Alt-Play: Jason Rohrer Anthology (DSiWare) Review

Story:  The anthology consists of three games developed by Jason Rohrer: Passage, Gravitation, and Between. These are not so much games as they are art. This is because the meaning of each game almost certainly depends on who is playing the game. In my case, Passage and Gravitation truly affected me. Passage deals with the nature of life and death as well as the fruitlessness of seeking treasure. Gravitation, which is my favorite of the three, illustrates the necessity of balance between career aspirations and familial obligations. I just did not understand Between; the theme of the game seems needlessly convoluted. For each game, there is a brief explanation from Jason Rohrer. These explanations are very interesting; however, the explanation for Between is nonexistent. I feel like the theme of Between is being purposefully hidden from the player. These games deserve special commendation, as the portrayal of the theme is successful despite the lack of dialogue. With such a simple stories, it is a grand feat that Jason Rohrer has been able to illicit real emotion from the player.

Gameplay: These games are simple to play because the real focus here is the story. I found the mazes frustrating in Passage all too often leading to a dead end. The platforming in Gravitation is a disappointment. When the character jumps and hits the bottom of a platform, he falls straight down with adjustment impossible. Between is far too complex; no explanation is given, and once understood the game is slow, boring, and seemingly has no ending. To reiterate, these are not really games rather they seem to be interactive art.

Graphics:  The games do not look very good, but this is never a problem. The pixelated 8-bit style graphics add to the experience. It is precisely this lack of detail, which allows the player to connect with the characters. Jason Rohrer plays with the screen size in Passage and Gravitation to great effect. All the effort put towards the graphics from the accordion style path in Passage to the shrinking screen size in Gravitation serve to illuminate the central themes of the games.

Audio: Again, there is no dialogue in these games. The only sounds are the hauntingly beautiful scores. As with the lack of detail in the graphics, having no dialogue anonymises the characters allowing the player to identify with them.

Replayability: These games are extremely short, and the only reason to replay would be to reanalyze the stories (sort of like reanalyzing a painting).  While I am sure central to its message, the necessity of playing Between with another person can be a bother.

You can get these games free online, so the decision to purchase these comes down to portability and supporting the game creator. My suggested alternative: play on the computer and donate $2 to Jason Rohrer on his website.

Pros:

• Effective and emotional stories
• Very good music
• Interesting take on screen effects

Cons:

• Bad gameplay
• Between is too complex
• Only reason to replay is to reanalyze

Editor: Zach Felling

Go to 0:40 in the Video

7/10 Good

Value: Full Price ($2)