It’s interesting to see the maturation of the Xbox Live Indie Games channel, with it now having been around long enough that inventive indie games like “Solar” are now getting improved sequels. And so it is with “BlindGiRl”, which I reviewed waaaaaaaaay back on Day 64; a really neat puzzle/exploration game which used echolocation (the sonar-like way that bats and dolphins use to navigate) to solve puzzles. “BlindGiRl2” continues that tradtion, but this time it supports two players solving said puzzles together.
When playing two player, it dynamically switches split screen on and off depending on whether you’re far enough away to need it or not, and even shifts the angle of the split screen depending on your respective locations. Tread carefully because there are monsters that will attack you if you get too close. To avoid these monsters you listen to the reverberations of your footballs, or sing out; footfalls show only a small amount of the nearby area, singing shows more but also draws more attention from potential threats. There are sound-dampening areas that complicate your journey, and glass you might shatter with sound. When all else fails, scream (yes, there’s a scream function).
Should a monster get on the tail of either BlindGiRl or the co-op Boy, the other can create a distraction to lure it away, leading to more than just puzzle solving for two players tackling the game together.
While co-op gameplay is the biggest draw, the 22 fresh new levels and the new puzzles that fill them is probably reason enough to the solo player (who enjoyed the original game) to grab this sequel. It’s the only game I know of that attempts to make wave propagation physics fun… and somehow succeeds.
Here’s what the developer (glpeas) has to say about the game:
“BlindGiRl is back. This time she is not alone. Play split-screen or with a friend to solve echo-location puzzles, and find your way through confusion to understanding.”
Writings of Mass Deduction 