Video games generally serve two purposes: providing either an escape from reality or a competitive activity. However, video games recently broke into a third category — art — and “Bound” may be the new gold standard of artistic video games.
PlayStation 4 exclusive “Bound” is a 3-D platformer from Plastic Demoscene Group. You play as a princess tasked with defending the queen’s realm from a monster. Your weapon? Dancing.
The player-controlled character is a humanoid woman who uses her dancing to defend herself from harm. As you jump, tumble and pirouette through the levels, you solve puzzles and platform your way to defeating the monster — that is, if you can stop staring at the game long enough to play it.
The minimalistic cubism and sharp polygonal shapes within “Bound” create a world evoking mixed feelings of flux, panic and elegantly contrasted beauty. Nodding to its visual appeal, the game contains an extensive photo mode which allows you to change everything from contrast to camera position to get that perfect screenshot.
With her level-specific dance routines activating a sort of shield, the playable character — modeled after a professional ballerina’s motion-captured choreography — adds to the intricate design of the level. From walking to jumping, every action uses dance moves as animations, rather than the “run, jump, shoot man” stock gamers are familiar with.
A terrific soundtrack compliments the player’s exploration through the world. The blend of electroacoustic and ballet music fits the narrative and gameplay tones perfectly, adding senses of wonder, calm and tension where appropriate.
The game’s narrative stretches beyond saving the queen’s kingdom. You are actually playing inside the mind of a woman who is reliving childhood memories and conquering fears with each level.
There are only a couple lines of dialogue, yet the story is still emotional. Explained through visuals in an effective way, the story is just deep enough to be interesting.
Gameplay, however, is a glaring weak spot in what would have otherwise been a masterpiece. Since the platforming puzzles were so simplistic, I was never stumped on how to move forward in a level.
In fact, the levels are mostly linear. If you miss a jump and fall to your death, you respawn on the ledge you jumped off, making failure almost inconsequential.
While I did encounter several technical problems, it was never game breaking. The floating spheres in some levels can send you into an infinite loop of falling, and sometimes you land on a platform only to fall straight through.
“Bound” has no combat; you only need to dance to defend yourself against the handful of enemies in the game. Your controls consist of walking, jumping, and dodging.
Holding down R2 to go into “dance mode” changes the animations, but not much of the functionality. Being able to “combo” the dance moves to create the feeling of actually being a dancer would improve this game drastically, but unfortunately you are bound to see the same animations over and over.
While the gameplay itself is lacking, “Bound” does not try winning you over as a video game in the first place. Common elements of video games such as skills, upgrades, points and combat are missing in favor of focusing on the amazing aesthetics. The developers have even referred to it as a “notgame.”
“Bound” is a game to be observed and admired, not conquered.