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The Unfinished Swan (PS3) Status: Finished playing I started playing this game on Friday 1 February, 2013 // I stopped playing this game on: Tuesday 16 April, 2013
Current opinion of this game
Definitely worth it.
April 16, 2013 08:38:20 AM
I finished this the other evening - I even went back and earned all the trophies! (a rare thing, this is only the third game I can claim that for) I'm quite torn about the game because while it has what I felt where genuine moments of awe, wonder, and amazement, in the end the game never really gelled for me. I wonder if, having read about the team's troubles getting the game to work, I've been predisposed against it? I'm trying really hard not to sound overly pessimistic because I did enjoy playing it and I'm glad I did. The experience of playing Unfinished Swan is a disjointed one because every couple of levels the game's focus changes - while the controls remain the same, you end up doing entirely different things and they never quite held together. It's like playing 4 different (polished and fun) tech demos that are loosely tied together. First, you reveal the world you're in by shooting paintballs that splat and splatter. Then, you encourage a vine (by shooting water paintballs at it) to grow along a surface so that you can climb it and reach new areas. After that, shoot balls at a special surface so that you can extrude 3D shapes you can then stand on to reach new areas. Finally, shoot balls at a glowing large ball so that it rolls along and illuminates an area (and prevents nasty creatures from attacking you in the dark). So yes, you're always shooting balls - but each of these sections is quite different experientially and aesthetically. They're fun and they're different... but they don't feel like they're really part of the same game.
February 26, 2013 10:14:08 PM
I played a bit more the other night. Neat stuff - the "new" thing this time around are some green vines. When you shoot them with paint (water?) they grow. It looks really neat when it happens. It did take me a few minutes (more than I'd like to admit) to realize that the whole point of the vines is that you can use them to climb up walls! Pretty neat, though I'll admit that what I found most interesting was looking around white rooms and, rather than splatting paint, having wines grow all around. It looks like I still have a fair amount of things to do (in terms of chapters I've yet to complete), so I do have something to look forward to.
February 17, 2013 05:48:28 PM
I first saw this game as a demo at GDC many years ago. The concept was way cool and I was surprised it took so long for the game to see eventual release. I think I may have read somewhere that the creators simply had trouble turning the cool demo into a game that felt interesting and engaging for more than 10 minutes. Having played it for a (short) while now I can definitely see why it would be a problem and I guess I'm not surprised that the game quickly ends up adding things to look at and mixing the "paint" up a little. Well, so far. I've made my way into the 2nd chapter (section?) where I'm in a city, the paint is now blue and fades after a short while. The game has unsurprisingly shifted towards spatial puzzles, but it's still interesting. An additional plus is that I can play it with my kids.

The Unfinished Swan (PS3)