Plugemons: Part 1 - Demo Impressions

Plugemons: Part 1 is a beautiful 2D platformer developed and published by Bionic-Thumbs for Xbox Live Indie Games Marketplace. It released January 13, 2012 and retails for 80 msp. Plugemons: Part 1 puts you in the role of a Plugemon, a socket tail ball morphing guardian who must liberate his people from evil machines.

Immediately what grabbed me about this game was its colorful vibrant artstyle and captivating sound design. Quality was apparent early on even before actually playing the game. Quality is one of the more important aspects i look for whenever i play any Xbox Live Indie Game. The reason being i played some games on XBLIGM that were so bad i didn't even want to actually write about them. At any rate the opening cutscene shows us the "why" as to why you're playing Plugemons: Part 1.

The opening cutscene shows a huge spaceship crashing down into Plugemon's home planet. The evil machines only goal is to pretty much destroy everything and anybody in their wake. The gameplay starts off with the protagonist Plugemon making a miraculous escape down a hole where he meets his mentor. The mentor basically tells Plugemon he is from a line of special Plugemon guardians who's sole purpose is to protect and liberate his people from all evil.

From there the gameplay starts pretty much. The first section is clearly a tutorial to this 2D platformer. You learn the basics like morphing into a ball and collecting lightning bolts that power machines up. Collecting red lightning bolts are few and far between but power up special machines that are used to complete stages of the world map. Platforming using your electric socket tail to swing from electrical sockets and jumping on trampolines to reach platforms was the norm. Dangers include saw blades on the ground (died too many times from those). The screen filled up with blood when you die which caught me by surprise considering this is such a charming and "cute" game. After you beat the tutorial level you're now considered a Plugemon guardian and start level 1-2.

You can play 4 different levels in the trial version which was nice of Bionic-Thumbs. As far as platforming and gameplay goes it wasn't as fun as i thought it would be. I died alote because of the controls and the animations. Keep in mind i beaten games like Demon's Souls (platinum trophy) and Dark Souls by myself. When or if i complain about dieing in a game alote its not my fault all the time. For instance when i died in Dark Souls i would never complain i always felt it was my fault or something i did wrong. However with Plugemons: Part 1 it didn't feel like that. It felt as if i was dying from some unexplained force that was out of my control.

Aside from the rough gameplay i must say this game is flat out gorgeous. The fantasy world pops out of the screen and comes to life. The use of colors and art direction was full of imagination which constantly kept my eyes glued to the screen. The stellar visuals are coupled with stellar music and sound design. I swear if it wasn't for the rough gameplay Plugemons: Part 1 would be a primo indie game. Practically the entire presentation screams quality which is hard to come by with many XBLIGs.

Plugemons: Part 1 is a good platformer with some rough around the edges gameplay. However the visual and sound design are top notch stuff and i would say check the game out for those two factors if nothing else. Thanks for reading.