Journey to the Center of the Earth

We are in 1962. The USSR and the United States are running to send a man on the moon. At the same time, the Russians plan to send a cosmonaut exploring the center of the Earth. Nothing intended yet Ivan Ivanovich to accomplish this mission, which had failed in physical tests and cheated on the preliminary examinations. Still, here he is aboard his exploration capsule Little Orpheus , dropped in an extinguished volcano in which he disappears. Three years later, Ivan reappears and begins to explain to the authorities how he lost the nuclear bomb that fed Little Orpheus. And you will never believe his story.

• Journey to the Center of the Earth
• A crazy adventure
• looking for lost Gimmick
• the apple of the discord
• the technical point

A crazy adventure

Little Orpheus thus throws us into a “horizontal scroll” adventure. The game is cut into 8 episodes (plus a bonus episode) whose shape is very old TV series. Each episode is gratified with a generic of start, a cliffhanger and its end generic that does not directly on the next episode. The music goes out of the tunnel to give an epic breath to the adventures of Ivan. In terms of gameplay, Little Orpheus is very classic. The character can run, jump, slide under an obstacle, interact with levers and move objects. Unsurprisingly, the game declines the classic sequences of the genre with its platform passages, its sequences during which the player is running by any monster or others during which one must cross a zone passing furtively from hideclets. In short, a very classic formula whose main highlight is the humor of dialogues between Ivan and General Yurkovoi, even though I tended to find the game extremely talkative.

looking for lost Gimmick

Thus, the beginning of Part of Little Orpheus is quite promising. It’s pretty pretty, humor works and the game is rather well rhythmic. Yet, the more we move and more a feeling of boredom settles. The reason is simple: Little Orpheus never takes off. From beginning to end, the game never renews its mechanics. Apart from the humor, the game has no own Gimmick and is content to offer what is almost the union minimum that is expected of this kind of game. Worse, by chaining the chapters of history, we Note quickly the trend of the game to repeat the sequence of sequences from one chapter to another, which makes it even predictable.

the apple of the discord

I told you in the intro that Little Orpheus came from the Apple Arcade and it is probable that it is the cause of its evils. Take the game cut for example, with its episodes of a half hour, generics and cliffhangers. It’s obviously a perfect cut for short game sessions, much less when you want to chain. The controls are another symptom of the origin of the game as it seems difficult for the game of prolling the actions. This is visible as soon as the environment must be interactive, but also and especially in some jumps. When you are hanging on a liana for example, you must first indicate the direction of your jump and then press the jump button. A strange choice, but surely explains by controls thought for tactile.

Regarding the service life, it will take you about 4 hours to finish the game, including bonus episode. The game inflates artificially its life for the fans of 100% since a mode called “lost recordings”, necessary to get many success, is unlocked only once the game is complete. This allows you to unlock various outfits for Ivan and a number of artworks from the game by recovering orbs in the levels already visited. Too bad, however, that these orbs are on the normal path of the level, which does not even add a little difficulty to find them.

the technical point

On the other hand, it is difficult to fail Little Orpheus on the technical level. The game has been adapted for higher resolutions and the result is more than successful. Good point also on the side of the options menu since the game can reconfigure the keys, including those of a controller. It should be noted that if the game only proposes English dubbings, subtitles are available in a beautiful language set, including two French versions, depending on whether you are European or Canadian. If one had to make a technical reproach at the game, it would precisely concern the subtitles, oddly displayed at the top of the screen (still a legacy of the portable version?) And which are a little too persistent, all the that the game is rather talkative.

Conclusion

You will not spend a bad time playing Little Orpheus. The game is often funny and its gameplay very easy to access actually an ideal game for a short relaxation session after a difficult day. But it is also a game that is better to consume at a small dose on pain of feeling that its limits are never far away. _Test made on PC by Grim thanks to a version provided by the publisher.