Randall

Review

Where I am? Oh my god, I am confined in the dark . . . in a coffin! What’s that tiny light above my foot? I may be able to break through . . . that’s it, kick it as hard as you can under the light. Come on harder and harder! Yes, I did it - I broke through, but what’s wrong with my head? I have a massive headache and I still don’t know where I am!

Randall is a platformer game where you take control of a slightly schizophrenic character who has telepathic abilities and needs to find his way through the city of Nook to escape and survive!

After Randall breaks through his cosy stone coffin, he will go through an intense tutorial where he will learn how to jump on walls, dash, hop and fight, to start with. I’ll say it up front, this game is very challenging and you might find some new words in your vocabulary. Well, I certainly did!

After successfully finishing the tutorial, Randall will start his journey at the academy of Nook, which is one of the six locations he has to visit. The other five destinations include the city, the prison, the factory, the catacombs and the recycle plant. Each of these locations has a couple of areas to explore and Randall has to find keys to unlock doors, both within the area and to new destinations, after beating the boss of the stage. In each of the locations, Randall will find maps monitors. They will show him a rough diagram of the level where he will be able to see where the teleports and access doors are located. When he finds a teleport, he will be able to transport himself back to a specific area without having to renegotiate all the obstacles. Each of the destinations has collectables to find; some will upgrade your life gauge and telepathic abilities, while others, such as newspapers, do not add a thing to your character at all and are very difficult to pick up.

The gameplay is very challenging as I mentioned above. In the nutshell our dear schizophrenic friend will have to go through rooms (sections, if you like) and avoid obstacles. Electric wires, gas, fire, saws and other nasty things, and let me tell you, deaths are fairly frequent in this game. In some sections within the level, two glass doors will appear on both sides of the screen. At this point, he will have to fight several enemies and despatch them for the door to disappear. It will be hand-to-hand fighting and later on, Randall will be able to stun his enemies too.   When you successfully explore and find the exit of each place, Randall will be facing a boss, and after defeating him he’ll be able to move on to the next destination. The levels are well-designed and challenging to say the least!

Graphically, I find this game decent and the soundtrack is good too. I think the controls could have been smoother and it is better by a mile to use the gamepad rather than the keyboard.