GameLog Page

Please sign in or sign up!

...blogs for gamers

Find a GameLog

... by game	... by platform

[ advanced search ]

HOME	GAMES	LOGS	MEMBERS			ABOUT	HELP

TStanesa's Give Up (Web)

[August 28, 2012 04:30:50 PM]

I played the flash game Give Up today, so I wanted to try out Gamelog with it. As the name suggests, it's major selling point is its extreme difficulty. Jmtb02 delivered another great game with this one, with original idea by Tasselfoot. This game is basically a simple single screen platformer, with the basic idea being that each level builds on the last one with relatively small changes, making the game more difficult. I thought the execution of this was very good, with a mercifully simple player acceleration that allows the player to reach full running speed almost instantly. The first 10 levels served to get the player used to what speed your character can run at, how high they can jump, and turning speed, the understanding of which becomes crucial as the player's input has to be precise to the millisecond to complete the game. At the bottom of the screen is a very large and prominent blue button bearing the almost mockingly bold, white letters, "GIVE UP." Your only companion in the game is a robotic eye mounted on the wall with a speaker, providing witty and mocking commentary on the player's progress through the game. The only hint as to the plot that I noticed (Although plot is hardly an important element to this game) was the robot stating, "A new challenger!" and "Maybe you should go outside and play soccer... Oh wait. You are stuck in here for my amusement." This robot continues to try to convince you to press the GIVE UP button at the bottom with lies, mood swings, every ploy you can think of, and reminded me of GLaDOS trying to convince players to "assume the party escort submission position."

The game's visual style is really a slight adaption of previous jmtb02 games, reusing the player sprites and animations from the game Exit Path. However the comical(though gruesome) blood splatters left by your character, as they accumulated on more difficult levels, gave the player a very satisfying feeling of accomplishment as you completed a level and entered a "clean slate" new level with no blood splatters.

The game was somewhat lacking in production value, but the only problems I noticed was the almost certainly accidental ability for the player to wall jump (a common coding over site I have seen in many games), which occasionally caused the player to be able to complete a missed jump if he/she hit the side of the platform, and the fact that the stereotypical red lasers had an endpoint at long range instead of infinitely travelling until they hit a wall.

Over all I enjoyed the game very much, as far as skill games go I would recommend it to most casual players, although for the player looking for a real challenge, this game is more designed to let the player win after many failures than designed to be a true challenge. This game illustrates the difference between modern skill games and retro skill games. Whereas retro skill games were made to be nearly unbeatable to maximize play time, current skill games are there to challenge the player by telling them they can't win, and presenting them with a challenge they are forced to initially fail. So for a player looking for a game with the fierce difficulty of old school skill games, you may be disappointed. However, I enjoyed the game despite the false hope of a Contra-like experience, and this game is definitely worth the price(FREE).