Maroc - 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 19/Dec 01:37

Completely Stretchy – Review

Whether it was helping out the citizens of Barnsworth in Thank Goodness You’re Here, embarking on our very own Athenian Rhapsody, or driving a taxi into outer space in Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip, we’ve played our fair share of outright weird games this year. Fortunately, we absolutely adore outlandish titles like those, so when the opportunity arose to give Completely Stretchy a go, we were more than happy to oblige. Is Completely Stretchy completely worth checking out? Story Our story is set in the Grombi Isles, a bizarre place inhabited by even more bizarre creatures that come in various shapes and sizes. Yet despite their weird appearances, the inhabitants of the Grombi Isles actually lead dull and unexciting lives. When the game begins, you’re one of these beige blobs, until an explosion at the power plant turns you blue, sticky, and… you guessed it, completely stretchy. Initially, this is much to the dismay of your fellow inhabitants, but it doesn’t take long before they start to see the benefits of your new form… and how they can take advantage of it. Meanwhile, doctor Grimble, who runs the power plant, tasks you with gathering so-called Elektros that have scattered all over the Isles as a result of the explosion. Gather them all to restore power to the Isles, and he may just be able to turn you back to your normal self. The story is perhaps the weakest part of Completely Stretchy, although this isn’t for the reasons you might expect. The dialogue is actually very well-written, with the weird, oversharing stories that the NPCs serve up being filled with a mixture of laugh-out-loud moments and instances where you’re wondering what the hell is going on. The issue here is that the overarching plot is paper-thin and poorly paced. We’re not going to hold that first point against the game, because we still had a good time playing Completely Stretchy. However, the poor pacing did take the flow out of the game. While the game is an open-world affair, the main story is very linear and feels disconnected from the plethora of side quests that are far more interesting and fun to get into. Graphics A lot of Completely Stretchy’s appeal is derived from the cartoonish graphics. The character designs give the game a very distinct identity and the pastel-tinted color palette is very pleasing to the eye. You’d expect a game as outlandish as this to go all the way with bright, saturated colors but the soft tones ensure that things don’t become too overwhelming. Exploring the Grombi Isles is a joy, with tons of small details and visual gags to discover. In terms of visual performance, we did run into some frame rate issues, but these were only minor. Sound Contrasting with the overall weirdness of the game, Completely Stretchy’s soundscape is surprisingly minimalistic. There is no real voice acting present, and sound effects are limited to the basics. The NPCs talk in gibberish. The majority of the audio is carried by the music, which is fine but ultimately forgettable. Gameplay Although Completely Stretchy is technically an open-world platformer, don’t go in expecting a massive environment to explore. The setting of the Grombi Isles is relatively small, while still being packed with plenty of things to do. This is a game that doesn’t try to impress with its mechanics either, but instead seeks to offer players a bite-sized adventure where the sum is greater than its parts. The hook here is of course your unique abilities and how these allow you to navigate the Isles and find the Elektros. The inhabitants of the Grombi Isles are counting on you to help them out with all sorts of requests as well. Using your single blue arm (didn’t you have two before?), you can grab onto pretty much any surface, allowing you to climb, swing, and grapple to wherever you want to be. A game like this stands or falls with how well it controls, and while things clicked eventually, it did take some getting used to Completely Stretchy’s control scheme. Movement is limited by a stamina bar, and the physics felt a bit “floppy”. Once we were actually swinging around, the quick motion and camera movement felt disorientating and even made us feel just a teensy bit queasy. We wouldn’t say we were outright motion-sick, but this isn’t a game that we’d feel comfortable completing in a single sitting. Not that Completely Stretchy is a very long game in the first place, mind you. It took us roughly five hours before the credits rolled, and we managed to cram in quite a few side quests in that time. On the upside, there is quite a bit of variety in those few hours. Completely Stretchy is a platformer first and foremost, and you’ll be testing your platforming mettle as a result, but you’ll also be tasked with solving simple environmental puzzles as well as taking on fetch quests at the behest of the citizens. While we have completed the game, we’ll be returning to it, because we do have the feeling there are some secrets across the three biomes that we have yet to discover. The main quest may not have been a very long one, but the fact that we’re itching to return to the Grombi Isles speaks volumes about the game’s replay value. At roughly €15, Completely Stretchy sits at the mid-to-lower end of indie games in terms of pricing, and we’d say that’s a correct and comfortable position. Conclusion As far as weird games go, Completely Stretchy is definitely enjoyable, but not an outstanding game. We did enjoy our time in the Grombi Isles, and we’ll be paying Dr. Grimble another visit in the near future, but if you look at the individual parts that make up Completely Stretchy, you’ll find that the game doesn’t quite nail what it sets out to do. The story is oddly paced and the visual performance isn’t quite up to snuff. The audio underwhelms and the game’s controls take some getting used to. Still, put them all together and the shortcomings of one aspect are compensated by the positives of another. Calling Completely Stretchy a must-have title would be stretching it (sorry) but there’s plenty of fun to be had in the Grombi Isles.