Constant C is a delightfully challenging game for casual and hardcore puzzle fans that channels gameplay elements of games that came before, most notably Braid. The charming animations and characters, the inventive use of gravity based gameplay and some delightful humor make Constant C worth a serious look on any platform.
You play as the titular hero Rescue Bot, and find yourself awakenings, or booting up, on a rundown space station. The first problem you will notice is that all time has stopped or be frozen by some unknown power. As you quickly progress through a number of very quick areas, getting to know the basic controls and trying to find out what has caused this calamity, you will eventually come upon the stations long dormant Artificial Intelligence.
After a brief interlude, Rescue Bot is given a new ability to use on his quest to restore power to the fledgling space station. This new gravity power, represented as a glowing orb around the player allows Rescue Bot to alter the gravity of anything within it. You will be able to pull down certain objects that are suspended in zero gravity. This will become the major idea the game will using with its various puzzles.
While this ability seems like it would make the game simple, the challenge lies in the fact that Rescue Bot is as fragile as a piece of rice paper. If you fall from too great a height Rescue will explode into a dozen pieces, likewise, if an object you are pulling down lands on you, you will cease to be. This gravity bubble, having such a limited range, will require you to you your head to solve puzzle, instead of your brawn.
As you explore further through the stations depths, you will encounter what can best be described as gravity switches. These switches, when pressed, will flip the entire game world in the direction marked by said switch. Rotating the entire level makes for some interesting puzzles and really makes Rescue Bots gravity bubble ability shine through. Knowing when to pull down an object, in conjunction with rotating the level, will lead to new areas and challenging puzzles. As you continue, you’ll find the Gravity Remote, a tool that allows for free manipulation of gravity. Think of it like the switches, but now you can use that same ability whenever you want. Again, this will open up new areas and making going back to previous levels fun. One would think the game would become a breeze with the remote in hand, but it only allows for the developers to show off some truly devious, and difficult puzzles.
The minimalist graphics used, serve the game well. Everything looks polished and the background music adds to the games relaxing feel. You never feel pressured, or hurried along in moving on to the next level. Everything comes together to make for a relaxing, yet challenging experience. While the game lays everything out, control wise, very early, there are enough levels to keep most plays interested for a good chunk of time.
Constant C does have a full-fledged story underneath everything. As your progress through the game, collecting various data cells, the game will unlock recordings made by the scientists that once populated the station. These scenes are a nice addition and expand on not only the station, but on all the tools and abilities within it. Being a puzzle based game, one doesn’t usually expect any sort of story, so it’s nice to get something that fleshed the backstory out. For those of you that are strictly puzzle game fans, don’t worry, these story element data cells are completely optional to collect.
At $9.99 Constant C is a good value for the amount of content the game provides. The puzzles are quite varied and flow from very simple to crazy difficult. Constant C doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does take a number of familiar ideas to craft something new.
Constant C: PC, Xbox 360
Developer: International Games System
Publisher: International Games System
Release Date: March 11, 2014
Price: $9.99
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