Developer: Fantablade Network
Publisher: X.D. Network Inc
RRP: £8.99 (Steam)
Released: 17th November 2016
Available on: Steam
Played Using: An Xbox 360 Control Pad
Approximate game length: 5 Hours
Do you always do as you’re told? I think most everyone will say no to that particular question. That’s the thing about life you don’t always have to do what others say… or ever even. Of course there are often ramifications for not doing as told but that’s part of being free. Video game characters don’t get that choice though, they always do as they’re told (at least usually if the game has been programmed correctly) and usually a player will follow the games instruction without giving it a thought because years of playing has taught us that its pointless to do otherwise.
ICEY is a 2D action game, at least on the face of it it is. However, play this game for more than five minutes you’ll start to see that there’s more to this game than first appears. You control the character Icey, an android (I think) was created with the sole purpose of defeating Judas.
The ‘basic’ story in this game is… well, it’s not great. I think simplistic might be the best word for it. It’s a ‘you are the chosen one’ story complete with antagonist with a biblical name AND is messing around with Lovecraftian horrors. The good thing is this isn’t the only story, you can disobey the narrators instructions, go exploring and in doing so you can find out… a different story or rather, stories. These other stories are far more interesting than the basic one. I won’t go into detail on the particulars of them but one is about the developer of the game and his struggle to complete it. I had a lot of fun trying to find out how to access those stories as they can be quite hidden.
Since it is an action game one would hope that the combat is up to snuff, I’m thankful to say that it is with the combat being responsive and having a natural flow to it. It can start to feel a bit repetitive when it starts to throw numerous enemies at you. This is in part due to the small pool of enemies that the game has to pull from (nine or ten types from what I remember, without including bosses) but also from the move sets that the player has access to. In the beginning of the game you have a heavy attack and a light attack, chaining these attacks grants a combo which causes further damage to your enemies. Dead enemies give ICEY cash which is used to unlock new moves and upgrade existing ones, the thing is there are a total of sixteen moves in the game, eight of which you already have unlocked at the first level when you start the game.
Choosing the game difficulty is handled in a rather… unique way. You’ll play through a tutorial, at the end you get to choose the difficulty of the game by answering a series of questions. However that’s the only time you’ll get to make that choice, unless you discover the hidden way of doing it. Yes, that’s right, even selecting the games difficulty is secret.
ICEY is a bit of a difficult one for me, I liked it but I also bought it in a sale a while back so I can’t honestly say that it would be great value for money. The whole game can be run through in about five hours or so and doesn’t really have much in the way of replayabilty in it. Thing is, I really enjoyed this game and £8.99 doesn’t feel too bad for what I got. Take from that what you will.
If this appeals to you perhaps try;
Pony Island
Shantae ½ Genie Hero
The Fall
