Dark Game Review – Maize
Review by Casey Douglass
Maize is a PC
game that I’d never heard of until it came as part of a Humble
Monthly Bundle a while ago. It looked interesting, but it took a
period of “not knowing what I fancied playing” to eventually get
to it. I finished it yesterday and I’m very glad that I gave it a
chance.
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| How corny! |
Maize is a
first-person puzzle game set in and around a farm that just happens
to grow corn. I know! The difference between this corn and the more
usual variety however, is that it talks and moves around. Sciency
shenanigans have been afoot, and you, the silent player character,
get to run around solving everyone else’s problems, as is often the
case in this kind of game.
You will do a lot of
walking, but I have to admit that it only became monotonous during a
few moments of backtracking. The environment is quirky and strange
enough that even when you find yourself lost in the maze of maize
created by the cornfields, you probably won’t mind too much. The
game has a strange humour that seems to follow you everywhere you go,
making you feel a little like you are in some retro 80’s comedy
horror or sci-fi film.
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| A nice little helicopter! |
The humour itself did
make me chuckle on a good few occasions, but some of it did fall a
little flat. I’m a hard audience to please though, I didn’t find
Deadpool particularly funny. I know, I’m a freak apparently.
Once you’ve met your bad-tempered teddy-bear companion Vladdy though,
things improve a little. He has a single tall grappling claw-arm
thing that pokes out of his backpack. One of the sentient corn people
calls him “A nice little helicopter!” or words to that affect. I
don’t know why but that tickled me, especially as the bear is
always calling everything and everyone idiotic and stupid.
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| Some of the non-usable items are funny too. |
The puzzles are
relatively straightforward, just a case of hoovering up all the
objects you find that happen to be collectable (a fact that Vladdy mocks you about on more than one occasion: “Oh more trash!”).
Early on, you need to unlock a large metal door. Part of this
involves getting a hand print. You find a severed hand but it’s in
a protective glove, so you have to put a plug in a sink and use oil
you found elsewhere to fill it. You pop the severed glove-hand into
this and the hand comes free. Simple. There are also puzzles where
you have to make things from a collection of items. This is done by
putting them in set spaces on tables or benches. It’s all very
clear and straightforward if you have all the objects needed.
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| Is Hitch-cornian a word? |
The game didn’t seem
to have a map, so when something referenced going to a certain place,
I
couldn’t always think of where it might be. Thankfully the game
blocks off some paths at different times, quite aggressively so later
on, but makes light of the fact. The game doesn’t take itself very
seriously, as you might have guessed by now.
The visuals are fine.
They won’t have your jaw dropping in awe but they do create the
sense of a strange world, a world of golden maize, morbid discoveries
and underground secrets. The audio is just about the same level,
although I must admit that the voice acting is very good and should
be highlighted as a strong point.
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| The Queen of the Corn with Little Helicopter. |
Maize is a gem
of a game that I remembered I owned at just the right moment. I’d
been bouncing off other games and generally struggling with
depression more than usual. Maize proved to be perfect for me
at that time, but even without these other elements, I’m sure it’s
a game I’d have enjoyed whenever I played it. It took around three
hours to complete, and I found the non-threatening flow of events
perfect. There is nothing that can hurt the player, it is literally a
story-puzzle game.
Maize was
created by Finish Line Games and is currently available on Steam for £14.99. I’m not sure I can recommend it at full price, but if you
see it on a decent sale it’s well worth up to a fiver, in my
opinion.
