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"[GAME] To The Moon"

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This thread has been linked to the game 'To The Moon'.
Tue 26/03/13 at 15:43
Regular
Posts: 261
I’ve heard moral dilemmas about whether it is ok to lie to those on their deathbed. What could the harm be? They will never find out, right? But what if a man close to death chooses to have his memories altered so that the life he believes he lived is a complete lie? That is what happens in To The Moon; a game mostly directed, written and composed by Canadian Kan Gao.

An elderly man named John Wyles requests the services of two scientists from Sigmund Corp: Dr Eva Rosalene and Dr Neil Watts to use a machine to alter his memory so that he can go to the moon. However, it isn’t as simple as using the machine to simulate going to the moon; John actually has to achieve it in his memories. This means that the Doctors must travel back through John’s life and discover why he wants to go to the moon and then alter his memory so that it becomes his greatest desire from childhood.

The story starts at John’s most recent memory and the scientists leap backward to key points in his life. Their leaps take them back through many emotional stages with John dealing with loss, financial issues, marriage issues, mental issues, his time at school and his childhood. The way the story is laid out is great, because each leap answers a question but then poses another one until his earliest stage answers the biggest questions.

When the scientists leap back for the first time, they find out that John doesn’t even know why he wants to go to the moon, only that he just does. Around John’s house you will find loads of origami rabbits for some reason. These mysteries are answered at the end of the scientists’ time travelling journey.

Although the story has some depressing moments, the scientists provide humour with their comments on scenarios and arguments between themselves. Some may find their comments jarring in a story with serious moments, but I thought it helped lighten the mood.

Although I really enjoyed the story, there isn’t much of a game in To The Moon. You take control of the scientists Eva and Neil and click on specific objects, visit certain places or interact with certain objects to obtain 5 coloured orbs. These orbs are then used on a specific object in that memory to create a “Memento”. When this memento is activated you are presented with a tile flipping puzzle to complete. The game presents you with an “Ideal” number of moves to complete it in, but you can take as many moves as you want so it seems a bit redundant. Once this flipping puzzle is completed you move further back into John’s past. There are a few one off gameplay moments involving horse riding, Whack-a-Mole, turn based combat and a side scrolling plant pot vs zombie shooter section. The last gameplay section mentioned felt like the lowest point where the story goes surreal for the sake of implementing this and it isn’t much fun either.

The game was made using RPG Maker XP so the 16-bit-style graphics may not impress some, but the environments are detailed and I thought the game looked colourful and easy on the eyes. The soundtrack is mostly sweet and melodic, but there are bouncy tracks and depressing tracks to fit the mood. I enjoyed the soundtrack almost as much as the story and it’s worth a listen to.

The ending wraps up the story very well. The final scenes end on a very happy note, but it is all in John’s head. It juxtaposes against the life he actually lived which makes it very sad. This is such a well written game and my favourite videogame story so far.

Like TellTale's The Walking Dead this is a narrative experience rather than a gameplay one. However, To The Moon has no voice acting so you will just be reading text. The game also has a linear story, so there are no decisions to be made that will affect the story.

Considering the gameplay isn’t worth playing through you could just watch it on YouTube. But the quality of the story and the music are so good that this deserves to be supported, so if you haven’t tried it yet I highly recommend it. In fact, if you don’t try it, one of these days….

(I've never watched The Honeymooners)
There have been no replies to this thread yet.
Tue 26/03/13 at 15:43
Regular
Posts: 261
I’ve heard moral dilemmas about whether it is ok to lie to those on their deathbed. What could the harm be? They will never find out, right? But what if a man close to death chooses to have his memories altered so that the life he believes he lived is a complete lie? That is what happens in To The Moon; a game mostly directed, written and composed by Canadian Kan Gao.

An elderly man named John Wyles requests the services of two scientists from Sigmund Corp: Dr Eva Rosalene and Dr Neil Watts to use a machine to alter his memory so that he can go to the moon. However, it isn’t as simple as using the machine to simulate going to the moon; John actually has to achieve it in his memories. This means that the Doctors must travel back through John’s life and discover why he wants to go to the moon and then alter his memory so that it becomes his greatest desire from childhood.

The story starts at John’s most recent memory and the scientists leap backward to key points in his life. Their leaps take them back through many emotional stages with John dealing with loss, financial issues, marriage issues, mental issues, his time at school and his childhood. The way the story is laid out is great, because each leap answers a question but then poses another one until his earliest stage answers the biggest questions.

When the scientists leap back for the first time, they find out that John doesn’t even know why he wants to go to the moon, only that he just does. Around John’s house you will find loads of origami rabbits for some reason. These mysteries are answered at the end of the scientists’ time travelling journey.

Although the story has some depressing moments, the scientists provide humour with their comments on scenarios and arguments between themselves. Some may find their comments jarring in a story with serious moments, but I thought it helped lighten the mood.

Although I really enjoyed the story, there isn’t much of a game in To The Moon. You take control of the scientists Eva and Neil and click on specific objects, visit certain places or interact with certain objects to obtain 5 coloured orbs. These orbs are then used on a specific object in that memory to create a “Memento”. When this memento is activated you are presented with a tile flipping puzzle to complete. The game presents you with an “Ideal” number of moves to complete it in, but you can take as many moves as you want so it seems a bit redundant. Once this flipping puzzle is completed you move further back into John’s past. There are a few one off gameplay moments involving horse riding, Whack-a-Mole, turn based combat and a side scrolling plant pot vs zombie shooter section. The last gameplay section mentioned felt like the lowest point where the story goes surreal for the sake of implementing this and it isn’t much fun either.

The game was made using RPG Maker XP so the 16-bit-style graphics may not impress some, but the environments are detailed and I thought the game looked colourful and easy on the eyes. The soundtrack is mostly sweet and melodic, but there are bouncy tracks and depressing tracks to fit the mood. I enjoyed the soundtrack almost as much as the story and it’s worth a listen to.

The ending wraps up the story very well. The final scenes end on a very happy note, but it is all in John’s head. It juxtaposes against the life he actually lived which makes it very sad. This is such a well written game and my favourite videogame story so far.

Like TellTale's The Walking Dead this is a narrative experience rather than a gameplay one. However, To The Moon has no voice acting so you will just be reading text. The game also has a linear story, so there are no decisions to be made that will affect the story.

Considering the gameplay isn’t worth playing through you could just watch it on YouTube. But the quality of the story and the music are so good that this deserves to be supported, so if you haven’t tried it yet I highly recommend it. In fact, if you don’t try it, one of these days….

(I've never watched The Honeymooners)

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