➤ From screen to screen 🎮

Much of the beauty of virtual sales platforms such as Nintendo's eShop is precisely the possibility of having access to independent or otherwise very boldly designed products that could hardly have seen the light on store shelves. The here present Fractured Soul represents a perfect correspondence to the identikit summary just drawn, being indie both in form and in substance: under the guise of a banal platform with two-dimensional structure there is in fact an ambitious project that involves the use of both displays to play. Let's see what it's about...

Two screens and one soul

To be honest, Fractured Soul it is not the first title ever to have the intuition to base its gameplay on the exploitation of the two screens of the Nintendo laptop at the same time: he had already tried that Chronos Twins on DS in 2007, with an experiment that certainly cannot be said to be gone down in history.

The EnjoyUp product found its Achilles heel in the excessive effort required of the user to keep an eye on two screens at the same time, an element as we will see taken into consideration by the developers of Endgame Studios. The same cannot be said of the plot, in fact completely absent in Fractured Soul: the user plays the role of what appears to be an anonymous space soldier, engaged in tackling the game levels without any particular purpose. The only thing that is made known is the particular ability of the silent protagonist, able to alternate between two different dimensions represented by the two screens of the console. As is often the case, it is much easier to understand the mechanics of a product such as Fractured Soul playing with it rather than reading a description, but the facts are these: each of the two displays houses a version of the level that is being faced with more or less marked differences, and to continue it is necessary to alternate between one and the other by pressing the key dorsal. To give a simple practical example, a door can be closed in the lower screen but open in the upper one, just as a platform can appear on one side but be absent in the other, or a ladder can only be reached in one of the two dimensions. The title does its best to make the user progressively digest this peculiar element of gameplay, proposing elementary puzzles in the initial levels and gradually adding different factors to the equation, even bringing into play different gravity forces between the scenarios represented in the two screens: in short, the ideas of Endgame Studios in terms of level design are excellent and abundant, but as we all know a modern video game cannot be supported only on good intuitions ...

3D effect

As explained in the review, the game develops on both screens of the console, with the user having to control his alter ego alternately on one or the other display: therefore the decision by Endgame Studios not to adopt any 3D effect, which would have likely only added confusion to the play experience.

Open fracture

Experience with Fractured Soul it can cause various grumbles, mainly attributable to some serious balance problems of the product.

We can start by talking about a level of difficulty that in the most advanced stages becomes really irritating, with the user who is often forced to pay very dearly for every slightest mistake, having to start over in the event of death. It would also have been appropriate to give more structure to the clashes with the enemies, already present in a very limited variety and which prove to be more of a nuisance than a complement to the gameplay, also due to the availability of only one long-range weapon in the protagonist's equipment. . Then there is a purely technical problem, that is the disorientation in constantly moving the gaze from one screen to another, an activity that in many situations is requested with frequency and speed at times intolerable. Anyone willing to live with the elements listed so far will still find bread for their teeth, with a title that in relation to its price offers a considerable amount of content: the internships, present in good number and all characterized by a commendable level design, they are a great challenge and can be repeated freely by those who want to aim to find all the secrets and beat record times. An online leaderboard system guarantees the right visibility at the best performances, and the product does not skimp on even a handful of bonus scenarios to unlock. From a technical point of view, finally, we are in the average of the eShop offer: the polygonal graphics are pleasant even if not very inspired and tending to repetitiveness, while music and sound effects are limited to doing the homework.

Comment

Digital Delivery: Nintendo eShop Price: € 7,99 Resources4Gaming.com

6.8

Readers (6)

6.2

Your vote

Fractured Soul is an extreme puzzle-platformer, not only for its peculiarity of having to be played on both screens of the console, but also for a level of difficulty that becomes really ferocious in the most advanced stages: the risk of frustration with the title Endgame Studios is therefore particularly high, but this is not the only limit of a product that would have benefited from a few more adjustments in terms of balancing. For the price it has and for its excellent values in terms of innovation and level design, Fractured Soul however, it can be taken seriously by anyone willing to tolerate heavy doses of trial and error.