I applaud you, indie games.
I can already tell that you can already tell that I'm enamored with Limbo because you, as my loyal fan-base, have already read my review on Braid and you know that I love that game as well.
The thing is, this review is late because I never picked up Limbo while it was still new. An error in judgement. So I'm not going to sit here and type a full review on the game mechanics, the mood, or how creepy and depressing it is, I'm just going to tell you it's good.
Good.
Good.
Good.
Damn good.
And that's all there is to it, because you if you want any more info about the game itself I'm sure you've either already played it or read six hundred other reviews since its XBOX360 debut more than a year ago.
What I will say is that games like Halo and Gears of war can continue to cram their gaming design up their butts and smoke a flaming rubber tire in the meantime with their game mechanics. I mean, honestly, if a game like Limbo can exist with virtually no mainstream hype and have magnificent simplicity, all the while be one of the best games of the decade, provoke thought, create abstract puzzles to solve, and have re-playability, then the FPS formula of "shoot everything moving" is as innovative as a stone wheel on a dead dog's tail.
I mean common, you have to wonder if anyone is really thinking while they create these first person AAA titles. They use months of development to create set pieces and enemies just to have them discarded and blown up by the player. You might as well shoot at blocks of color these days with how fast paced these games are, honestly it wouldn't make a damned difference if you were sniped by the color blue from a mile away or a guy wearing camouflage a mile away. And who cares what kind of tiger stripes or helmet he earned in 60 hours of online play. YOU'RE STILL DEAD!
Thankfully games like Limbo exist to remind us of the above lack of true quality in gameplay innovation. Thankfully games like Limbo show us that there are new and interesting ways to create games that can actually be enjoyable without 15 minutes of cinematics and "blow you away blockbuster" moments. Thankfully games like Limbo will continue to raise the bar for what we can consider genius and what we can truly appreciate.
Thankfully, eventually, these games will be all what we can look forward to in our playing future.
Thank you Limbo.