An orphan goes on a quest to save his lands from a draining force of evil in the beautifully animated adventure Ori and the Blind Forest (Microsoft Studios and Moon Studios, Rated Everyone, $19.99).
Exclusive to Microsoft’s Xbox One entertainment console, the title invigorates the classic side-scrolling, platforming genre of games by blending color, music, sounds, controller rumbling and emotional impact of characters within its two-dimensional world.
Set within the withering forest of Nibel, the game has a player maneuver the glowing sprite Ori to recover the essence of three main elements — winds, waters and warmth — to bring the forested areas back to life.
Our hero looks like a mix between a spry fox and the alien Will Smith help birth in the original “Men in Black” film, and he gets help from the spirit Sein, a powerful orb of light that acts as a protector.
The player has Ori run, climb, bounce, port and jump to forge a path through the forest. Ori can collect items to unlock passage ways and upgrade powers to help maneuver across environmental obstacle courses.
Very responsive controls help the hero accomplish his tasks — he shows some slick acrobatics in response to his momentum — and a player’s correct sequence of movements helps him survive.
Pouncing and charging creatures as well as prickly vegetation lurk everywhere, and the player directs Sein to attack enemies. The bouncing orb spits out energy trails to chip away at their health like focused bottle rockets until the nasty creatures perish and dissolve in a flash.
Life gets easier after acquiring power such as a Charge Flame (a light bomb that can break walls and foes), Stomp, Kuro’s Feather (glide ability) and especially, Bash. This handy ability is a high-speed, directed leap, springing away from objects and enemies to quickly climb or move around difficult terrain.
Players, especially the younger demographic, will love the hand-painted style of artwork that mixes with the storybook character detail design throughout. It really delivers a Disney-esque, “Fantasia”-like quality to the surroundings and often-glowing heroes and villains.
It’s hard not to find the occasional Zen moment between the action with the elegant intermingling of trees rustling, sunlight cutting though shadows, the fetching flora, fog, ethereal mist and bursts of light within the layered watercolor environments, all harmonizing on the screen.
The game offers some standard but infrequent save points throughout but, more importantly, also allows the player to use accumulated energy cells to create Soul Links, a vital save checkpoint at any time during the action.
That’s important, as Ori will encounter more complex terrain and stiffer resistance as he delves deeper into the forest and environmental puzzles become more challenging.
Finally, expect a tear or two shed during the proceedings. A prologue revealing the fate of the child’s adopted mother tenderly pulls at the heart strings while a sweeping symphonic score pinpoints the moments of triumph and distress in near every scene.
Also, any fatal blow to Ori finds the sprite disintegrating into a flash of light and emitting a high-pitched squeal, which might be a bit startling for a child for the first few times it happens.
“Ori and the Blind Forest” delivers a wonderful, occasionally inspiring, family-friendly experience touching on themes of love, hope and self-sacrifice. It’s a colorful awaking of the spirit for gamers not in the mood for another first-person shooter and is available at a bargain price.
• Joseph Szadkowski can be reached at jszadkowski@washingtontimes.com.
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