Edge Review — Edgy
Edge may look like an archaic puzzler, but it isn’t. Surprisingly, it is an easy breezy game. Edge is not one of those puzzlers of past decades that seem to favor players going insane a lot more than actually entertaining them.
This is a port from the iPhone, and I cannot imagine how the control scheme was implemented on a touchscreen-based device. Nevertheless, the PSP version is as responsive as it should be. You can use either the analog stick or the D-pad (with D-pad as the optimal control scheme to utilize).
You control a cube and traverse well-designed floating platforms in space. My mistake, well-designed is such an understatement. The level designs are so outrageously ingenious that it made me think Mobigame wrote the script of Inception.
The main objective of the game is to roll the cube from point A to point B while collecting tiny cubes along the way. Collecting cubes is optional but necessary—I mean you could finish a level without collecting a single one, but your score would suffer a lot. Besides, the very point of the game is to gauge how fast you can push the cube to the end without missing a single tiny cube, to gain the S-level rating. There’s a map to keep you on track, but I find it rather time-consuming to take notice of it.
As you progress through the game, you are not merely climbing platforms. New challenges appear for you to face. Every level is a totally brand new experience. One level, you may face collapsing bridges; the next level, there are activators that shrink your cube; then the next level, a combination of both and then some more. Some levels let you in for a wild ride, like platforms speeding in and out, appearing/disappearing boxes, walls that push you to the edges and to the pits and many more. It is impossible to list all of the combinations. The game simply puts your reflexes, mental mapping and logic to the test. What makes this game so easy, though: there are no lives. There are no real punishments other than getting the D rating. If you fall in a pit, you’ll respawn back to some checkpoint. You just try and try until you wander off and continue your life.
I give the game a lot of credit in the “discovery factor.” Completing a given puzzle gives some sense of accomplishment, sometimes to the extent of giving myself too much credit. For example, after completing a puzzle, I’m thinking I’m the only one who came up with the solution…for an n amount of tries.
The graphics are not stunning, but there’s a certain charm in them. There are no power-ups or skills to use. No life meter. This is a no-nonsense puzzler that aims only to have what a puzzler should aim to have and sure hits right on it. Each level seems to have a soundtrack of its own that certainly encapsulates the level’s “theme” (uttered by an alien voice before the level starts). It’s wonderful hearing it, some light version of disco or house music.
With over 40 levels, this game oozes with replayability. The main reason: it’s very difficult to gain the S+ rating. In all my tries, I only got S, nothing more. I don’t know how. Or is it just me? This is one of the more high-priced iPhone apps, and I can certainly tell why.
9/10
“There are no real punishments other than getting the D rating.”
When I was in school, that was motivation enough.
Incidentally, “Edgy” was an alternate title Mobigame tried to use at one point to escape from Tim Langdell’s “I own the word ‘edge’ in all video gaming contexts” rampage.
I’m a fan of puzzle games, and this one looks very nice.
Are t
I’m a fan of puzzle games, and this one looks very nice.
Are these screenshots from the iphone version? Could you post some psp images please?
This sounds right up my street – I’m off to buy it now!
I’ve been playing this for a couple of hours or so and so far I love it! The graphics are clean and beautifully retro. The physics of the moving the cube works well.
If you double-tap a movement button while facing a wall and then move the cube very slowly so that it balances on it’s edge (using the same button that you double-tapped) then a counter starts. The total length of time that you spend with the cube on it’s edge like this is recorded and deducted from your total time for the level.
I guess that is how you get the super-fast scores and S+ rating? I’ve managed to get a couple of S ratings (levels 1 and 2) but I haven’t managed to achieve an S+ yet.
I did find the hidden/secret trigger point on level 1 that releases the speeding blocks!
I think you have to hang off the side of the speeding blocks so that you collect the small cubes while speeding along while simultaneously clocking up some ‘edge’ time that gets deducted from your total time. However I don’t know for sure yet as I haven’t managed to do this!
Any news on when this will be available for the PS3 in North America?
According to today’s posting of The Drop on PlayStation.Blog, it should be available in North America this week!
The game is out in NA. I want to buy this game but I spent my spare money on a disc game and downloads of RE 4 and Cubixx HD. I wish I would have bought this instead of Cubixx HD but now it’s too late. If this game comes down a little in price soon, I may still get it. If not, down the road at some point as it does look quite fun. I’m checking into the PC version now to get an idea of what the game will be like (Steam has a free demo). If you think $5 bucks is steep for this, it’s better then the $8 for the PC version on Steam.
I beat half of this game before stopping (too frustrating repeatedly trying for the upper ranks), but I managed to score ‘S’ rank on 4 levels and ‘S+’ on everything else. At least in the half of the game that I played, the puzzle aspects weren’t all that, er, puzzling. I’d recommend Mighty Flip Champs! DX if you’re in it for the puzzles; Edge is better for the speedrun enthusiast, since its time rank requirements are very tight, and the penalties for imprecise control are high.