SA reviews "Seeing RED"

[Shining Aquas]

As far as most games are concerned, there's a certain line of separation between pure art and decent gameplay. It's certainly very easy to have one or the other but to interlace both together takes some powerful imagination and and a creative genius to truly make the two mix like PB and J. Seeing RED is an honest attempt at trying to fuse unique visuals with pleasing gameplay and although the effort trips and falls a few times it still manages to barely skid across the finish line.

The first thing to be noted when entering SR is the immediate immersion into a gorgeously plain appearance that while not showing anything of great complexity manages to cast the most amazing mirage I've laid eyes on in LBP so far. It's really hard to believe that by simply covering the front (and possibly the back) of the entire level with a thick layer of red glass that such an artistic level design can take shape. Watching the entire stage with a red background and silhouette detailing is so simply beautiful that I couldn't stare at it for too long without hemorrhaging with profound glee. Simply put, the entire level is amazingly aesthetic and again the simplicity of all makes the experience ever so rich. Maraz_Matari should really be proud of his innovative thinking and overall presentation and if anything I highly recommend playing the level if only to see the visual explosion of RED that jumps out at you.

Also quite craftingly, the stage has been blessed with a setting so perfectly simple you could put a small sample in your pie and will cry tears of happiness forever upon tasting it. Simply put, you live in the world of RED and must save that world from the horrible invasion of blue. Yeah, I know that may sound a little corny but when combined with the level's overall theme of being as utterly basic as possible, nothing could compliment it so fittingly like the classic contrast between 2 opposing colours. Maybe it's not the most exciting thing in the world but so far I'm simply seeing a splendid performance of artistic expression here.

Well ladies and gentlemen, now we've reached the part of the review I like to call the **** storm, where I must now point out all the ridiculously obvious flaws this level contains. Here we go:

The overall presentation of dialogue and design of objects is basic, but far too much so in a way that at times seems almost insulting. All the enemies are about as challenging as stepping on ants, there aren't any truly innovative.....or really much of any game mechanics outside of paint gun and paint switches, the whole level feels in many ways like someone just slapped a bunch of random "stuff" together and called it a level. Really, there isn't much to do here, most of it is just running around and shooting things on an overly linear path. It seems throughout most of the level, it has a tendency to make fun of itself often and although it seems to be with the intent of self-ripping humour, but it manages to not really be funny at all and succumbs to being solely self-ripping. Basically, I don't need to tell you that the level is bad, it does it by itself. Also, the last boss.........worst pun in the history of man. It actually caused me physical pain, and that's quite a feat in and of itself.

So it now comes down to this: Is Seeing RED a good level or not? In all honesty, no, it's really not that great of a level from a platforming standpoint. It is however one of the greatest levels I've ever witnessed from an artistic standpoint. Whatever this level lacks in gameplay, it definitely makes up with a lush, beautiful scenery created from such a simply placed piece of glass.

Final Score:
7.0 / 10
Beautiful, gorgeous, jaw-dropping visual experience created from sheer simplicity. The actual level is very less than stellar though. Play it once to see the amazing presentation, then forget about it.

On a side note, I wonder if anyone will make a spin off of this level called Seeing GREEN?

Oh yeah, and Happy 4th of July if I can't finish anymore reviews before then.

[CCubbage]

Interestinly, even though I enjoyed the review I think you missed the most innovative part of this level.... actually, the part that makes the level interesting.

The level has many different bosses at the end (I think and you are randomly presented with a different boss each time you play. Some of these are fantastic, others not as much. But it is pretty ingenious.

[Shining Aquas]

Interestinly, even though I enjoyed the review I think you missed the most innovative part of this level.... actually, the part that makes the level interesting.

The level has many different bosses at the end (I think and you are randomly presented with a different boss each time you play. Some of these are fantastic, others not as much. But it is pretty ingenious.

Really? Well I only played through the level once, so I must have missed that.

Is it based on some sort of random number generator?

[CCubbage]

Yup, random generator. The interesting thing about Maraz Matari is that he was never a great all around creator, but he IS a great idea guy. Fantastic with switch mechanics and logic. So, a lot of his levels play a bit more like idea showcases (of course, his shooter level was pretty darn fun). In "seeing red" the ideas were the "look" of the level and the random endings, but the gameplay and models were absolutely basic.

[xkappax•]

My favorite ending is the smurf one. There's also a secret room where you can select which ending you receive. ^_^

[CCubbage]

My favorite ending is the smurf one. There's also a secret room where you can select which ending you receive. ^_^

Yeah I liked that one! Also the director one was pretty funny.

[NinjaMicWZ]

The visual mechanic though, really just felt like a redux of things that had already been done better and with more craftsmanship and better design underneath the gimmick in early offerings like Pixelation, Anti-Color and Sackhouette. The multiple endings mechanic was awesome for it's time as a novelty, but ultimately it was 7 endings that added up to less worth than 1 actual ending. It was one of the earlier offerings with the paint gun too, but it ultimately felt like a dark matter level with a nice paint job.

One of those levels that wow'd you when it was out, but hasn't stood the test of time very well.

[CCubbage]

The visual mechanic though, really just felt like a redux of things that had already been done better and with more craftsmanship and better design underneath the gimmick in early offerings like Pixelation, Anti-Color and Sackhouette. The multiple endings mechanic was awesome for it's time as a novelty, but ultimately it was 7 endings that added up to less worth than 1 actual ending. It was one of the earlier offerings with the paint gun too, but it ultimately felt like a dark matter level with a nice paint job.

One of those levels that wow'd you when it was out, but hasn't stood the test of time very well.

Yeah, I agree. As I mentioned, great idea showcase but ultimately not a lot of gameplay. But, to be fair, Maraz Matari's levels and ideas helped a lot of creators to be better.