Color Guardians (PC) Review

Upon playing Color Guardians, it feels like the result of a gamer mash-up conversation. "What if Mario and Temple Run had a baby, and then threw in a colour-changing mechanic, like in Ikaruga or Outland?" This sort of mash-up has been shown to be effective before. Without these kinds of conversations, games like Kingdom Hearts and Darksiders would not exist. While Color Guardians does not quite hit that pantheon, it does show the formula not only works, but can be a very enjoyable experience.

Jumping into Color Guardians is highly atypical. A tutorial level teaches the game mechanics, which, for an auto-runner, are fairly deep. On the gameplay front, this is actually a good example of adding mechanics to a genre many have scoffed at as dead. Controls definitely come at a price, as getting used to quickly switching lanes is more frustrating than it is empowering. A very fortunate checkpoint system does keep down the urge to rage quit the fairly long levels, and checkpoints are spread out enough to keep the challenge alive.

Running occurs in three lanes, moving from the back of the screen to the front, not left to right. There are mushrooms along the way that allow jumping, as long as the colour of the mushroom is the same as the player's colour. Changing colours occurs on the fly, mapped to three keyboard buttons, which can lead to early frustration. Lanes must be changed to avoid death, and it is frequently expected to change colours and lanes simultaneously. This would probably be much easier on a controller, but on a keyboard frequently leads to frustration.

The soundtrack is very engaging. Almost as though ripped from every 90s platformer, it is bouncing, happy, and when it needs to be, low key and threatening. The music fits the feel and aesthetic of each level individually so well it feels like the work of a master composer. It's definitely the high point of the game, and is a fun, bumping soundtrack worth purchasing on its own.

The graphics are, unfortunately, very much one of the lower points. Again, feeling highly ripped from other games in the platforming genre, characters look like a cross between Crash Bandicoot's later years and the somewhat obscure 80s cartoon Snorks. While the characters may be cute, they are incredibly lifeless, feeling like they were drawn as archetypes of what the developer thought "cute" meant. The levels are also bland, with little variety in the way of environment art. It comes down to: once it's been shown once, expect it to appear over and over again.

The world map is a nice touch, and Color Guardians uses it to the best of its ability. Laid out almost like a level unto itself, the world map is an oft forgotten relic of the ghost of video games past. To see it used, and used so well, in a modern game is a very nice touch seldom seen anymore. While it isn't a particularly fascinating looking map that simply allows the player to see how much progress they've made in any given world, it is nice to see its inclusion into the game.

All in all, Color Guardians falls into an uncomfortable mix of medium fun gameplay, very well executed music, and less than stellar graphics. It is a game, though it never reaches a happy medium where it can be thoroughly enjoyable, or wholly bad. Because of this, it never kicks up the dirt and gives off the feeling of the start of an adventure. It feels more like mercilessly pushing until the level ends or a checkpoint is reached.

With the game's mechanical complexity, it wouldn't be suited for mobile releases. This is unfortunate, because Color Guardians feels like it would be better played in quick bursts. Don't get too excited booting it up the first time, because its appeal doesn't last very long.