Sam's Quest

Despite what you may think, there’s more to a platformer than just a series of objects you have to jump over/on, because no one would play them for very long if that were the case. However, many developers overlook this fact, which is why there are so many pointless games being released on a regular basis. This is not exactly the case with the game at hand, but it’s almost the case.

Sam's Quest is a simple 2D platformer in which you have a very simple goal: jump over the gaps and make it to the exit without dying. Granted, most games utilize this formula as well, but at least they try to hide this fact through graphics, a story, or an interesting set of gameplay mechanics. Sam's Quest does not try any of that, so it’s basically a blank platformer with nothing original about it.

Each level is designed to be as challenging as possible, which actually means that every jump must be calculated and executed with care, otherwise you die and you must restart the whole thing. It’s actually quite frustrating that every jump is difficult, because it doesn’t feel as rewarding when every step you take must be calculated.

The controls are very important in a platformer, because there’s nothing worse than falling because the character does not react to your input as expected. Sam's Quest is not exactly terrible in this regard, but there are certain issues that might cause a couple of rage quits. As such, your character slips an awful lot after landing from a jump, which causes all sorts of nasty accidents.

The graphics are sub-par as well, even for an indie production. There’s nothing but a few tiles and a few badly drawn comic strips to look at, so it’s definitely not something to remember.  The sound is pretty awful as well, but then again it can be turned off if you hate it too much. On the other hand, the gameplay is what matters, and you can have mildly interesting sessions in spite of the simple graphics.

Sam's Quest can be a decent distraction if you find yourself extremely bored one afternoon, because it needs serious work before it can be described as a complete game. Even so, the challenge might take your mind off things for a while.