Helena The 3rd Demo

Platformers are meant to be tricky, which is why they can cause a lot of frustration and broken peripherals. However, it’s the challenge that keeps the gamers coming back for more, because the feeling you get after finally passing that annoying section is rewarding enough to keep you playing until the next frustrating level. On the other hand, too much frustration can be hurtful as well, so one must strike a balance somewhere in the middle.

Helena The 3rd does not seem to bother with making sense or generally having some sort of purpose, because you are thrown into a strange world right from the beginning. Although you start on foot and from a classic 2D perspective, you soon get to drive a vehicle and even switch to a third/first-person perspective from time to time. In essence, there are many unusual elements at play here.

There is no discernible storyline to follow, which means that you just have to roam about until you find the entry to the next level. On the way there, you either have to navigate tricky platforming sections or deal with annoying enemies that try to put an end to your exploration. While the formula itself is not exactly bad, there’s a serious lack of purpose in all this, which makes it hard to stomach sometimes.

A neat addition to the gameplay is the fact that you get to switch between first and third-person mode every once so often, depending on the level you have to explore. Not only that, but some sections force you to go on foot and deal with the dangers without your tank. Most of the time, however, you tackle the enemies with the help of your tank turret, which comes in handy in most situations.

As far as the technical aspects are concerned, everything about the game is functional, but not very attractive or impressive. Hence, the graphics are not particularly awful, but they lack any kind of positive characteristic as well. Moreover, there is barely any physics engine at work, which makes the vehicle look and feel like a moving cube most of the time.

In the end, Helena The 3rd is about as basic as it can get no matter how you look at it, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Thus, in case you enjoy spacing out every once in a while and you would like to navigate boring platformer levels while doing so, this may very well be the thing to prevent your screen from going into the power saving mode.