Game: Monument Valley, Ustwo Games, 2014, AndroidBeer: CoCoNut PorTeR, 12 fl. oz., 6.0% abv
# of beers consumed during play: 4
Level Reached: Beaten! Woo!
Level of Intoxication: Three Sheets to the Wind
Game
By and large, games that reside in the mobile space are corporate cash-grabs that either feature some sort of lame marketing tie-in, or are engineered to be as addicting as possible. While there is a fun and even serious facet of gaming sprinkled in amongst such a crowded field, many of the best titles are quickly overshadowed by the crushing of candies and the clashing of clans. Fortunately, for hardcore and casual gamers alike, some mobile games are able to transcend the barely-controlled rabble of the common time-waster and become something more. Games such as Monument Valley are quiet, oft-overlooked testaments that not only can phones and tablets offer a superb gaming experience, but due to the ubiquity of such devices, that they can open even more people up to the beauty that is a lovingly crafted game. As it is, the developers over at Ustwo Games have played to the strengths of mobile platforms and built an experience that melds short gameplay sessions with a simple yet strikingly beautiful art direction and mind-bending puzzles. The only reason such a rareified combination hasn't already completely dethroned Candy Crush and similar titles is because King and Supercell actually sneak into your house and coat your touchscreen with a thin film of liquid heroin after you download their games.
Gameplay
Anyone who has ever played a game on a touchscreen knows the kind of gameplay we're talking about. You tap and drag on things until the game allows you to tap and drag on other things. The true magic is put on display when you see what all the finger-work does in the game world of Monument Valley. As you navigate the character onscreen, you'll run up against obstacles that when manipulated correctly, will open up new paths and unfold the level like a piece of 4th-dimension origami. In fact, a large draw of the game (at least for me...) is the fact that you are manipulating a world with "impossible" geometry and must find solutions that fly in the face of logic. Just as in any widely accessible mobile game, Monument Valley (which shall henceforth be referred to as "MoVal" for highly personal reasons) will hold your hand in early levels, letting you get a handle on the controls before presenting new challenges and gameplay conventions. Once the training wheels are off, the game will toss ever more challenging puzzles at you, leaving you with nothing but your wits and a few unlikely helpers to assist you in surmounting a myriad of roadblocks. Said roadblocks include ledges that seem to go nowhere, hidden platforms that appear out of thin air, and enough pressure plates, cranks, sliders, and dials to keep a meth-addicted lab monkey busy. That said, many of the levels--particularly at the start--are quite short, and with only 16 levels in the core game, many gamers may find themselves clamoring for more. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you feel about microtransactions), there is a level pack available with another 16 Escher-inspired treks through surreality. These new levels, as well as the free "Ida's Dream" side mission, feature much more difficult and convoluted puzzles. This quick little in-app purchase will help to satisfy gamers who need just a little bit more, and while some may contend the levels still don't get overly difficult, they do manage to enhance the core game in a number of ways. They add even more game mechanics and showcase new environments that are as beautiful as they are minimal in their art direction. These levels feature everything from giant faucets to platforms that completely redefine the concepts of up and down, turning a simple logic puzzle into something much more challenging and special. Many levels recall classic "4th dimension" works of art such as M. C. Escher's Waterfall, and the widely known Penrose stairs. Such touches are obvious love letters to Escher and other artists and mathematicians that pioneered these otherworldly shapes. Having boggled over these shapes and patterns as a youth, I took a particular glee in making a determined little character crawl around their surfaces, activating all manner of eye-popping transformations.
