QUICKIE -- Outland

Outland is a platform game developed by Housemarque and published by Ubisoft. The game combines two-dimensional platforming with a polarity system similar to Treasure's Ikaruga and Silhouette Mirage. Outland was released in April 27, 2011 for Xbox Live Arcade. The PlayStation 3 version was delayed because of the PlayStation Network outage then later released on June 14, 2011. A Windows version was released on September 29, 2014. The Linux version was released on February 25, 2015.

Plot: (FULL Spoilers)

In the present day, one man had started to experience dreams and visions of the past. He attempted to take medicine to stop it, thinking that this was a medical problem, but the medicine was ineffective; something larger was at play here. The man decided to find a shaman to find out what the problem was, what these dreams and visions meant, and to cure him of them. However, the shaman told the man of the ancient stories of a battle 30,000 years ago between a great hero and the two Sisters of Chaos - one who controls Light from the Sun, and one who controls Darkness from the Moon. The Sisters were imprisoned after the battle, but the hero had perished in the process. The shaman informed the man that he was the hero's reincarnation, and that the Sisters of Chaos have apparently escaped their imprisonment. This man was now the only one who could stop them, and so he went forth on the journey.

First, the man runs into the Crossroads of the World, which connects to multiple areas. When he arrives, however, he experiences yet another, and the last, vision of the past in the middle of a large shrine. This is perhaps the most vivid of the visions, because even the player gets a chance to control the hero from 30,000 years ago as he makes his way through the destruction of the world to defeat the Sisters. However, the fight itself is not shown, as the vision is terminated at the very moment the fight began, while the narrator tells the result.

Back in the present day, the man makes his way throughout four areas: the Jungle, the Underworld, the City, and the Sky. There are four protectors in the world, one per area, but they have been corrupted by Chaos and are now her minions. Due to this, the man must defeat these protectors as well. There are also many different species of creatures throughout the world, born from Light, Dark, or neutral energies, attempting to block the man's path, assisting the protectors and Chaos.

After the defeat of one protector, a rune, depicting the defeated protector, is activated in the large shrine in the Crossroads of the World, which triggers a short speech from the narrator about that protector and their corruption, as well as the opening of the next area of the world (in the order of the Jungle, the Underworld, the City and then the Sky). When all four protectors are defeated and four of the five runes activated, the shrine teleports the man to the Temple of Eternity.

The Temple of Eternity is where the Sisters were imprisoned in the battle 30,000 years ago, waiting all this time for their chance to escape and "uncreate" the world. The man must travel throughout the Temple of Eternity, finally ending his journey at one section named the Trail of Tears. Just past the Trail of Tears is a giant ladder, identical to the one the ancient hero had used to fight the Sisters. So the man climbs up the ladder and fights the Sisters in one last battle to save the world.

After winning the battle, the man is ready to deal the final blow and end the Sisters' lives, when suddenly, the Temple of Eternity collapses. The Sisters have never actually seen the world, only knowing that they wanted to destroy it and make it their own. But now, after they see the beauty and tranquility that both time and mankind had created, the Sisters humbly surrender to the man and retreat back to where they belong; one Sister to the Sun, one to the Moon. The spirit of the ancient hero from all those years ago then escapes from the man's body, as both the spirit's and the man's work are complete.

Play it or Don't Bother?

Definitely play this. Even if you're not a fan of Metroid/Castlevania-style exploration adventure games, this is a relatively fun platformer. The game uses the same light/dark magic affinity mechanic that games, such as Ikaruga and Silhouette Mirage. I found it to be similar to Castlevania: Lord of Shadow's magic system as well - at least, offensively. This isn't bad to kill your time with if you're looking for something simple to drop in and out of casually. If there's any drawbacks to the game it's the lack of variety of powers. You don't get many powers outside of light and dark magic (you're immune to the corresponding color of each magic type and take damage to the opposite type while enemies are always vulnerable to the opposite type of magic and immune to the same type as well) and a few special moves for combat (a heavy hitting, critical attack called Smite and a long range beam projectile attack that are both limited by how many magic stock counters you have underneath your health bar), but surprisingly enough that's all you need to keep the game interesting.

There's no getting lost either as the game always points you in the general direction that you need to go. Sure, there's a lot of trial and error in terms of what to do or how to overcome the foes that you run into over the course of the game, but there's nothing so frustrating that would make one walk away and never come back. Besides, you can't go wrong here as this title was free on Games on Gold on Xbox Live a while back and normally goes for relatively cheap on XBLA, PSN, and Steam.