Review - OVIVO
Imagine a piece of art that is also a game's level design. That is what you get with OVIVO. It is a platformer where the player uses their ability to shift into and out of the terrain in order to traverse a landscape. What really sets this game apart is the amazing level design that not only makes for good, playable levels but also builds the environment into a piece of art.
The gameplay revolves entirely around the player’s ability to pass through the floor. In doing so, they change color and gravity is reversed. By conserving momentum between changes, the game is capable of creating interesting platforming scenarios where the player must use the momentum built up in one area to propel themselves to a new platform. On top of these simple mechanics, there are a variety of environmental obstacles to work through like areas that temporarily change the gravity of a level, moving platforms, spikes, and other obstacles. These mechanics, although they seem overly simplistic at first, end up being really nice to use and work out to some interesting puzzles. I will say that some of the puzzles were as frustrating as they were interesting, mostly because the game sends the player back to the very beginning of a puzzle upon failing it. In spite of that, I quite enjoyed it.
What really needs to be discussed here is the aesthetics of the game. The game is absolutely gorgeous. It utilizes a simple black and white color scheme to create amazing patterns and strange creatures. There are three different sets of levels each of which follows a different theme. Each theme is different and maintained thoroughly throughout the levels.
The really extraordinary thing is the level design. The artwork itself is the entirety of the level. When one zooms out at the end of any level it will become apparent that they have been traveling through an intricate piece of art. It blows my mind that the developers were capable of creating such interesting levels in such well built artistic landscapes. They deserve a reward just for that. It cannot be understated what an accomplishment they managed in the overall artistic and design side of this game.
With that being said, there is an issue with the system. While the levels look amazing when the player zooms out, they don’t always look as good when playing the game. The camera is so zoomed in during gameplay that most of the intricacies of the art are invisible and the player’s place in the canvas is completely lost. There are some very good looking moments throughout the gameplay, but they tend to be few and far between, except in the last area that managed to pull more of its aesthetics through to the gameplay. I’m not certain how they would manage it, but it would have been nice to see more of the art during the game itself and to have a greater sense of the levels being a piece of a greater whole.
The narrative is a bit of interesting point. I would have completely ignored talking about the narrative as the game doesn’t seem to have one, except… the developers seem to claim that there is some form of narrative on the Steam page. Quite frankly, I saw nothing in terms of actual story throughout OVIVO. There was a tidbit of an idea of progress at the end of the game during the credits, but it was far too disjointed and tacked on to be worth considering. Really, the game doesn't need a narrative to succeed. The artistry in both aesthetics and level design was more than enough to pull this game through.
While there wasn’t any narrative, there were many references to classical art pieces. Edvard Munch’s The Scream and Michelangelo’s painting from the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel both made their way into the visuals. I didn’t see any particular meaning behind their placement, so they appear to be nothing more than references to older artworks.
What may be a bit problematic is the gameplay time. It took me less than two hours to play through all ten levels of the game. Albeit, I didn’t get every collectible, but I did get the vast majority. There are two points to the short gameplay. One is that the player seems to swap longer gameplay time (which would probably translate into more levels) for more detailed and crafted levels. To this degree, I cannot be against the shorter gameplay. This is a matter of quality over quantity and if any of the amazing level design was compromised to extend the game, that would be to the detriment of the entire experience. The other point is a bit of conjecture. To an extent, OVIVO is just a lot of playable artwork. It would be interesting to know if this piece is as much of an artistic portfolio as it is a video game. The finely crafted levels seem to indicate that it would land more towards video game, but that line of thought is a bit interesting. As a portfolio piece, it would be as important to get the player through the game so that they can see all of the art as it would be to facilitate the gameplay.
Overall, OVIVO is a really interesting piece when you look at the level design and aesthetics. The melding of art and level is a textbook case of good level design and the gameplay, although not revolutionary in any way, succeeds at engaging for the entirety of the game. While there are problems with the visuals throughout the actual gameplay, it is not a deal-breaker for this game. The usual price tag of eight dollars should put off most who aren’t looking towards the artistic side of this game, but it is justifiable to those who really want to see what this game has to offer. If it’s on sale then there is no excuse to not give this game a look. OVIVO is worth the playtime.
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