I'll say one thing, this game is all about the eye-popping transformations. One notable level starts with nothing more than a box. You can turn the box and lift the sides. What you reveal when you lift the sides is completely different based on how the cube is turned, and so you must go about exploring spaces that twist and turn within one another as you attempt to find the level exit. Other levels will have you moving across floating ruins, over serene lakes, stormy seas, sunny gardens, and solemn tombs. Each level is designed to evoke a certain feeling, although, depending on how good you are at thinking in another dimension, that feeling may only be a mixture of frustration and confusion. Have no doubt though, the feeling I got after I picked up a flower at the beginning of a level and finally put it down at the end, wasn't angry or confused. In this, the game likes to give any feeling of accomplishment a different sidekick. Sometimes it's accomplishment with a side of awe, sometimes a side of relief, sometimes melancholy, and yes...sometimes confusion. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing though, because as you traverse through the game, you will periodically meet up with what appears to be the ghost of an old woman. This apparition seems to know you and speaks in cryptic messages, addressing you differently each time. These short interludes work to piece the game lore together and expand your character's relationship with this world while remaining a largely organic part of the gameplay. All that said, once a level has been solved, there really isn't a reason to go back, unless you find it of particular beauty or want to show off the game to someone who hasn't seen it yet. Unfortunately, for all of its charm, MoVal can't keep the ride going for long and once the last door is opened and the ending is seen, anyone wanting more has to either wait it out for Ustwo to make the inevitable sequel, or go looking for more games that use similar mechanics (Echochrome, Fez, The Room, you're welcome...). As to the relative ease of the game, the creators themselves wanted the game to be an experience rather than a challenge, and so, through a combination of necessity and circumstance, MoVal was born as a short, easy game. It is also a game that takes a quiet backseat to style, as early on, if you are unable to read the very subtle visual clues the game gives, you can very well become stuck. There are more than a few moments like this, where it's unclear where you can go or what you can manipulate. Many times this is not because the puzzle is devilishly hard, but because it's not obvious you can grab that platform and drag it over here, or that a certain portion of the level will react to a crank. Of course, all these are eventually found with enough exploration, and they are clever ways of the designers giving small "aha" moments to the player, which any gamer can tell you are golden and beautiful reasons for playing games. Many of these moments come later in the game, when you aren't just moving your little mute-albino princess around in her adorable little dunce hat, but are learning to manipulate the other characters and setpieces to win. These characters include the loyal and strangely endearing Totem and annoying-yet-misunderstood crows who will all become familiar sights throughout the game. Seriously though...those crows can kiss my ass, I don't care how useful they can be. If you don't understand what I mean now, play the game...you'll fall asleep at night still hearing the incessant cawing noise they make when you block their path.
Whatever is it that you end up feeling about the other characters/obstacles that inhabit this game, rest assured the tightly integrated mechanics will enhance the experience of playing; it's just too much fun to bend reality in the name of getting scolded by a bunch of ornery bird-people. Thankfully, because this game resides on your phone, you can get your brain-on virtually anywhere, including airports, long car rides, Wal-Mart-on-the-afternoon-of-the-1st checkout lines, any public bathroom during Superbowl halftime, and even sitting at home, laying on the couch and ignoring the stack of bills on the counter. The game is truly geared to a mobile style of play, since if you're interrupted during your game, MoVal will freeze wherever you were ingame while you take your call, ignore your text, wave off a servant, or bicker fruitlessly about where to go eat. Once you've addressed whatever social/personal situation it was that demanded your attention, MoVal will be ready to pick up exactly where you left off, allowing you to once more blot out the world around you.
If I may be permitted a momentary aside...I think that this is one of the biggest reasons mobile gaming has caught such fire, because in addition to featuring fast and addictive game types, mobile-based games still understand that we have a life. A mobile game will wait patiently for us to attend to our children, run to the fridge, or to answer a text or call from a real human being about Mark, because Jesus Mark, keep it together for just one weekend, will you? It seems as though too many games in this day and age have assumed a self-important stance regarding our time. So many games lack an effective way to pause the action, and many of those further encourage marathon play sessions. Certainly, in Hardcore Gamer Land, there has been a steady push from games to monopolize more of our time. An increasing number of games promote a persistent online experience designed to siphon as many hours from your life as possible, with no clear respite other than logging out. It seems games that are willing to let you play on your own time is increasingly being relegated to the one place where that can never be taken away: mobile. Not to launch into a "get off my lawn" moment, but I remember when the overwhelming majority of games could be paused. In fact, I remember being surprised (and quite dismayed) when my friends and I stumbled across a game that couldn't be put on hold. Back then, playing with friends, that meant the game had to be "babysat" while someone went to the bathroom or grabbed a drink. Nobody liked a game that needed a sitter, because a game that needed a sitter wasn't Super Mario Bros. 3...a game with a pause button and a magic flute. My point is, in addition to being wildly entertaining, MoVal allows the gamer to play at their own pace. Any game that still has the respect to prioritize my time above itself is guaranteed to get more of that time in return.
