Platforms: XBLA, PSN, (4/5).
Outland is alchemy. Take a sickle's worth of Mario Bros 2D platforming, and heat in a geothermal pool with the polarity mechanic most famous in Ikaruga. Distill a generous ounce of Metroid's adventuring with a batch of art and sound design reminiscent of Shadow of the Colossus fresh from the calcinator. Each component, however subtle, has been lifted from another title but in Outland they are combined to more than the sum of their parts.
Outland is a platformer that combines platforming and combat, not as two discrete disciplines but as a cohesive whole bound together by a clever colour-changing mechanic. Essentially, enemies you face and environmental obstacles will either be toned red or blue, and your avatar gains the ability to switch between the two at will. If the dragon attacking you is red you must be blue to damage it, however matching its colour also makes you vulnerable to its attacks. Some platforms are incorporeal unless you match their hue, and these are combined with energy beams regularly to form the foundation of some incredibly tense platforming sections that are visually and mechanically extremely satisfying.
The fightning is not quite as flawless as the jumping. Several of the abilities that you gain, most notable the sword swipes and the energy rays (obvious staples of any game protagonist's arsenal), are superfluous in all but the occasional boss fight and you will tend to focus on the ground-pound and the slide moves. That said, the boss battles are, quite literally, the shining moments of the game, when the beauty of the sound, art design and the bitonal animated graphics come to life.
Outland
