Flipside of the Divine Demo

Platformers are usually the type of games that help you relax every now and again, although they can also have the opposite effect if things get tough. Gamers like a challenge, on the other hand, which is why difficult games also get a lot of recognition and maybe even gain a bit of a cult following. However, it’s quite tricky to achieve the desired results, because platformers can either hit or miss, with not a lot of room in between.

Flipside of the Divine is a third-person action-platformer in which you play the role of an Aztec warrior as he tries to navigate the house of the gods, using his limited magic powers to do so. In essence, it’s all about jumping from one place to the other, although things get a tad more difficult every now and again, when you also have to figure out how to properly employ your magic in order to reach certain areas.

As such, your warrior possesses the ability to turn the tiles this realm is mostly made of, by sending a bird to fly over them. Turning them over is not always enough, on the other hand, because sometimes you have to calculate exactly which ones need to be turned in order to make the desired jump. Not only that, but there are multiple types of tiles, some of which are instantly destroyed if you try to flip them.

The game comes with a campaign mode as well, which follows the story of the Aztec warriors and provides you with a sense of achievement as you manage to beat the levels. Speaking of which, the level design is not exactly top notch, since the environments are rather barren and devoid of detail, but you can probably get past that if you get into the proper atmosphere.

The steady controls help a lot as well, because you rarely fail to make the jump due to faulty controls or gameplay errors. Enemies make an appearance as well in the later levels, so you have to deal with them too, which makes progress even more difficult. Speaking of which, both the enemies and the main character are nicely modeled and animated, thanks to the potent Ogre engine used to render the graphics.

In the end, Flipside of the Divine can get rather frustrating on multiple occasions, but the overall gameplay is fun enough to be worth a try. Not only that, but the subject is intriguing as well, even if it’s not that well developed and the story fades in the background.