Portabliss: Loop Raccord (iPad)
Did you know that you can download handheld games now? That's amazingly convenient! The only inconvenient part of it is finding the right games to buy -- and that's where we come in, with our Portabliss column. In each installment, we'll tell you about a downloadable game on the iPhone, iPad, Android device, DSi, 3DS, PSP, etc. Today: Loop Raccord.
As much as we critics push game developers to create new, exciting game mechanics, we rarely have many good suggestions for what those should be.
"You know, just make it ... differenter! With different ... stuff."
Today's Portabliss, Loop Raccord, is a good reminder of just how much undiscovered territory there is to explore.
The latest from Plural Games, which brought us the oddly compelling UFO on Tape, Loop Raccord is most accurately described as a video syncing game. The specific mechanics of that are perhaps best explained by the following video, but damn it, I'm a professional and I have to try.
In Loop Raccord, you'll attempt to sync a series of public domain video clips one by one. Specifically, you're syncing movement, setting it up so an imaginary momentum is transferred from the first image to the last. A cartoon cat kicks the right side of the screen, and you have to shuttle through frames in the clip of a patron catching a beer sliding across a bar to make it seem as though the kick is what started the glass sliding. You know ... stuff like that.
You know what? You should maybe just watch the video.
It's hard to understand without playing it, but when you're talking about new frontiers in game design, isn't that exactly what you'd want?
Loop Raccord is available on iTunes for $2.99 for the iPad. We're always looking for new distractions. Want to submit your game for Portabliss consideration? You can reach us at portabliss aat joystiq dawt com.
