Starlight is quite the oddity. It’s a puzzle-platformer that revolves around the idea of shifting between two different planes, allowing the protagonist to pass through walls and navigating seemingly impassable obstacles. All the while, there’s a striking visual style on show, with scenic photos as backdrops and hand-scribbled characters.

Intriguing, but not all that entertaining thanks to some poor design. The method for unlocking levels and the lack of explanation regarding what you’re actually meant to be doing is all rather messy, and may well turn potential players off at the first hurdle. It’s a strange mix of both interesting and sloppy design choices.

GAMEPLAY

Besides walking and jumping, the protagonist can switch between planes in the world, making objects appear that were originally faded out. When a wall is in the way, he can simply swap planes and watch straight through it.

However, the idea is to swap between planes as few times as possible – higher scores are awarded for players who swap a small number of times. Hence, finding the best routes without having to swap too many times is the key. It can be pretty rewarding to work out the perfect route, as there are so many different platforms and directions to take.

To complete a level, all the stars must be collected. These can be on either plane, so again managing your number of swaps can be tricky. It all starts off pretty simple, but eventually bad guys are added, spike balls litter the levels and more complex elements are introduced. There are plenty of lovely ideas on show, and level design is interesting enough.

However, the way it is all put together isn’t so hot. First off, apart from a box of text at the start which briefly explains shifting between planes, there isn’t much explanation available at all. I had to work out myself that swapping fewer times led to better scores, and it’s not initially obvious that all the stars must be collected to proceed to the next level.

It would be nice if progression wasn’t so linear as well. All three worlds are selectable from the beginning, but going into world 2 or 3 simply shows locked levels – you must complete each level one by one to unlock the next. This is fine, but it seems like the kind of game that would benefit from offering a few levels at a time, especially as some of the later levels can be a little frustrating.

However, this frustration is doused slightly by the quick respawn nature of play. There are no lives, and when you die the hero is simply placed down right before the area where it happened. It’s a risky strategy, but this particular setup works very well indeed.

STYLE

Starlight melds a few different ‘out there’ visual ideas together to interesting effect. Backdrops are in fact photos of forest and fauna scenes, while the game objects appear to be all hard-drawn in a scribbled style.

Visually striking, although I don’t think I’d go as far as to say that I liked it. It’s definitely something different, but more of a passing ‘hmm’ than a ‘wow’.

The music, on the other hand, is a long ‘hmmmmmm’. The guitar track that plays throughout is a little tedious and not at all enjoyable to listen to, and there are no in-game sound effects to let you know you’ve swapped planes or died. Very odd, and not in a good way.

STORY

There isn’t a story to Starlight, but since the main character likes a little alien-like and you’re collecting stars, I’m sure you can come up with your own premise.

OTHER

Starlight is something just that little bit different for the Xbox Marketplace, and it’s worth downloading the demo and seeing what you think. With a bit more substance and a better interface, it could well be an XBLIG you should look into.

As it is now, the game definitely has its problems. At 240 MS points ($3), Starlight is one of the more expensive Xbox Live Indie Games available, so make sure you try the trial before spending the cash.

Buy/Try