"Gray and Green" review, created by GraniteGear

Today's review is "Gray and Green," created by GraniteGear.

Story: 3/5
The story is a straight-forward, save the world plot. Mubly is the protagonist, a small blue clay-like figure who is able to jump and walk. His goal is to gather all the color, and banish" the gray", stolen from the world by the evil wizard Murlan (yes, there is a cute reference here...). Mubly travels over three islands towards the wizard's home, likely to a final confrontation with the wizard. On the journey, Mubly will be challenged by a variety of obstacles, including giant biting skulls, gray Mubly-like enemies, gray Mubly-like enemies in pirate garb, and gray Mubly-like enemies in guard outfits. The story is rather simplistic, but a perfectly capable tale for this platform game, since the goal is not to engross the player in deep plot, but to amuse the player for less than an hour of gameplay. Mission accomplished.

Controls: 5/5
Given that this game is meant to be easily picked up and played in close to, or less than, an hour, the controls are simplistic and perfect for the game. Keyboard arrow keys control Mubly, while the Ctrl key is used to interact with the world. One aspect which would have improved the game would have been including a run function, as most of time cost of the game is in walking.

Music: 3/5
Each of the three worlds has one tune that loops while the player progresses through the level. The tunes themselves are fine, but the experience would have benefited from a few more tracks to accompany an overall "theme tune" for each world (ie pirate jig for "Eyepatch Island," and variations of the pirate jig for each level on "Eyepatch Island"). Overall, the tracks weren't obnoxious, and suited the gameplay well enough.

Graphics; 4/5
The cartoony appearance conveys what the creator likely wanted to show with this game, that it was meant as a small diversion and as light-gaming. The graphics are well done for the small sized platform game, easily equal to or greater than SNES quality. The colors, central to the game's story, are given adequate treatment overall, and are vibrant. The background gives the feeling of depth to the side-scroller, and are generally dynamic, which adds to the experience.

Difficulty: 2-3/5
Given the nature of the game, any puzzles are reasonably challenging, but not overly so. The necessary elements to get past an obstacle are pretty clear, given a logical approach. Placement of useful tools (like cannon to blast through walls or propel you through the air, or magic wands which make walking blocks appear) are rather easy to use. In the end, the difficulty comes from the particular quirks of the game engine which make some precise jumps end in poor Mubly's death.

Overall: 4/5

Comments:
Once the player collects the colors for the particular level, all enemies are eliminated, and the task becomes finding and entering the door to the next level. There are cheats in the game, found as messages in a bottle, which rather than help the player, add certain cosmetic changes to Mubly (halloween costumes, fur hats, and the like). Overall, this platform game was quite enjoyable. Other reviewers mention that the gameplay is rather repetitive, but given the music-style and general feel, it can almost be labeled as a sort-of meditative experience. If you'd like to test this game, it can be accessed via Yoyo Games. ゲームをやった!