So I just picked up Sword and Sworcery through the recent Humble Bundle for Android. I had been hesitant to try it mostly because of how big my gaming backlog already is, even with jdodson singing its praises earlier this year. Now that homework has leveled out, and I'm spending late nights on duty in the lab, I grabbed the bundle so I could play some games on my MacBook while I waited out my shift. I was more than pleasantly surprised when I booted up the game. Here's a few things I noticed.

First, the game was subtle in how it taught you how to play. It either let you figure it out, or gave a small visual or textual hint on how the controls work. Instead of flat out saying "Double-click the mouse to move," the game just have the clue of "Tip Tap?" to guide you to a door. It feels more immersive that way. Secondly, the game advises you to play in small chunks. Once you get to the end of a chapter, it advises the player to take a break and takes you to the main menu. It's not intrusive like the Wii Sports "Why not take a break?" message that comes up when you start a round. Instead it waits until you're done with that chunk of the story. It's like reaching the end of a chapter in a book. There's still more to look forward to, but it's still a good break point. I'd lose track of time if it weren't for this aspect of the game. Thirdly, the way it tells the story is really fun. Most of the story is conveyed through text and the language used is somewhat humorous in the way it says what's going on, but is still short, sweet, and to the point, allowing for more time in game. Also, you can link the game to twitter so it can tweet the text of a given scene in game. I didn't have a use for twitter until that point.

Even with the good, I'm not fond of the mouse only controls. They work well, but I feel limited in what I can do by not using the keyboard too, but for all I know, there are keyboard controls, and I just don't know them.