Polarity

Title: Polarity
Authors: Braham, Bryner, Iwaanowski, Rosenbaum, Shrivostava, Spiro, Theus
License: Freeware
Website: http://www.etc.cmu.edu/projects/igf/

Continuing my series on not quite puzzle/logic games, this week I am going to mention a great albeit very short platform game. Polarity starts out as a typical platform game: run, jump, tap switches, avoid the electrical fields. Usual platform stuff.



The catch is that your character has one of two colors, red or blue, and you attract things of the opposite color and repel objects of the same color. The heart of the game is that you control your color. If there is a blue stretch of ceiling, switch to red, jump and walk on the ceiling. At certain points in the game, you have to switch colors at just the right moment.

At other points in the game, you have to push balls around to activate switches. To push a ball away from you, switch to the same color as the color. To pull it towards you, switch to the opposite color. A little thinking and careful keyboard controls are needed.

The graphics and controls in Polarity are great. The biggest problem is that it is so short. You can easily get through the game in 20 minutes. You will definitely be wanting more. This is a student project, and I certainly hope that they are working on a full length game.

One oddity is that there is no save game. Given how short the game is, it is not a problem.