I got it for 99 cents too, but I still haven't played it! Didn't help my iPAd didn't work for a few weeks. But I'm going to check it out once I find my damn ear phones.
Gaming with Your Ears: The Nightjar
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 On 07/27/2013 at 04:07 PM by daftman See More From This User » |
The Nightjar is an iOS audio adventure. That's right, it has no graphics whatsoever other than the interface pictured below (more on that in a minute). The story goes that you've been left behind on a failing space ship that is slowly falling into a collapsing star, though that's the least of your worries before the game is over. Your most immediate problem is the dark, of course. All you have to guide you to safety is the voice of a man you don't know (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch of Sherlock fame). Will you trust him?
When I started the game, I expected it to be similar to a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book, giving you decisions to make every so often after long scripted audio bits. I'm glad to say that I couldn't have been more wrong. You literally have 360 degree control of your character within a 3D space. Take a look at that picture again. The arc at the top is actually a wheel you use to rotate your character left and right. There is a large hash at each quarter turn. The two lines underneath it represent your feet. Tap them to walk. Put on some headphones (you have to play with headphones) and you can tell exactly where anything is. Rotate and walk.
The gameplay itself could have been boring. After all, you can basically boil the game down to a series of rooms where you have to find the door (a soft beeping sound guides you there). The developers have done a great job of making it so much more than that, though. Sure, you do have to get to the door, but nearly every room has you doing something unique before moving on. And the tension and suspense the developers squeeze out of simple audio is incredible! More than once I narrowly made it to safety only to realize I'd been holding my breath. This is not a game for the faint of heart because your imagination fills in what your eyes cannot see, and the imagination is a force to be reckoned with indeed.
A brief trailer to whet your appetite
To give any more of the story away would be to spoil part of the fun, so let me assure you that this game is worth experiencing. My only caveat is the length and price. It's not a long game and you'll probably see, um, I mean hear it through to the end in two hours or less. At the regular price of $4.99, that's kind of a hard sell in my opinion. I got it on July 4th for 99 cents, the only time since its April 24th release that it's been on sale. If a couple bucks don't make a difference for you, then by all means pick this up. It's one of my favorite iOS experiences.
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