Snapshot - Well Worth a Second Look - Preview
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 11 June 2012 / 2,624 Views
Tucked away in a long row of PlayStation Vita kiosks at Sony’s E3 booth was a demo station for a charming indie game by the name of Snapshot. Developer Retro Affect seems to have created a surprisingly deep and attractive 2D platformer built around a unique picture taking mechanic. The game stars Pic, a robot camera that looks about as unassuming as the game itself. I was able to play the first few levels of Snapshot which took place in a woodland area and served to introduce the basics of the game.
Rather than have you spend your time jumping on enemies, Snapshot places more of an emphasis on puzzle-solving. The premise is that Pic’s camera is capable of capturing the environments and objects within photographs. The only button presses necessary during my time with the game were X to jump, R to take pictures, and of course the directional buttons for movement. Using the analog stick you can move the rectangle representing the borders of your photograph. Once you have the photo framed the way you want it you can capture the image and take it with you and place it elsewhere.
The opening levels explored the most elementary use of this ability: moving blocks in order to reach higher platforms. In practice it works like a charm. You copy blocks that may be out of reach and paste them where they can help you jump up onto higher ledges. Another use is to place crates over deadly hazards like spikes so you can cross chasms safely. There were also certain areas, designated by red squares, that were no-photo zones where you could not take snapshots of the environment. You could push blocks that happened to be in these no-photo zones out into the open, so that they're able to be absorbed into pictures once more.
The sprite-based 2D graphics are pleasant to look at but aren’t exactly the most striking feature of the game. There is a certain luminosity embedded within the background environments that give the visuals a dreamlike appearance. The music and sound effects are quirky but soothing with a lot of old school bleeps and boops.
Snapshot has its own unique physics engine which you will have to master in order to complete the many puzzles found within the game’s five unique worlds. The development team promises that there is never just one solution to a given challenge because you can photograph everything from doors, keys, lights, and even Pic himself.
Though my time with it was short and it was the first time I had ever heard of it, Snapshot definitely left a strong impression on me. Hopefully it will follow in the footsteps of other intelligently designed 2D puzzle-platformers such as Braid or Trine. Snapshot will be available for download from PSN on both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita this fall.
