Xbox Indie Review: Prismatic Solid

Throughout the annals of shoot ‘em up history, enemies have been limited to a select group of time-tested targets; aliens, aircraft and disgusting amalgamations of pulsating organs and technology comprise the vast majority of objects soaking up destructive blasts from tiny player-piloted spaceships. Prismatic Solid forgoes the classic, overused enemies of yesterday’s shooters in favor of a new evil that is plaguing the galaxy: shapes.

Okay, so geometric patterns aren’t exactly intimidating or terrifying – unless you are haunted by Geometry Wars’ swarming hordes – but they sure do make for a potentially visually stunning game when designed with care and style, and the developer, Heloli, has certainly done so. In all fairness, the shapes are frequently fashioned into something recognizable such as an enormous space worm, but nevertheless, everything has a certain blocky look about it. Despite the somewhat primitive style, Prismatic Solid has been glazed over with some kind of sweet and sugary syrup that makes every single level uniquely flavored and delicious.

There are a few attributes that really help distinguish it from its shmup peers: its visual style, the three little helper orbs that surround the ship and the ability to freely switch between six weapons and defensive positions. Screenshots tend to make Prismatic Solid look rather mundane and pedestrian, but seeing the game in motion is a completely different experience. The enemies are all original and creatively designed and the lime-green rocket ship seems almost lost within this bizaare world of angular-edged lily pads and deadly prisms. The bosses, especially feel as if some tormented child glued together some blocks and his nightmare has sprung to life.

The backgrounds and particle effects are what add real polish to the game’s presentation and are often as mesmerizing as they are beautiful. During the first level, everything explodes into an eruption of orange sparks that fall to the ground like glowing volcanic crumbs. Another – appropriately dubbed ‘water’ – appears as if the ship is flying right above an endless puddle of water. Every piece of shrapnel blown off of enemy ships and even the jets from the player’s engine create ripples in the water; the level’s boss descends beneath the depths periodically and swims around barely visible while spewing out colorful bubbles to attack the ship. The most colorful level quite literally is comprised of what appear to be multi-colored bubbles reminiscent of bright gumballs, and even the token space level makes it look like you are navigating the warp-speed sections of Star Trek.

The other unique aspect of Prismatic Solid is the trio of little helper orbs that surround the ship at all times. The tri-colored orbs are multi-functional and are linked to the six attack options, but their primary agenda is soaking up the hailstorm of enemy fire and preventing the ship from being turned into spacedust. Laying waste to enemies produces power-ups that upgrade each of the three shields, and essentially cause them to sprout tiny arms. The arms are also capable of absorbing enemy shots and they randomly stretch and unfold; it almost looks like they are flexing their non-existent muscles in order to protect your space-lime. Collecting enough upgrades for each of the orbs will encase the ship in a nearly impenetrable web of protection.

Although primarily defensive, the orbs are also capable of attacking enemies if they are close enough. This function is typically most useful when dealing with bosses, particularly the water boss, who is a lot less intimidating when he runs up against my banana-orb-of-doom.

There are six different weapons that are cycled through with the bumpers, and each is useful at various points in the game. Each weapon also repositions the orbs into various configurations, so while the rainbow beam-of-pain is an impressive spectacle, it also leaves the ship wide open to a frontal assault. Some of the less aggressive weapons pull the orbs in tight around the ship and provide protection from nearly every angle. This system allows for a variety of play-styles depending on a player’s skill level and sense of danger. Being a rather unskilled player, I often hid behind my posse and used the weapon that caused what looked like white rain to erupt from my ship in every direction, but I’m certain skilled players would laugh at my feeble tactics.

Prismatic Solid can seem punishingly difficult at first – my first five times I was unable to beat the first level – but it’s a very rewarding difficulty. On the sixth try, I beat the level without even losing a single life. A lot of the game boils down to figuring out what weapon to use during each part of the level in order to survive. Not being the most-skilled player, I found it a welcome change of pace from bullet-hell shooters where I hit an impenetrable wall of frustration and throw my controller through the window give up. Nearly every time I played this game I felt like I was making a progression or found a better tactic to use in a particular situation. Using the new tactics is a huge part of what makes the game a lot of fun; figuring out when it is best to turtle behind the orbs and use them as battering rams to decimate bosses and when to unload on the geometric monstrosities with your own powerful attacks makes Prismatic Solid stand out in the realm of shooters.

It’s a bit of a shame that it lacks a two-player feature, but I can see how that would really throw off the balance of the game with two sets of forcefields for players to hide behind. Still, beating the game unlocks alternate versions of all the levels, including one in which the water is essentially transformed into what appears to be a crimson red pool of blood. With its unorthodox graphical style and new twist on the top-down shooter genre, Prismatic Solid is a fantastic title that any fan of the genre or classic games should check out.

Visit the Xbox Live Marketplace to add a free demo of Prismatic Solid to your Xbox 360 download queue.

Prismatic Solid was provided for review by Heloli. It is available for 80 MS points ($1)

By Mike Wall at January 22, 2011.

About Mike Wall

Mike grew up and lives near Philadelphia and has been intrigued with games ever since his parents preached that they rotted his brain. He studied journalism at Penn State and got his master's degree in secondary education before realizing that not even summers off would make that job palatable. He now works in marketing and is trying to find time to continue writing a book about zombies, aliens, vampires, the end of the world, and a talking cat.