Graphics/Sound
I know I've already gushed and swooned over the art style above in the Gameplay section, but honestly, in an app store featuring games that explode color like a unicorn in a laxative factory, MoVal is a very welcome reprieve. The color palette is very subtle, using washed out hues and making judicious use of bright, strategically placed dabs to get your attention. These tiny bits of color in an otherwise stark world is one of the subtle ways the game urges you to manipulate certain objects, creating a silent language of how this unique world operates. While the color wheel used here often keeps it simple, don't be fooled. The world that is expressed here is gorgeous and solemn, using the simplest of tricks. All the levels are rendered in 3D, which is rarely ever apparent until a setpiece moves into place or something unfolds from places it shouldn't. The effect achieved is so smooth and impressively in line with the core art style, instead of pulling the player out of their reverie, it reinforces it. The game seems to enjoy wallowing in drabness, often leaving only a single, simple path on the screen; or a striking splash of color in an otherwise monochromatic landscape. Before long however, the player is inevitably rewarded by some breath-taking spectacle as the maze of pathways accordion in on one another, revealing the exit. Other times, the game will paint a specific setting, such as a stormy evening, before slowly changing it, turning it into something completely different before the level is over. These touches add an incredible amount of character to the game and help to create a true sense of place, something that very few games on the app stores are able--or willing--to do. Furthermore, such artistic touches enhance the game, as they lend a noticeable feeling of progression.
The sounds and musics in this game are also top notch, excepting of course for the aforementioned cawing of those bastard crows. During gameplay, all the sound effects are an interesting mix of noises and jingles, and while admittedly, that sounds kind of terrible, it isn't. Platforms, switches, and cranks that the player manipulates through tapping and dragging are accompanied by musical notes which play slightly disjointed sorta-mysterious tunes. On the other hand, as steps, pathways, and other such surprises appear, or when you drag your friend Totem around the level, there is a whole symphony of custom and extremely well done stone grinding noises. Combined with the delicate pitter-patter of your princess's steps, the game is able to evoke a sense of agelessness and enormity that is usually found in many AAA console titles. Aside from some sound effects getting a little worn out before their time (crows, yes, but also the sound made every time you tap to move in the game), the game paints a portrait with sound that again, ties into the larger package and is better for it. The only thing missing is a true bit of music. While the menus and certain scenes have spacey, nearly ambient tones and harmonies that pass for music, most of the game is strangely silent, emphasizing the (admittedly wonderful) sound effects, and creating a sense of solemnity that may or may not be intentional. I will say this game could be easily ruined by a poorly matched score, so I'll accept peaceful nothing over a headache any day.
Story
A mobile-only game...with a story, and quite a clever and touching one at that...I guess I owe my friend some money. As I may have mentioned up above, this game comes with a strange and mysterious story woven through it. At regular intervals through the game, you will meet up with a spirit who will address you by many different names and metes out small tidbits about the place you now inhabit. The rest of the story is told through the environments that you explore and the characters you meet along the way. While the palette of main players is necessarily limited, featuring only the Princess, the old-lady-ghost, worthless Goddamned idiot crows, and your only friend ever Totem, the story they work together to tell is no less incredible. The game patiently tours you through multitudes of environs, crafting in a very short amount of time a journey through a strange abandoned city. Each new level is unique and adds immeasurably to the depth of the world, and while adding new challenges, also adds new places to make the entire world seem even bigger than it is, begging questions such as what the game has in store around the next corner. Of course, while the story is wonderful for a mobile game, some may find the overall delivery too obtuse or incoherent, and may find the plot cumbersome or boring. With an audience as large as the one every mobile device ever grants, you're bound to have some dissenters. This may be the only place on the internet you may ever read this, so pay attention: those people who do not like the story MoVal offers are completely entitled to their opinion and I respect them 100% as human beings no matter what. No matter how incredibly wrong they are for not liking the story and the surprise at the end that makes your chin quiver and your heart swell, no matter that they are complete diaper-babies for hating a story that is at once so subtle and enchanting...no, we will not judge these completely soulless robots who have no taste in music, movies, video games, or beer. Because they are completely entitled to their stupid, wrong, stupid, terrible opinions.
