Pixel And Texel Release Fara, A Role Playing Game With A Great Personality
Fara ($0.99) by Pixel and Texel is a new adventure role playing game with a ton of charm and personality.
You play as a scientist who washes up on a beach of the mysterious island of Fara. Did I say mysterious? I meant gorgeous. The 2D locations are beautifully hand-drawn and it's immediately clear that a lot of care went into creating the world.
Before you have a chance to drink in all the retro beauty of the visual style, however, an old man starts talking to you and Fara hits you over the head with what is easily its best asset: its sense of humor.
The game is completely aware of itself, with characters making references to their own speech bubbles as well as the fact that your character is being controlled by, well, you. Every character you meet oozes with personality, and it's these interactions that really carry the game from start to finish.
Then there's the music. The score is a melding of orchestral instruments and chiptune synthesizers that gives me the fuzziest of warm feelings, and it should be commended.
Of course, all of this charm would mean very little if the gameplay didn't hold up. Luckily, it mostly does.
When you wake up on the beach, you discover that there is some sort of slimy creature, called a Furolles, stuck to your arm. Conveniently, this creature doubles as your sword.
As you progress through the game, fighting everything from undead Vikings to spiky snowmen, you'll acquire more of these creatures, each one providing you with a new skill to help you on your quest.
Beyond just hack and slash, you'll encounter puzzles that will have you doing different things, from placing rocks on pressure plates to finding the parts to assemble a battering ram. These sections help keep the gameplay fresh, and it never gets too tedious.
There are two options for controls, and they're both pretty straight forward. With touch controls, you tap where you want to go, and double-tap to attack or interact. The virtual controls provide a more classic feel with a virtual d-pad for movement, and a single button for attacking and interacting.
Both options work pretty well, but I found myself favoring the virtual controls, even though the single contextual attack/interact button led to a few situations in which I was picking up a rock instead of fighting a flame monster.
Fara isn't particularly challenging, but that's okay. You can complete the main quest in a couple of hours, but there are a number of side quests to distract you for a bit. Rounding out the experience are Game Center achievements and leaderboards, not to mention Twitter integration.
I could go on and on about all there is to discover in the world of Fara, but you should probably just go discover it for yourself. With a launch sale price of just $0.99, there's no reason to hesitate. Go get it.
