The Sun and Moon (PlayStation 4) Second Opinion Review

The concept of the game revolves around controlling a ball of sorts around a range of platforming levels. A spherical black hole depicts the end of the stage. En route to reaching it, three pixelated balls need to be collected. The aim of collecting these balls, and the difficulty of doing so, is the basis for which the interesting control scheme comes to life. The controlled ball is able to move through the various platforms and other physical obstructions, thus eliminating their use as an obstacle. The ball can also "dive" into the ground and turn that downward spiral into a launching pad that can elevate the ball to new heights, reaching higher areas.

In order to do this, the ball can "phase" into the ground and use that sense of gravity to propel itself into the air. The greater the distance the ball is from the ground, the higher it will be able to jump. Using this logic, some stages are designed with heights in mind, requiring some quick thinking to logically guide the ball to the top. Other stages take on a more lateral design, with a more traditional sense of platforming; however, there is always a twist in every stage designed to enforce the gravity mechanics on the ball. Spikes are obstacles which cannot be passed through, serving as a true barrier, around which the ball must navigate in a variety of different and clever ways.

Each stage is connected on a grid, with branching paths that lead to newer stages. Because of this design, not all the stages need to be completely linearly. In other words, if some stages become too difficult to pass, then other stages can be attempted in a bid to ensure that the player rarely feels like they have hit a brick wall. The stages are also split into various phases, with each phase introducing a new game mechanic for those sections of levels. While these mechanics do not change the way that the ball is controlled, they do allow for new ways of thinking to complete the stages. This causes the difficulty to ramp up quite quickly, bringing with it many frustrating moments and unbridled anger.

While the game is built upon using a lot of skill to accomplish its objectives, some of the levels were extremely frustrating due to their reliance on luck. This is not a game for the faint of heart; there will be many deaths. Dying will be so common in this title that it will require a lot of patience to try to master everything that it has to offer. While some game mechanics are interesting new features to play with, sometimes they cause a lot of death due to the inability to see the player-controlled ball on the screen.

One level in particular required a lot of jumping through constantly moving pillars, as well as navigating the various platforms to collect the three pixels in order to open up the gateway to complete the stage. If that sounded really heavy and confusing, it is because it is. While it may have sounded great on paper, with the constant action on the screen, it was hard to find the controlled ball - a challenge made even harder by the clashing visuals and colour palette used for that stage.

The stages have a timer, which aims to increase the challenge by trying to beat the stage in the quickest times. While it is optional, there are three different times to beat in each stage, which employ a three-tiered medal rating. Instead of having gold, silver and bronze medals, there are suns, stars and moons, which are collected depending on which time was beaten. The Sun and Moon is already quite a difficult game to complete without having the added challenge of the times. Thus, these would serve platforming purists well.

It is a basic premise that relies solely on its simplicity to learn, and its experimental nature. With an easy learning curve, the simple game mechanics allow The Sun and Moon to be a pick-up-play title that can be played in short bursts. The simplicity even extends to the look and sound. The stage design looks like it was drawn on a vector grid, with gradients of two colours serving as the background, while the music is quite repetitive and lacks any substance. The colour palettes change with each phase to signify a new area and give off a sense of progression, but their simplicity is also their downfall. Sometimes the colours can be very boring and devoid of any motivation, while at other times, they can clash horrendously, making the entire series of stages nearly unbearable to play through.