Andy Naylor reviews Child of Light…
Don’t be confused by Child of Light, it’s not an indie game, despite all appearances suggesting otherwise. It’s a 2D platformer from French mega-studio, Ubisoft. They’ve identified the current popular trend in the market and leapt in – with great success in all honesty.
The entire atmosphere of the game feels like a modern dark fairy tale, the levels are oppressive, the music creepy and the graphics quite peculiar. Put it all together and it works very well and draws the player into the universe. The graphics in particular are very quirky and remind me of some kind of twisted dark cartoon which just enhances the bleakness of the world our heroine finds herself in.
The standout difference between this offering and that of smaller developers has to be the battle system that has been implemented. It’s a turn based battle system, very much in the mold of Final Fantasy in its heyday. The more characters you acquire, the more tactical the battles become. It’s a strange twist on the standard platformer but it works beautifully. While most competing games are very linear, there is an openness to this game in between story driven levels. My advice would be to search everywhere thoroughly before moving on; it will help you during the battles.
In a bleak month for game releases, Child of Light is easily the stand out game from April. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable game that will appeal to gamers of all ages.
Check out the trailer.
Andy Naylor – Follow me on Twitter.
Originally published April 27, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
