Type:Rider (PS Vita) Review

When starting up a new 2D platformer, the first thing to catch the eye of the consumer is the art direction of it. Sometimes common cartoon art can capture a comical and easygoing touch, or pixel art will aim for a retro feeling. At times, developers aim for a certain art style that helps capture the mechanics of the game. Then there are those games where the art direction defines the game in every aspect, where that decision forms the rest of the game in its entirety. Type:Rider is one of those games, and it does this extremely cleverly.

What players are met with when starting up Type:Rider is letters and dots of different fonts and text properties. Type:Rider is a game about typography, fonts, the history behind them, the history of writing throughout the ages, and this one important aspect that keeps defining humanity: the ability to share information. This makes Type:Rider one of those rare educational games. It also belongs to one even rarer category: the great and fun educational games.

Type:Rider is a short puzzle-platformer that shows the history of fonts through very cleverly designed courses that feel extremely different. In the first Gothic stage, everything is simple, yet it captures the religious medieval spirit of the age, and later on, stages such as Clarendon are based on the wild west with a mining cart hunt, and it finishes off with a pixel level where everything is digital and many mechanics are based on old-school video games. This ensures that no mechanic ever feels like it has overstayed its welcome and creates excitement to see what's up next, as every stage feels fresh and engaging.

This great gameplay is accompanied by great artwork putting the theme to the edge and the dot over the i. The fact that the background art breathes of the progress and general atmosphere of each era the game explores and is sometimes used cleverly in the gameplay adds even more charm and mood to what is already a charming experience.