Ori and the Blind Forest - Review

Well I finally did it, I finished Ori and the Blind Forest. There were happy times, there were sad times and there were times I wanted to throw my keyboard across the room. But it is done.

Now normally I don't have much expectations for arty games. I have played my fair share of them and have found that a majority of them are just that... arty. The developers want to make something very artful and they do. Looking upon them in that perspective, they succeed. Limbo is one of those games. Yes it has some challenges and the gameplay is so so. I enjoyed it. I really did. But a game needs more than a few minutes of play. I found Limbo lacked bulk. It was over before it really began.

Now I was worried about this when starting to play Ori. Bel got this game because she likes pretty games and, well look at it, Ori is beautiful.

But unlike a lot of pretty games that is not all. You play as a little creature who is trying to bring balance back into the world. He is the last of his kind as all others have died off. You must go to all corners of the world and restore the elements.

The game itself has really good gameplay. The controls are smooth, and there are so many different kinds of movements. Some are locked at the beginning. As you kill enemies you get experience which fills up a bar. When the bar is filled you get an upgrade point. These upgrade points can be used to give Ori a new ability for a full ability tree.

The abilities in the ability tree are not required but really do help out. You also get skills through the world. These are all required to progress in the game.

Now the game isn't small either. The world map is a lot bigger than some pretty games I have played. Okay lets be honest, its bigger than ALL pretty games I've played.

The red arrow I have drawn is where this next image is...

 

When you get to restoring the elements in each area it is not an easy task. They took me a lot of turns before getting them right. I won't go into what is required because that may be a spoiler.

So my score for this game...

Graphics: 10/10 - These are some of the most beautiful graphics I have ever seen.

Music: 10/10 - The Music paints the mood for the game so well.

Story: 8/10 - I have had better stories but this is a good one. It pulls the emotion strings and has twists and turns.

Gameplay: 9/10 - I would have given this game 10/10 but when I completed the game I couldn't continue to play. It should have offered me to start again with a harder setting or something.

Overall: 9.25/10

 Well Done Microsoft. This game was worth every penny spent.