Beer
This beer was discovered during a recent trip to Phoenix, where it was recommended to me by a truly awesome individual named Jessica who just so happens to be a craft and import beer specialist. The fact that I just so happened to meet her in an establishment with 30 distinct beers on tap and a signature pizza called the "Chuck Norris" should tell you as much about me as a person as you'll ever need to know. The beer in question is called CoCoNut PorTeR, and is brought to us by the Maui Brewing Company, a bunch of people who are pretty much my new heroes. They package their beers exclusively in cans, not only for the ease of recycling, but because cans prevent light damage, chill quicker, and don't shatter into millions of shards of agonizing death when dropped. As an added bonus, empty beer cans are much harder to use as a weapon in a bar fight, so it truly does seem to me that Maui Brewing Co. have the interests of their customers at heart. Of course, their choice in container materials isn't the biggest reason these guys are awesome, what they concoct to put in those containers is another matter entirely. I've had three of their beers so far, which were the ones I could find between trips around the area. Aside from the CoCoNut PorTeR, I've had their Bikini Blonde Ale, and their Lorenzini Double IPA. Despite being on rather different parts of the beer spectrum, they have all been quite good. CoCoNut PorTeR also sports an absolutely infuriating capitalization scheme, and so from here on out, since my fingers have already been slaves to the torture that is that name, I shall now refer to this beer as...That Other Beer. If you have ever read any of my earlier pieces, you'll note this isn't the first time I've done something like this...I assure you, it will not be the last.Smell
That Other Beer has a subdued roasted scent, the woody bouquet is thinly draped over the clean alcohol scent and the whiff of coffee and coconut. The complex offering this brew sends up is part tropical capriciousness, part buttoned-down sophistication, and all enticing seductiveness. Even those who may not be fans of porters wouldn't have too much to argue about filling their nose with its myriad spirits, such is the complex and beguiling charm of this beer's scent. The problem I'm really having with this beer is that it actually smells too good...I take a whiff and my head begins to swim with so many different ideas of what this beer might taste like, and before long, I'm deluding myself into a false belief that I'm about to ingest the tears of a unicorn. If I close my eyes, I really can smell the cocoa butter on the sand, the musky scent of a beach-blanket Betty slowly emerging from a brewing vat, covered in roasted hops, scads of wort running down her body...That's it right? That's how brewing works? The problem I'm trying to get at is that the smell this beer has is so wonderful and maze-of-mirrors complex, I get lost in it before I've ever had a chance to sample the actual beer. While that isn't a bad thing, it still gives one pause, because with a smell so devilishly good, it's inevitable this beer had to sacrifice something to compensate. Of course, I know this entire phenomenon is completely me, I have an over-active imagination, and in regards to beers, this has gotten me into the wrong frame of mind a few times. My point is this one has an honest, clean scent that I simply love too much. Now that's not to say there aren't beers out there that are absolute Decepticons when it comes to the difference in smell/taste ratios, because I can guarantee all drinkers have stumbled onto at least one. Those beers are miserable, deceitful snakes-in-the-grass that can go right to hell. Thankfully, That Other Beer is not one of them.
