This is the third review I have done for Loved. A few years ago I wrote one for my now dormant blog, then I wrote one for a magazine called the Independent Gamer, and now I am writing another one, here, for you.
My memory of loved is very vivid, it was the game that really took me into the indie gaming scene. Before that, I was playing zombie shooters or Farmville. Loved was the game that opened my eyes to the true power of game design.
What follows is an analysis of the game, I advise you to play the game here before continuing to read, it’s only 5 minutes or so, and it is fantastic. If you want, when you finish, try to go for the second ending as well. 🙂
http://www.kongregate.com/games/AlexanderOcias/loved
OK, so the game opens by asking if you are a man or a woman. If you say you are a man, it will say you are a girl, if you say you are a woman, it will say you are a boy. Already, this game is getting odd. It then asks you whether you want to be taught how to play or not, no matter what you click it will not give you the tutorial.
This game is unique, directly contradicting the player, insulting and tormenting the player. This is something that most games avoid for good reasons. But this one has me hooked.
So, the game turns out to be a pretty basic platformer gameplay wise. You are a very slippery cat who slides across the landscape with the left and right keys, pressing up to jump and down to duck. The narrator gives you orders, at first simple “Touch the statue”, but gradually growing more sinister “Throw yourself into the barbs”. It is the player’s choice whether to obey or disobey.
Disobedience adds colour to the world in the form of sickly pinks, greens and browns. These colours can often get in the players way and in general make things vastly more difficult.
Obedience, while coming with short term problems, adds detail to the world and assists you by changing some blocks into ramps. However, it also drains the colour out, making things lifeless and boring.
Along the way the player is met by two monoliths. These serve as breaks in the story and give some structure, I also suspect they served as level changers. They ask the questions “Do I own your BODY or your MIND?” and “Are you EXCITED or AFRAID?”. Against popular opinion, these seem to have no dramatic affect on gameplay no matter what way you answer them.
Which brings me onto another point, the game forces players to focus in on the words by making the player click them. This is used in question asking, “Are you a MAN or a WOMAN?” but also simply to draw attention to parts of the sentence. “Why do you HATE me?” – this allows the story to be more emotionally involving. (clever)
As the game reaches it’s climax many techniques are used to add to the adrenaline levels. Primarily the text “do not fail” Which gradually grows more bold as the game progresses. As well as the introduction of flying things which chase the player and force him/her to keep moving.
The game’s ending though, is what is most fantastic.
Whether you obey or disobey, the narrator will declare his love for you. Obedience is met with the question “are you a BOY or a GIRL?” again. Clicking BOY results in the narrator saying “No, you are a MAN” and for GIRL, WOMAN. You are then met with a mountain which you climb to the top, then the game closes.
Disobeying will result in the narrator asking why you hate it. Before giving you the choice of staying or going, one way or the other, the player ends up in a corridor walking towards an unspecified goal.
Ok, the music isn’t fantastic (while it does set the mood) and the gameplay is very little but this game is one that goes somewhere none has gone before. And while there are many opinions on it my view is that Loved is a game about relationships. The fact that it tells you that you are the opposite gender at the start is so that you may see it from the other way round; it aims to teach the player how and how not to be kind and good in love.
Love is a tricky topic for a game but this game does it perfectly. This is the third time I have reviewed this game and this is because, just like the game loves me, I love it. And I will never stop loving it.
It is loved.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joseph, or Lawsome, as the internet folk call him – Spends a lot of time making games, most of which fall apart or don’t work and are never published, but the few that survive can be found on his account at Yoyogames http://sandbox.yoyogames.com/users/Lawsome1997. He mainly enjoys writing about game theory but you’ll see him do a few reviews. He avoids games that look generic and would rather play something original than something fun. He has strong opinions on games and can hold his own in an argument, if you tell him that COD MW3 is the best game ever he may bite your head off.
IndieGraph 