Every now and then you get hit upside the head with a game that comes screaming out of right field.  A game that wasn’t ever a blip on your gaming radar.  One that you weren’t even looking forward to in the least bit.  To me?  Playdead Studio’s Limbo was that game.

It’s quite easy to confuse Limbo with another upcoming title called Lost In Shadows, but having played through the 5 minute long trial game for Limbo, it’s very apparent that Limbo is a different game on its own.  For Limbo my money just seemed to magically disappear from my wallet.  And you know what?  You might feel the same way.

Have you ever tried to get a random mime to tell you an epic long story?  A story filled with adventure, puzzles, action and includes an epic scale?  That’s essentially what  the guys at Playdead in Denmark try to do with Limbo.  It’s a completely quiet (no really it is) puzzle platformer that does a great job of telling a compelling story without the needs for obtrusive musical scores or dialog.  If Limbo was a mime it could actually tell you that epic story.

For the beginning of the game, your character just randomly wakes up in this strange and weird world.  You don’t know why he’s there, where he is, or what the hell is going on around you.  It’s this type of mysterious element of the game that keeps you intrigued enough to move forward, solve the puzzles, and find out more about your surroundings.  There is no real explanation of the story, no conversation trees and no vocals to speak of.  Limbo is just a quiet, depressing game.  Their is also a lack of musical score as well.  The only thing coming out of your speakers will be environmental effects like wind and the occasional sting.  This ultimately leaves the visuals of Limbo to carry most of the weight.

As you can see, the visuals for Limbo are absolutely stunning.  The contrast of light and shadow, dark and light is what makes Limbo such a cool experience.  It could have just gone the easy route and made things bright, colorful and musical, but this is where Limbo separates itself from the rest of the pack.  As you make your way through the first quarter of the game, you’ll quickly realize that under all of those dark shadows lies a lot of minute details to pick up on throughout this world.

The gameplay is also rock solid.  It’s control scheme is one that a 5 year old could pick up and play: one button for jump, one for action.  That’s it.  You have to admire a gaming studio these days that could create such intricate puzzles and have them be solved in the most simplest way (and not the need to rewind time or create a clone).  Most of the puzzles in the beginning part of the game will be one shot deals of just pulling something or pressing a button to solve things.  Later on, the world (and you) get turned on its head, ever increasing the difficulty.  Most of the puzzles have simple solutions that would slap you in the face, but with so much going on in this strange world, it’s hard to latch onto what actually works and what doesn’t.

I’ll go ahead and mention that you’ll die a lot in Limbo.  Don’t worry though,  you’re supposed to.  Everyone should your first time through.  It’s fun, and sometimes it’s a little bit scary.  Running away from the huge menacing spider in the first act is absolutely crazy fun.  Stopping in your tracks is even more fun a few times.  Watching the little boy get a piercing spider leg through his head, down his spinal cord and out his crotch should at least be seen ten times (if not more).

The checkpoints throughout Limbo are all over the place.  If you fail a puzzle or die you’ll usually just start right before the puzzle starts.  This makes dying fun and it doesn’t make it overly frustrating.  These type of details make Limbo a game to playthrough again (and possibly again).  Hell, there’s even an achievement for playing the entire game all the way through in under 5 hours only dying a total of 5 times.  Good luck to all you 100% gamers.

One of the only issues I found with Limbo is that just like the trial game playthough, it’s one of the few games that you actually want more of.  It’s short campaign length can be done in one sitting in about 5 to 6 hours.  What it lacks in length, it makes up for in quality.  You lose yourself in this game and don’t realize you’ve been playing for so long (hence, beating it in one sitting).  The other shortcoming for Limbo was the ending.  I’ll save you guys from the spoilers but just know that it hits abruptly, leaving the gamer a little confused on what exactly happened.  For as much depth and creativity that is put into Limbo, you would think the guys from Playdead would put in a little more thought to their ending.  It left me with a brief  explanation to this madness, but it also let me fill in my own story on how things happened and why they did.

If you are fan of post-rock music (echoish guitar music without lyrics) then you know of the premise behind the songs: the band creates the music and the melody, and the listener is tasked with creating the story and visuals to go along with the incredible music.  This analogy really hit home for Limbo and it’s story (especially the ending).

If you have 1200 Microsoft points laying around, buy Limbo.  You’ll thank me later.  It might be 1200 points for 5 or 6 hours, but even with the short amount of gaming you get with Limbo, it still makes up for it’s faults in the quality of gaming you get out of it.  I’d say definitely pick this one up.

Limbo is available now on the Xbox Live Arcade Marketplace for 1200 MS Points.