Menu
Review by Matthew C.The boom in indie development has seen a wonderful surge in puzzle platformers over the last few years. It makes sense, when you think about it: this is a genre that’s low on development needs (relatively speaking), but with an incredibly high ceiling for creativity and innovation. The basic mechanics of the 2D platformer are robust enough and open-ended enough to allow for a huge degree of experimentation, the likes of which we’ve seen in everything from introspective deconstructions like Limbo to games that push the boundaries of puzzle design, like Fez.Four Sided Fantasy yet another example of that kind of creativity at work. Under normal circumstances, it works like any other platformer as the camera tracks your movements, but at any point in time you can hold R2 to “freeze” the screen and walk off the edge. Doing so causes you to wrap around to the opposite edge – so running out of the right-hand edge of the screen will make you appear in the left, falling through the bottom will make you appear at the top, and so on.This setup allows for some intriguing puzzles.
![]()
Stones 1.0 - Japanese puzzle game. Download the latest versions of the best Mac apps at safe and trusted MacUpdate. Categories Desktop Apps For You. Sign in Create account. Apps For You. The rule of Four-sided match is called 4-way: 8 points + bonus.
They start quite simply, as you overcome straightforward obstacles by wrapping around to the other side of them, but they progressively get more demanding and challenge your spatial reasoning. Some puzzles will task you with “falling upwards”, so to speak, by dropping out of the bottom of the frame, un-freezing when you appear at the top so that the camera centres on you, and then freezing it again – now at a higher point than you could have reached by jumping – and so on, to keep getting higher and higher. Others need you to be very precise in when and where you freeze the frame, so that the geometry of the level lines up just right and you can squeeze through a gap. To further complicate matters, each new level introduces its own gimmick.
In one level, gravity reverses each time you wrap, forcing you to plan your moves so that positioning and gravity both line up to allow you to bypass obstacles. Another stage is divided into two planes, with every wrap having the additional quirk of switching between them. The most challenging level cuts the screen in half, freezing whichever side you’re not using so that you can drag disparate pieces of the level together. It all adds up to up to some rather brain-bending puzzling.That said, Four Sided Fantasy is relatively easy by puzzle platformer standards, and as much as it makes you think outside the box, solutions usually present themselves before too long.
This isn’t a bad thing at all, and it gives the game a meditative quality that fits in well with the serene presentation, but it also feels like this curious framework doesn’t come close to being pushed to its limits. On the other hand, I did find myself relying on trial and error quite often, which was mildly frustrating, but that’s perhaps a failure of my own spatial reasoning as much as may be the fault of the game’s design.Fortunately, this trial-and-error never got so tiresome that it impacted the overall mood of the game. As I said, it’s a meditative, serene game, with a beautiful papercraft aesthetic and mellow soundtrack. It’s a game that’s less about overcoming obtuse challenges as it is about going with the flow.
![]()
In the developers’ own words, it’s a “concise puzzle gaming experience that respects your time” – this is no doubt a reference to the brevity of the game, but in respecting your time, Four Sided Fantasy also doesn’t expect you to spent the bulk of a play session bashing your head against a brick wall trying to find some abstract solution. The one puzzle that doesn’t have any easy solution, however, is the story.
Simply put, it’s a vague, wordless tale that’s less about plot and more about emotion, as you guide a pair of nameless protagonists across a beautiful landscape over the course of four seasons. It’s the sort of narrative that’ll leave many players scratching their heads and asking “What does it mean?”, but that meaning will come from your own personal take on the events of the game.For me, it was a bittersweet tale of star-crossed lovers, going to the ends of the earth in an effort to be together but never quite getting there – in fact, they were foiling themselves with their very effort to connect. Every time you wrap, you switch between the two characters, so they’re constantly working together to proceed through the game, but the obstacles that you, as the player, are trying to overcome serve as ever-present barriers between the two characters. It’s a poignant image painted through the very heart of the game’s mechanics, all wrapped up with an ending that’s strange and depressing, but a perfect fit for this take on the game.Other perspectives I’ve seen suggest that it’s the story of childhood friends or siblings drifting apart as they grow old and move through life – that for all our efforts to keep in touch with those close to us, life has an annoying tendency of getting in the way.
It’s the sort of narrative that’s open to interpretation, with just enough structure to allow players to project their own subjective experiences on to it. Even if you’re not interested in that kind of deep reading, there’s a blissful experience to be had in just letting the beauty of the game wash over you.
Running CFW (Custom Firmware) to play homebrew and emulators on the Nintendo Switch is pretty simple but it does require you to have a few things handy to do it. The first thing that makes it a little difficult is getting the Switch to go into RCM mode, which can be done using a 3d printed jig, paperclip or modifying the right joycon to trigger RCM mode. If you can’t get a 3d printed jig or don’t want to modify the right joycon the paper clip trick will work just fine but it may take you a few times to get it in the right spot to trigger RCM mode. Whats needed:This works on all FW at the moment but this does not work with the new Switches out in the wild since they have been patched to block this method.Medium side Paperclip but almost any of them will work.USB-C cablePC or mobile devicePayloads & CFW files for SD cardThe first thing you need to do is download the sdfiles and unzip them, then put them on the micro sd of the Switch. Next, bend the paper clip so it will fit on the joycon rail and touch pin 1 and 10 to put it in RCM mode. It may take a few tries before you get it down pat.Once you have the paper clip in the right spot its time to see if it will go into RCM mode.
Turn the Switch completely off then press the power and volume up buttons at the same time. The easiest way to tell if it’s in RCM mode is using the TegraRCM program but you should be able to tell its in RCM mode as the switch will just sit on a black screen. You will also be able to tell that it’s in RCM mode when you plug it into the PC as you should hear a dig that a new device is connected.Now that it’s in RCM mode its time to send the payloads to load the cfw using TeramRCm or NXloader. Load up either program and plug in the USB-C cable into the Switch and PC/Moblie device then pick the payload you just downloaded and inject it.
The Switch screen will flash for a second and you’ll see the options to launch Firmware, Tools and more. Using the + or – volume buttons to navigate and the power button as enter, pick launch firmware and then pick CFW.The Switch will start up just like it normally does and nothing will seem different until you hit the album app on the Switch it will go into the Homebrew menu. That’s it now your Switch has CFW and you’ll be able to use homebrew and emulators on it now.
If you turn off the Switch it will go back to stock firmware and you’ll have to repeat this process again.To run homebrew just place them in the Switch folder on the micro SD and when you launch the homebrew menu they will appear. You can use the app store to get homebrew and emulators and it will install them for you. Now the first time you use the app store it can take a while to load up but it’s only that the first time you load it after that, it will load very quick unless there’s a bunch of new stuff added.
![]() Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
January 2023
Categories |