Welcome to the second entry in PSU.com’s weekly feature ‘PS Vita games you need to play,’ where we place the spotlight squarely on a worthwhile game in the PlayStation Vita’s growing library. Last week it was Hotline Miami, which you can check out if you haven’t already here.
This week, we are changing pace to something a bit more relaxing and less violent, as we attempt to showcase that Sony’s handheld is home to a variety of top titles. The game that stars this week is Thomas Was Alone.
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What is Thomas Was Alone?
Thomas Was Alone is a 2D side-scrolling puzzle platform game created by one man, Mike Bithell. Originally conceived as a PC game, it arrived on PlayStation 3 and PS Vita earlier this year and was well received — and for good reason.
The game centers on an A.I. named Thomas who after a counter glitch becomes self-aware along with other A.I.s. Each A.I. is represented by a coloured quadrilateral of different size and ability. For example, Thomas is the most average character in the game, boasting an average jump height. Chris on the other hand, is smaller but can’t jump as high. Others have extra abilities, for example Claire, who is a big blue square, can float on water and Laura, a flat pink rectangle, has a ‘bounce’ ability; that is, any character can gain extra height after jumping on top of her. There’s some innuendo there maybe but it’s perhaps best left implied.
The most amazing thing about Thomas Was Alone is how personalities are given to these coloured squares and rectangles. The narration, which goes on throughout the game and gives context to the levels, is fantastic. As you play the game, you become attached to certain characters and want them to succeed but also dislike others. Chris is one such dislikable character; short, stubby and cynical, you somehow think that Chris should stop being mean to Thomas because of what the narrator says. It sounds so ridiculous but makes a lot of sense when playing. Is the narration pretentious? A little.
Then we have the gameplay itself. The game isn’t difficult, nor is it complex, despite the initial thoughts of controlling numerous characters simultaneously. Thomas Was Alone combines rather simple platforming with using numerous abilities to solve puzzles. Quite often, especially in the later levels, you will often switch back and forth between characters and use their abilities in tandem. The game can be summed up with the old cliche ‘it’s greater than the sum of its parts’.
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Why should you play it on PS Vita?
The thing about Thomas Was Alone is that it isn’t very long. Even with around 100 levels, it can be completed within a few hours. What this does allow is for it to be played in short bursts, something the Vita is great for.
The Vita is also great for image quality and graphics, which are very simplistic but do look great thanks to the Vita’s excellent screen. It is possible to complete the game in one sitting too but you then end up draining the Vita’s battery completely. Thomas Was Alone on PS Vita is simply a joy to play with the top notch narration, or commentary. You can listen to creator Mike Bithell talk about each level and the making of it, or about how one level is known as Robert Downey Jr’s level because he was watching an obscure movie with the Iron Man star in it when making a particular level. Simply put, if you want to be engaged in a story with some quadrilaterals like you never thought you could then play Thomas Was Alone.
Be sure to check back next week when the game under the OLED microscope is swiftly changed once again. There may be a clue there to next week’s game in the previous sentence. Know what it is? If you do, say so on Twitter