Platformers Making a Comeback

It seems that platform games have either died out or now receive minor roles in other popular genres. Even the highly-anticipated PC release of Mirror’s Edge, having many next-gen platformer elements, distances itself from the term entirely. Is there some sort of conspiracy to limit this term to shoddy children’s games or the thousands of Spyro the Dragon sequels? Despite the gaming industry thinking its past the enjoyment of simply jumping and climbing on things, there’s still one development team that hasn’t forgotten its roots. Released on December 24th, beta 4 of Kreedz Climbing, a Half-Life 2 modification, brings classic elements of the platformer to modern heights.

Played through a first-person perspective, your character jumps, climbs, swings, surfs, or luckily scrambles his way through complex and often surreal levels. The object is simple: get to end of the map in the shortest amount of time. Though a seemingly steep learning curve is present, missing a jump or platform doesn’t always mean starting from the beginning — if you’re cunning, that is. One of the coolest elements of this mod is the checkpoint system, allowing players to instantly recover any lost ground from falling.

Being a mod of arguably one of the best FPS series ever made, Kreedz Climbing suprisingly resists adding any shoot-’em-up elements into its gameplay. Designers express that it’s a “unique, non-violent, puzzle-type. . . game.” Though being a black-sheep of sorts, it’s refreshing to see a minimalist approach to modding. Revitalizing a once universally-championed genre to satisfy modern tastes is always a challenge. Yet, Kreedz mod seems to do just that.

Hopefully our forgotten love for platformers will be revitalized once more; if not permanently, then at least long enough to enjoy a few rounds of this latest mod.