Double Fine Production's latest quirky adventure The Cave sees seven explorers delve into a talking cave to find what they desire most. A talking cave will be the least crazy thing you hear by the end of this tale
Puzzles are what make up the bulk of the gameplay in The Cave with the controls being very simplistic consisting of jumping and picking up objects to use for the puzzles. Each character can pick up one object at a time and you must use this in conjunction to get past certain areas. What makes these puzzles interesting is how they are just simple enough to get by with minimal frustration, but just challenging enough that they make you think and feel satisfied when you figure out the right combination.
The Cave also supports up to three player co-op which is one of its shining features as solving puzzles as a group and coordinating accordingly was a much better experience than just playing alone even if it might’ve been somewhat unorganized at times. Since a character doesn’t die when going offscreen you have to leave them in spots to pass certain puzzles (such as holding a lever while the others go through the open door) which in single player is fine but with three people you have to “pass” the camera and I found it sometimes didn’t work right. This in turn became annoying and in some cases caused us to have to start a puzzle over again which was frustrating. Also for a game with gameplay that consists almost entirely of jumping, I found it felt very floaty which is helpful for control but had my character often grabbing onto ledges or ladders I was hoping to avoid which was a minor nuisance.
Despite being an arcade game, the game looks as gorgeous as any major retail release graphically and aesthetically. Even though it’s set in a cave, its environments vary widely going from dark and mysterious sections to vivid tropical islands (hey, if a cave can narrate than a tropical island isn’t that crazy). It really reminded me of previous Double Fine games like Psychonauts with its character designs and overall visuals which looked quite stunning in HD. It did a good job of balancing the claustrophobic feeling of being in a cave with larger lush landscapes which really makes you want to explore everything and not miss a single section.
