually slice a rock down piece by piece. In a few others, the level is comprised mostly of things that cannot be destroyed (though they can sometimes be moved slowly under intensely concentrated firepower) giving those levels an almost maze-like quality (sort of like a slow-speed Hypership Out of Control.
Musically, anyone who played Tempest 2000 on the Atari Jaguar will feel right at home here. The presentation throughout the game, actually, is quite excellent.
Any fan of traditional scrolling rail shooters, particularly someone who always wanted Sylpheed to play a little better, should try this game. With great presentation, and it costing a mere 80 Microsoft Points, it’s a must buy for fans of the genre and worth a try for most of the rest of us.
For a second opinion, check out Kobun’s review of Prismatic Solid.
