Kaleidoscope – Xbox Indie Review XBLIG

A Wdesm review for XboxHornet

“Bring Colour Back To The World In This Adorable Platformer”

No matter how big XBLIG gets, it will always be a reviewer’s greatest joy to review games that have uniqueness and creativity, and my weekend definitely benefited from reviewing Kaleidoscope: In this game, all the colour has been leeched away from the world, and only by traversing the world collecting pigments, can you bring back vibrancy. The presentation seems rather reminiscent of Yoshi’s Island: The artstyle is intentionally youthful, while still looking stylish, but the gameplay is a solid platformer. Each level starts off in black and white, and as you collect pigments, the level gains colour slowly, transitioning into a, well, Kaleidoscope of colours.

The gameplay is exclusively single-player, which makes sense, as this is a game more for fun exploration and learning about a cute storytelling – leaderboards wouldn’t make much sense here, as this is not a competitive game. Let me repeat that: Kaleidoscope is NOT a competitive game. This game is accessible to the casual and “fun” gamer, as it does not have lives, timers, death, or game overs. Even failing to make a jump sets you back a dozen seconds at worst, and doesn’t slow down the game at all; this is not a game to get stressed about, and the pastel backgrounds and adorable monsters (I mean, even the spikes look a little cute – how is THAT possible?) won’t have you screaming in rage. The only complaint, and its more a fault of the genre than of this game, is that for pure completionists (yes, this game has ‘awards’, and yes, you will want to collect all of them), there is a fair amount of doubling-back on levels. I’m not too upset however, as the levels are enjoyable to run through, and I can usually find something new to do in them as I scour for all of the pigments.

If you’re at all interested in playing something less competitive than the usual fare and with a larger focus on visually stimulating exploration, you really can’t go wrong with Kaleidoscope. It comes complete with a unique OST made by the talented pros over at OCRemix, and the soundtrack is a free download for fans of the music (click here to grab it!). If you need more convincing, feel free to watch the trailer here, but you should really recline on the couch, grab the controller, and try the demo. Bringing colour back to the world has never been so fun and relaxing!

Game score 8.5/10

Download a free trial of the game here.