Limbo - Xbox Live Arcade

You begin your adventure as a young boy in a dark forest. Like you, the boy does not know why he is here or exactly where ‘here’ is. The world around you is dark and forbidding forest filled with traps and enemies. There is no story or plot to drive you and there are no friendly characters to provide you with hints or information concerning your current predicament. Instead you are only concerned with surviving the hazards and progressing from one screen to another without dying horrifically gruesome deaths.

The world around you is desolate and eerie in part credited to the confined visual styles. The dirty and barren world is represented in shades of black and white with film-grain, with the main character as little more than a shadow himself. In the world of shadows there exists forests, deserted towns and abandoned factories. In the beginning of the game you encounter other shades who, also appearing to be children, attack you with little provocation, while deeper into your journey signs of life fade until you are completely alone in the world of Limbo.

For the majority of your journey there is little to listen to outside of ambient noises such as the falling rain, or wind through the trees, or the chirping of crickets. There is very little in terms of an in game soundtrack which heightens the empty atmosphere. The music cues that do occur are often deep bass pieces that tie in directly with your onscreen actions and heighten a horrific scene.

Controlling your character is severely limited to jumping, climbing and pushing objects to solve increasingly complex puzzles that towards the end of your journey will require extreme precision in your jumps and movement. Limbo is not as frustrating as one may expect because there are numerous clues as how to complete a puzzle and move forward but they do require some thought and patience. Although the puzzles in Limbo are not difficult to complete they will require forethought as completing some puzzles can potentially result in an instant death for the boy. There is no life bar and if you succumb to one of the traps or hazards of the world of Limbo you die a gruesome death. Luckily the checkpoint system in Limbo makes the game much more forgiving, as the boy will often reappear within the vicinity of his death to reattempt overcoming a hazard.

Limbo is violent but nothing overly graphic. In a world of shadows and shapes there is no red blood to turn off parents. However the violence is still strong in Limbo. How often in video games does a boy get decapitated by a bear trap or impaled by a giant spider? Death is often shocking to behold because, while in other video games death is glorified by a game over screen, the world of Limbo feels almost indifferent to your numerous demises. Because the world is back and white and grainy, you are left to fill in some of the blanks, and each depiction of death is only amplified by your own imagination.

Like the hit Xbox Arcade game, Braid, Limbo also focuses more on the journey than the final outcome. It is the experience and connection between the gamer and the boy depicted on the screen that is its greatest asset rather than a finite ending. A gamer can find personal meaning and ponder life and death in Limbo but may not find concrete answers. The game is short, spanning only 5-6 hours in length but once you begin playing you will be immersed from beginning to end. The ending itself is abrupt and shocking to say the very least, and it will leave a gamer pondering the revelation for days upon end.

Limbo is a memorable game that while light on plot or character development offers hours of entertainment but, more importantly, will leave a permanent impression upon your mind.

played the demo and was quite impressed with this review. good job.

Thank you Zimes!

I have no way of seeing for myself if this is a good game or not (PS3 fanboy 4 evar) but it looks creepy as hell.

Also, to make this a game review I need scores for each category. Check out any of our game reviews for the categories that need a score + a brief reiteration of why the score is what it is. "5" = AVERAGE!!

Hey, ONOE, you need scores or me no postey review.

Man this game looks creepy as all hell in black and white. The review should have been a lot longer though because this is really short compared to everything else written on this website.

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Ah crap, this review preview escaped from our CONTRIBUTOR'S CORNER area.

Oh well, now the world knows what to expect next.

My apologies.

Graphics: 8 Although the graphics are simple they effectively convey a sense of lonliness, danger and dread.

Sound: 8 Sometimes no sound is the appropriate sound. There is very little music but the sound effects create a frightening atmosphere.

Gameplay: 6 Although the deathtraps in Limbo are unforgiving the game is well balanced with minimal backtracking. The puzzles are simple but they do require some aforethought.

Story: 4 There is little exposition in terms of an actual story. I would have given a lower score for Limbo's lack of a story except that the ending will haunt you for hours after you are finished playing.

Replay Value: 3. There is probably little reason to revisit Limbo after you finish the game the first time through because you will know the puzzles and the outcome of the story.

Multiplayer: Not applicable

Overall: 7 Limbo is a beautiful game but it is also very simple and it lacks a story and replayability. Regardless, for an Xbox Live Arcade game Limbo is a must have.

Can I also add the following to the beginning of my review?
Uncertain of his sister’s fate, a boy enters LIMBO.

I averaged out my scores for Limbo but I was disappointed that it averaged out to be less than a '6'. I realize that a 6 on Cheshire cat studios is still above average but Limbo deserves much more than a 6.

I was reading other game review sites and they have an additional category called PRESENTATION. If I could give Limbo a Presentation score it would be a 9 or a 10 because it felt like a very whole experience and it presented itself well as a horror puzzle game. Perhaps we may add a Presentation field?

I have an xbox and I hear good stuff about Limbo. I was waiting to hear if it was good from someone I trusted. I really was. 1200 points is expensive for a game but if it is good then I will buy it. How many hours long is the game?