Allow me to start this off by stating: if you are in any way easily frustrated, or do not take to games that are unforgiving, unrelenting, and generally a pain in the ass very well, then you probably should not check out Platformance. This is easily one of the most difficult games on the Xbox Live Indie Games channel. However, for those of you who do enjoy these types of games, welcome home…

Platformance is a game with a simple premise. You’re the knight in shining armor and you’re attempting to rescue the stereotypical damsel in distress… the princess. To do this you must make your way through an entire castle filled with traps, monsters, and all sorts of obstacles that will make getting to the princess exceedingly difficult.

But don’t fret too much. While you can easily die over a hundred times within the span of ten minutes, the game felt obligated to supple you with a wealth of check points which makes progress feel not quite as hampered when that invetitable spike comes crashing down on that teeny tiny skull of yours.

Of course, don’t mistake the game’s abundance of checkpoints for a weakness. While they do help you progress faster, their real purpose is simply to enable you to not get a “Game Over” quite so easily. You see, after the first few checkpoints, you’ll soon have a ghost stalking your every move. Slowly, but surely he’ll be making his way towards you. While you have an infinite amount of lives normally, should the ghost tough you even once it’s “Game Over,” time to restart.

Despite it’s difficulty, however, I found that Platformance was a welcome change in the XBLIG atmosphere. There’s just a single level, with three difficulties, and pretty awesome castle for you to romp through.

The games graphics are also deliciously retro, and features a unique zoom in and out feature which definitely helps with some of the latter obstacle. Additionally, the games soundtrack also has a nice little jingle to it that can easily get stuck in your head, if you’re not careful.

Overall, for a buck, I have trouble not recommending this XBLIG title to anybody looking for something fun — and cheap — to idle away an hour or so.

[Buy/Try]

[This is not a review. This is simple a "first impressions" piece based on less than an hour of gameplay.]

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