Taste
Fortunately for this beer, taste certainly did not take a backseat. That first splash on the tongue is clean, and only once the beer has spread into the mouth does the roasted hoppy goodness settle in. The taste is full--as is the drink itself--and the maltiness hangs around for just long enough, never becoming too sweet, or allowing the hops to be too bitter. The aftertaste is a little tart and a little beery, but it sets the scene perfectly for a follow up sip. Of course, I must write all of this with the caveat that I do love me a porter, and so the deep, dark notes this beer gives the senses may not be at the top of everyone's list. That said, there is a hint of Guinness in this can, but only if Arth himself took his pet leprechaun and got some sun in Maui. That Other Beer isn't nearly as dark as the Harp, and That Other Beer isn't quite as chocolaty either. I catch a lick of something else which might be the coconut, but it's hard to say. While I realize stouts and porters are in slightly different sub-classes, there are enough small similarities to draw the comparison for me. No matter what though, this particular offering from Maui Brewing Co. is a wonderful take on a subset of beers that I hold close to my heart, and with a taste which recalls favorites while adding a completely new balance, it isn't hard to see why I might raid any beer stores from here to Dallas looking for more. While I'll rarely leave the house, even in case of evacuation, I'll gladly drive three towns over to find some of this. The fact that it tastes and smells so good can only lead to danger, and so we come to the crux of our time with That Other Beer.
Intoxication
Six percent is solidly above average, and it comes on quickly, with a wall of intoxication rising out of the brain like a rogue wrecking ball (the construction implement, not the icky teen song). Words are immediately slurred, turning a simple request for a cute girl's number into Peter Piper picking a peck of pickled peppers. Thankfully, coordination is mostly left alone, and so if you manage to find a girl who can decipher your incomprehensible babble and drags you out to the dance floor, you won't make a complete boob out of yourself...unless you never knew how to dance, in which case you take sole responsibility for any errant elbows you throw out there. The problem with an intoxication like this is not for the normal people who sample one or two craft beers and then head home. No, this is a problem for the bar-hopper or Friday night seatwarmer who has already had a few. That Other Beer comes on strong, fast, and with a knife in its teeth. When left alone to it's own devices, That Other Beer will ramp up fast and leave the speech centers of the brain in shambles. Once that's taken care of, eyesight goes, followed by coordination, and if left unchecked, may end up with a stranger in your bed. Whether that stranger hangs around for coffee (or whether you even want them to) depends on how good of a game you talked last night, so, given this beer, it's important to talk fast. Many beer connoisseurs argue that a good beer shouldn't be consumed in excessive quantity, and I think that beers such as That Other Beer from Maui Brewing Co. have a built-in self defense mechanism. By drinking too much of this too quickly, one risks their evening to any number of pitfalls, whereas someone who is able to enjoy a few of these over a period of time while sitting in a bar or playing some games with friends will enjoy much greater rewards.
Feel
This stuff is nicely thick, and while that can be applied many different ways ("that's what she said..." etc.), it is very satisfying as you drink it, riding a thin line between refreshing snap and fulfilling bite. It is quite foamy, which may not be to some peoples' liking, but then again, that texture is somewhat tied into the fact this is a porter, and so if you're drinking this, you know what you're getting. The foam helps this drink settle into the mouth and hit all the tastebuds at once, but that's before it settles into the gut. Remember above where I said this beer had to sacrifice something? Here we are. While I love the way this beer feels in my mouth as I drink it, and I enjoy the feeling I get as it goes down, once it gets there, the honeymoon ends. The first can of this goes downstairs and sets up shop selling boulders. The second can goes down there and sets up a rival steel smelting operation. The third can goes down and my guts feel like a cement mixer. I'm not entirely sure what That Other Beer is doing down there, but I know I don't much care for it for the following 2-5 hours. Now, take this with a grain of salt; if your liver has taken more abuse than the carpet in a crackhouse, I'm pretty sure you'll be fine. For everyone else, drink water.
The Matchup
Here we have an on-the-go game, and a beer I found while on-the-go. And surprise of surprises, they go together well. On the one hand, we have a game that has a lot of style going in, with a clean look and feel that only hits a few rough patches here and there. On the other hand, we have a beer that knows how to hit all the right notes before making you hit a few rough patches here and there. Admittedly, the problems each have are small, and when enjoyed for the experience instead of the destination, they are both much better. Together, they are fun, complex romps through something new, and they are particularly well suited for a quiet evening on the couch.
Cheers/Game on.