Type Rider

I'm surprised to see nowadays game which bring not only quite good gameplay but also some education values. Type Rider looks nice, sounds nice and isn't really demanding from player. Still, this game is rather short - but at least filled with value stuff and gameplay which won't make you bored. While I was playing it I felt really relaxed. Even if at first it looks boring trust me, it's not, once you will try it you feel magic of this title. This game is worth even full price, hope there will be more games like this someday.

Type:Rider looks genuinely interesting and it had my attention back when it launched on iOS. Unfortunately, after having completed it, I'm afraid it fails on its two major goals: being a good game, and being a different learning experience. Type:Rider is a simple platformer based around Typography. Every level is crafted from different letters (all themed according to a certain era and associated fonts). You play as ' : ', and traverse several different time periods, learning a little bit about each one. First off, presentation. As you can probably see from the screenshots, the game looks unique, and there's no argument there. Despite having a very simplistic foreground, each background gives the levels a very distinct feel, and often fit the font and time period. If nothing else, the game was a treat to look at. The music was pretty great as well, mostly fitting the rest of the levels. One big issue though, is that whenever I alt-tabbed, the music stopped (even after getting back to the game). Well, I alt-tab a lot. And that quickly became a big problem, as I was playing mostly with no music. It would be nice to see that fixed. Nonetheless, from what I've heard, the music was great! No complaints so far. Still regarding presentation, I must say that the interface was awful. This was an almost straight port from iOS, with big icons and way more navigation than it needed. Besides, the settings tab was almost hidden and while limited it had enough for the game it is (separate audio sliders and resolution options for the most part). Now that I'm done with presentation, let's see why Type:Rider fails as a game. This game is for all purposes, a platformer. And you play as ' : '. Despite looking cool, thematically, and working well, it's still a very clunky way of doing a platformer, and it makes it very easy to get stuck in a corner between the two dots. BUT, since the game is about typography, I'll let that one go. The game starts of waaay too easy and slow. Every level seemed just like going in a straightline, jumping above a ponctual hole. Despite getting much better as the player progresses, it's still a game that hardly provides any real challenge. It's literally a walk in the park. You're walking around looking at the backgrounds, and collecting extras (I'll get to those in a minute). It's really cool that the levels are made of letters, and it contributes for the whole theme of the game, but overall, there could be anything in place of those letters, as they're simply patformers for the player to walk on. In each level there are 3 things to collect. Letters (from a to z), another special character (&), and *. The letters are acquired naturaly throughout the levels, requiring no additional action from the player. The special character is the hidden collectible in the game, with 1 present in each level (each with 5 stages). Both of these "extras" provide absolutely nothing aside from achievements and an "Aa" badge in-game. I don't even know why they're there. The only thing requiring a bit of exploration to find (and it's very little, to be honest) is the &, and even that provides you with nothing. I've only missed 1 on my playthrough, and I easily found it on my second try through the level. Then, there are *. Each of these is also in plain sight, but they offer a page of information about the font and time period of the level. These are way cooler. I understand that they're supposed to be found by the player, but all of this makes the levels way too linear, with no real challenge in them. There are some environmental hazards and tricky jumps in later levels, but even these barely feel a part of the theme, and the challenge they provide is questionable. The main challenge in the game is controlling the at-times infuriating ' : '. So, as a game, this is just a very bland platformer, clearly designed for iOS with very short and easy levels, plus a transvesti of exploration in the form of collectible achievements. Now, the way more interesting part of the game and why it made me play it. The theme and learning experience. Typography. That's a weird theme that they chose, isn't it? And yet, it's a very visual one, making a game the ideal medium for it to be taught on. Well, unfortunately, Type:Rider fails as making the game itself a learning experience. Despite the levels being very unique, thematically and feeling coherent with the theme and era, they provide little to no information. Simply playing the game naturally will teach very little, leaving only a vague idea of the particular font's origin and timeline. Sure, there are a couple of pictures of the style and machinery used in the background, but it's not very substancial overall. The way they tried to make it a teaching experience, was through collectible pages. The big problem here is, after you've collected them, you'll need to pause the game to read them. And that's pretty much it. It's almost like "Hey, you've collected this *! Here, have a wikipedia article you can read! Learning in-game is fun!". Well, no, it's not. It's just like reading a wikipedia article with the advantage of having the information a bit more streamlined. And that's not the point of educational games! Not at all. The mechanics are supposed to be the learning vehicle itself, complemented by its aesthetic. Not just making a pretty game with pages of text forced into it. Maybe the point of it wasn't to be the teacher itself, but to simply plant the seed of interest. Make the player interested in typography, and then tell him to go do his own research. Then again, this is not the way to do it, in my opinion. I didn't become interested in typography by playing the game. I was interested in the game because it had some apparent innovation. My conclusion regarding this. I think Type:Rider has an awesome concept, that I absolutely share and support. But, I think it missed its target in many core areas. The game itself felt very separated from the learning experience (visuals and music are not enough). I like the idea, and I do not regret having tried it, but I would not recommend it to anyone, unless they were interested in it as a concept as well. And if that's the case, go ahead. There's a huge gap between gameplay and information. If you're looking for a great game, pass this one up. If you're looking for a completely different and innovative experience... not quite what you're looking for. It was fairly interesting, sure! And it did give me some curiosity about the subject. But I don't think this is quite what they were aiming for, and it will not appeal to the majority of people. Cool first try, but it needs much more until it becomes something truly good. -Great visuals. -Great music. -Great concept. -Generic level design. -Bad port. -Clunky controls. -Interesting experience, but an overall a missed oportunity.

