Calum Petrie reviews Expand…
Expand is not your usual type of game; it lingers somewhere between the simplicity of an early 80’s adventure game and a modern brain teaser. The combination makes for a deliciously addictive mix of basic gameplay complemented by frustrating trial and error, with the fear your controller is not long for this world.
It is easier to explain what Expand is, rather than giving a lot of vague interpretations, so here it goes. Expand is a puzzle game with the most basic and simple concept of all time – you have to get from A to B. That sounds easy enough, does it not?
Well in fact it is, at least for the first few levels, then the challenge of the game comes in and B is the ever moving and changing point on screen that becomes harder and harder to get to with every maze you have to navigate. The game will put you in a series of mazes; the player must reach the end without damaging yourself on the shape shifting maze board or the red highlighted sections of the screen.
The most noticeable thing about the game is your player avatar, which is a little pink square having to traverse the white sections of the screen. The game’s controls are not anything ground breaking or genre defining, instead it is a simple concept delivered extremely well. One of the most bizarre things to take on board about the game is that players never actually leave the screen ever. The box is thrown about the room and the screen around you morphs and manoeuvres itself into the shapes and mazes it requires you to solve. Players will literally be looking at part of the same screen from beginning to end of the game, the player’s character can only exist on the white sections of the maze and if you lose your way then the game resets you to the last checkpoint. A checkpoint is never too far away, yet still far enough away that sometimes you might want to send your controller into the afterlife.
A brilliant thing about Expand is that no matter how frustrated or annoyed you may get, the game is beatable. There are no unfair enemies in the game that will troll you; it is very much a game about patience and learning from your mistakes. There are many times where you might complete a maze just that little bit earlier, but with a risk. Other times you can play it safe and take a few extra seconds and not risk playing a two-minute section of infuriatingly delicious maze dodging all over again.
There is nothing much more to be said about the game’s visual style: it does boast pixel art/block style graphical transition when the maze expands and decreases in size. The game leans more on its musical score than its visuals to get you through the levels, where the haunting melodies give way to something more sinister at hand. The electronic themed musical score gives a depth to the game and starts to make you feel there are some greater powers at work and that there is more story than you would first imagine.
Rounding up, there is not a great deal to pick apart with Expand; the level of difficulty is fair and the game is not too punishing. Players are never penalised too much for mistakes and often a little patience is your greatest reward -it is the Dark Souls way of thinking where players have to learn the patterns before pushing forward.
Pros
- Easy to pick up and play for 5/10 minute sessions
- Great soundtrack
- Easy on the eye visuals
Cons
- Quick, repetitive deaths
- No Quicksave
- Controls can sometimes be too sensitive.
Rating – 7/10
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