Xbox Indie Review: The Impossible Game Level Pack

For most people, The Impossible Game is an exercise in futility: jump, jump, die. Jump, jump, die. Jump, jump, toss the controller, I’m done, thank you. (And if you hear World War III starting, it was because of this game and the rage it inspired.)

It seems silly that a game could cause so much mental destruction, but it is called “impossible” for a reason. And though the original game has driven many to near-madness, it was obviously challenging and “fun” enough to warrant an expansion: The Impossible Game Level Pack.

This was my first foray into the game, so I was a little unprepared for how difficult it was. Once you start a level, you control an orange square that is moving on a fixed path at a fixed speed, and the only action you can perform is a jump that has a fixed height and length. As you travel the lonely course, you must hurdle over an accentuated mess of enemy triangles, squares, and bold lines.

In order to experience any semblance of success in the game, you must put all your focus onto the screen. No blinking. No coughing. No sneezing. No thinking. At this point, you are the game, and the game is you. Usually I welcome this kind of immersion in video games, but the level of difficulty leads to repeated frustration and, as D. P. Gumby once said, “my brain hurts!”

The two levels are a little over a minute each, but I was only able to get 15 seconds into the first one with approximately 500 accumulated attempts. If you watch any videos of the levels in action, you’ll see that they get progressively complicated with the placement of shapes, and one of them actually re-orients itself upside-down, making it more tedious.

While there is polish to the game’s design, it offers nothing flashy or interesting besides the entrancing techno music. If anything, the desire to hear both tracks in their entirety is the only reason why I’ll continue to attempt the impossible. Just don’t be surprised when you start hearing the air raid sirens.

Rating:

Visit the Xbox Live Marketplace to add a free demo of The Impossible Game Level Pack to your Xbox 360 download queue.

The Impossible Game Level Pack was provided for review by Fluke Duke. It is available for 80 MS points ($1)

By Dylan Martin at December 17, 2010.