Developer: Finish Line Games
Publisher: Finish Line Games
Rrp: £14.99 (Gog.com, Humblebundle and Steam)
Released: 1st December 2016
Available on: Gog.com, Humblebundle and Steam
Played Using: Mouse and Keyboard
Approximate game length: 6 Hours
Corn. Corn everywhere as far as the eyes can see. Dotted among the corn lies the odd building but all that does is emphasize the sheer amount of corn there is. But these fields hold a secret. The corns alive, as in more than normal. This corn can walk, talk and… umm, nap.
Maize is a comedic first person adventure game. Well its supposed to be anyway, its definitely a first person adventure game its just the comedic part that didn’t work for me at all. I sighed more than I laughed or even smirked.
In any case, you play as an unnamed and silent protagonist who wakes up on the outskirts of a field of corn. Over the course of the game you’ll see that this place is much more than a mere farm.
I feel I really do have to mention this because I know that to many of you out there this will make the difference between a purchase or not. During my playthrough I found I was plagued by dropped frames and general slow down. Along with the audio going out of sync from time to time. I attempted to solve this by dropping the graphics settings but it still occurred even on the lowest setting. There were plenty of other more minor graphical errors that occurred too but the slow down and the dropped frames had a real impact on my enjoyment.
The loading time from when you first load (or reload) the game is quite long. Once again I tried to mitigate this by lowering the graphical settings but it seemed to make no difference.
Very early on you create a companion named Vladdy who will assist and insult you throughout the game… and before anyone says anything, no its not a spoiler because its in the damn trailer. Vladdy will be invaluable in your adventure, venturing where you cannot, and to be honest he is probably the funniest part of the game. Sadly this isn’t saying an awful lot, as Vladdy tends to overuse the words ‘idiot’ and ‘stupid’ to the point where it just became white noise to me.
Most of the puzzles in this game are both simple and obtuse. They’re simple in the fact that they’re usually only a few steps long but at the same time many of them require a certain amount of moonlogic.
While I do love puzzle solving and understand that occasionally a game will reiterate a feature this game takes it one step too far. I solved the same puzzle three times, oh sure it wasn’t exactly the same each time but all the core elements were the same. By the time I’d found the third occasion I’d already collected and combined most of the items I needed to progress simply because I saw the puzzle coming.
Your progress is regularly impeded by orange boxes that disappear once you’ve completed a specific task or puzzle. Of course, the game doesn’t tell you which puzzle although its likely you’ll only be doing one or two simultaneously at any given moment.
Don’t expect a sensible story, because this most certainly won’t provide that, I mean… it has talking corn. It’s definitely a serviceable story if somewhat predictable and forgettable.
Its a pretty short experience, I managed to complete the thing in around about six hours and I have no reason to go back and play again. I think that perhaps my view of this game has suffered from my own expectations, when I saw that the game had talking corn and nonsensical puzzles I just assumed a greater level of writing to be on show.
If this appeals to you perhaps try;
The Vanishing of Ethan
Carter
The Longest Journey
Myst