Overall, I deeply enjoyed playing Type:Rider. The game, for those who have not heard of this game before, is meant to be a teaching tool that takes the player through the history of typography. I admit that, at first glance, this may sound like a bit of a boring premise, but I promise that it is surprisingly interesting. Typography actually has a really rich history and it is really great to play levels based on different eras of typography and really expand your knowledge in an area that you may not know a whole lot about. With all of that said, I will admit that while the premise of the game is great, the actual execution of the platforming elements is not nearly as enthralling. You play as a colon (the punctuation mark), and while it does introduce some interesting platform mechanics (such as "hooking" onto parts of the level by landing so one dot is above the platform and one is underneath), it generally feels very floaty in nature. This leads to a lot of frustrating sequences in which you know what you have to do next in the level, but the mechanics make it nearly impossible to actually execute the necessary steps. Ultimately, at the price point of this game, I believe that this is a great game to pick up and try. It's very short, and in spite of questionable mechanics, not overly difficult to finish. Plus, learning about typography is a surprisingly interesting experience and recommendable just for more knowledge in a new area.

In the game the player takes "two points" in phases where the main objective is to collect letters that are scattered around the scene. The gameplay is very simple, basically you advances in the scene can move forward and back, performing jumps to overcome the various obstacles and solving puzzles that arise along the stages. Although such simple gameplay may prove frustrating at times because not always the movements are performed as expected, resulting in many, many deaths, however the game has very varied points of check-ponts minimizing some of that frustration. A positive point of the game are the scenarios of each phase, all referencing interestingly enough and artistic each type of source represented and its history, together with pleasant soundtrack the game becomes very inviting, but nothing that makes it memorable. It took me about 6 hours to complete the 8 stages of the game as the difficulty increases dramatically as you advance in the game. Recommend this game to anyone who likes strategy games and solve puzzles.

Since I saw this game for the first time, was quite optimistic for its proposal and visuality. But even struggling to enjoy it, I concluded that he is average and only recommend it as a curiosity and a promotion. For those who do not know (which is very likely), Type: Rider is supposedly didactic in its function of telling the history of typography, from prehistory to the present day. Only the very great problem of the game is that it does not even attempt to implement the key points of historical events AMONG phase, where it would be required to read some minimal thing before moving on. The closest I came across was a "booster" in the last phase in the form of "panels" with the name of typography and various "Aa" going on inside of them with a different format, then you had to associate them with the correct nomenclature . Only when I realized it was about to leave the stage because he was too preoccupied with solving the puzzle of her. Virtually all content is optional, condensed into virtual books which is also where you select levels. What's more, you only access such information catching asterisks during the stages, and they are not always easy to catch. In short, the basic function of the game is played in the background. To assume that this was done pro Type: Rider not turn one of those educational games that nobody likes, but this seemed purely a design poorly executed. Very badly indeed. And it's especially worse if you take into account that, mechanically, the game is nothing exceptional. I solemnly ignored most of the texts, just looking right over when took new asterisks and a grin when he talked about an art movement that I studied in college (such as Russian Constructivism and Dadaism). It is a great pity that the game is so unbalanced towards esparsar texts for a more enjoyable read (and encouraged), because the idea of ​​learning through an interactive typography is certainly very interesting and functional. What remains good in him is the beauty and elegance of the level design, mixing and historical images based on paintings / signs / hardware / etc platforms with shaped silhouette. Everything from a super nice way to look and, in general, very tasteful. But that's it.