If you ever thought about shredding the walls of Hot Topic and transforming all of that dark crimsons colors and edgy attitude into a videogame, it might look and act something like I Want to be Human.
Though, the game from developer Sinclair Strange has a fully defined style, the problem is that it is constantly crashing further making the game feel like a half baked flash game. Which, is an issue given that the game is $15.
It’s really disappointing, because Sinclair Strange has made some killer flash games, which can be found on Newgrounds.com, still.
The game has a quirky story that is told through comic frames and music. A girl is turned into a vampire and the boy she is in love with turns into a hat. Weird, charming and endearing.
I Want to be Human is a platformer that includes wall jumping, wall sliding, an air dash and a shotgun to dispose of enemies. It’s nothing elaborate, but the skillfully jumps and maneuvering begin to take form later in the game and offer up some challenge.
The platforming at first isn’t a problem. However, once the game’s difficulty, in terms of platforming begin to ramp up, the light jumps and inability to accurately shoot becomes a problem.
Shooting is kind of fun mostly thanks to the well rounded art design of crimson red, black and white landscapes. You really get a sense that Sinclair Strange has a liking to Jhonen Vasquez, creator of Invader Zim. It shows, the art is delightfully mad and cute. Encountering new baddies is worth a chuckle, even when the vampire girl’s “too edgy” quips fall flat or get in the way of the action.
And here lies one of the biggest issues with I Want to be Human. Playing the game with a mouse and keyboard results in noticeable chugging with visible frame rate drops. The positive aspect of playing with a mouse and keyboard is that it allows you to aim in a full 360 degrees around the vampire girl. Though, once I plugged in a Xbox 360 controller to my PC, the game began to move smoothly. Here’s the thing, for someone reason I lost that precision aiming. It only allowed me to aim up, down, left and right. I couldn’t find a work-around and judging by the Steam community forums, this isn’t an isolated problem.
Precision aiming and controls are crucial to a platformer and breaking that breaks the game as a result.
One positive takeaway from I Want to be Human is that Jimmy Urine from Mindless Self Indulgence scores the game and it is rad. The chiptune beats really are spectacular to listen.
It’s a shame when technical problems veil a game that could be more than another flash platformer. But, in it’s current state it’s hard to recommend it based on constant crashes and lack luster controls and animations.
I Want to be Human needed some more time in the cooker, but Sinclair Strange has some spectacular flash titles available online if this game leaves you bummed out.
2/5
