Throwback To The Future

First of all, if you’re reading this, then you have probably seen some screenshots or sample graphics from Iji. While the Gameboy Advance may have proven that there’s still a sizable market for 16-bit era games, you may be wondering why a developer would opt for such a low-colour, semi-detailed presentation for their characters and backgrounds. The simple answer is: Iji’s graphical style was inspired by the “Flat 3-D” look and animation seen in the games Out Of This World (a.k.a. Another World) and its successor Flashback. In fact, Iji and her nemeses were created as 3-D models, and pre-rendered to sprites at fixed camera angles and colour palettes. This results in the opportunity for smooth, realistic animation, which is something that Iji delivers. Screenshots simply don’t do this game justice; check out the game’s official trailer for a better idea of how Iji looks in action.

Most of the other graphics you’ll see, including not only the backgrounds, but collectible items, firepower, and cutscenes, are hand-drawn pixel art that keep with the low-colour scheme. Here is you may really be thinking that Remar could have done better. Well, he very likely could have, but after a few minutes of playing, you may get the same impression that I always did; these graphics are simply the most logical extension of the character styles onto the rest of the game, in order to keep the “layered” look. The simple pixel art throughout the backgrounds allow for the most possible detail while remaining consistent with the chosen style. In short, it’s still a matter of taste, but what’s here, works. Also worth mentioning are the numerous instances of real-time graphics. Many of the particle effects, weapon blasts, and “electrical explosions” that you’ll encounter are drawn on the fly via programming, using a measure of randomness that ensures you’ll get a different effect each time.

I find something amusingly ironic about the use of an old-fashioned style of graphics to depict futuristic technology and scenery. Then again, irony has always been a great source of amusement to me. While Iji has a true storyline involving interplanetary war, which could even be interpreted to have existential and nihilistic subtexts, its graphics allow the player, if they so choose, to view the game as one that keeps from taking itself too seriously. If you’ve played any other Remar games by Remar Games, or viewed the artwork on Daniel’s personal website, you’ll also get a sense of familiarity from Iji’s use of his recognisable drawing style. It’s certainly an unintended result that, unless you really can’t handle the lack of anti-aliasing, colour depth, or 3-D bump-mapping, the retro-hybrid graphical style in Iji gives the player a more interpretive view of the game’s events – all without getting artsy-fartsy on us!

As you’ve surmised by now, Iji is the game’s titular character, who uses an assortment of advanced weaponry to take on alien foes. If that’s all you need to know then hop to it! But the game contains a storyline that advances with each level (or “Sector”) and Iji herself has a personality that clashes with that of the typical action/adventure heroine, to say the least. While the game’s storyline and dialogue is quite prevalent, some can be glanced over or ignored if you so choose without hampering the ability to play the game, but it can be an involving experience if you follow it. The reason I mention this up-front is because Iji as a character may be difficult for some players to identify with (especially if they’re geared for a straight-on murder simulation) and she may yet have some empathetic traits that some other players would enjoy either embracing, or watching how they develop as she goes to battle.

Now then; Iji is a fairly average, teenaged human Earthling, living in a time period when “Earthling” is an appropriate designation. The game’s introduction shows her witnessing a sudden, massive attack on the planet, then waking up from a coma several months later in a military complex. What’s changed? For starters, only a handful of humans in the area are still alive after the population of the county – and quite possibly that of a much larger radius – have been decimated by an alien race called the Tasen, and the number of survivors is soon to drop a little further. Also worth mentioning is the fact that Iji has been outfitted with Tasen nanotechnology studied and adapted by surviving scientists, effectively making her a cyborg, and she soon learns the reason and her duty. Here is where Iji begins her many displays of real, overbearing human emotion; she can hardly fathom the truth, and unlike many a sweat-no-challenge raider of tombs she is not prepared for the task (despite her seemingly appropriate clothing colours). A pacifist by nature, she doesn’t want to fight anyone or anything, but eventually accepts what she must confront. Here is a fair warning to gamers that they will, for a little while, be inundated with Iji’s sorrow, confusion, and last grasps of emotion, but fairly early in the game’s progression, you’ll be able to watch her outlook adjust according to your actions as the player, through text dialogue and cutscene images.

Iji is controlled with the arrow keys and a reasonably comfortable 3-button layout, excluding the keys for changing weapons and pausing. Her three primary actions are Kick, Shoot, and Use. Before you ask, yes, Kicking is in fact more appropriate than shooting at many points in the game, and Using is basically a touch action used to access computer terminals, to put Iji’s hacking (sorry, “cracking”) skills to use against a variety of nanofield-protected entities such as locked doors, item-carrying crates, and, if you’re skilled, Iji’s own enemies (often with explosive results!). Using is also necessary at scattered wall panels to upgrade Iji’s strengths, as with each defeated enemy she can assimilate their nanofields into her own, restoring armour as well as building towards Points which can be cashed in for a variety of physical upgrades. In other control-related tidbits, the Down arrow crouches and the Up arrow jumps, and it won’t be long before you discover that Iji cannot fire her weapons in these positions. I suppose one could say that her nanogun is too large and awkward, and look at it that way. Unfortunately this limitation upset some playtesters. However, others including myself hardly even noticed, due to the balance that it brings to Iji and her enemies, and the fair margin of strategy it adds to combat. You’ll be forced to learn to use appropriate attacks for the situations as you gain more strength and more powerful weapons, or properly time your shooting and retreating when you’re low on destructive tools. Since your enemies can also use power-ups found on the ground or dropped by defeated allies to recharge their health and nanofield armour, there’s additional strategy to be learned as to the method and order that you defeat them, to gain the most power-ups. As long as you’re willing to experiment with new weapons and skills rather than hoping to blast through with the same constant technique, give Iji a chance in spite of her limitations, and chances are you’ll find the trade-off to be a positive choice in gameplay, and soon forget all about it.

Just earlier I made Iji seem like a sad soul of a character. The good news is that she gains her bearings and confidence as you play, and begins to show a versatile personality, from making clever understatements to well-controlling her rage in tense situations. The game is definitely geared towards players who enjoy character development, and the in-game chat sequences are kept perhaps not to a minimum, but enough to avoid interrupting the flow of action. And finally, adding many layers to the story are the Tasen logbooks – a good dozen or so in each Sector – which are optional readings that chronicle the personal thoughts of many members of the opposing race, their status reports, and mentions of secrets or abilities that are presented as hints given to the player. It becomes clear that the game’s author is one in the literal sense, as Remar has written an immensity of revelations, quips, and even minor side-stories into these texts. In another display of levity, the Tasen seem to express themselves in a decidedly human fashion, and among all the Serious Business logbooks, you’re sure to find some good old disgruntlement, sarcasm, and even some light-hearted messages between friends in the Tasen army. There are even the occasional advertisements for futuristic products which simply can’t be missed for the way they expose the humour in some actual in-game elements.

Here’s where I make a quick but absolutely necessary mention of the music in Iji. Composed and produced by a handful of independent musicians, mostly by the duo of Dan Byrne McCullough and Chris Geehan, the soundtrack to Iji consists of some fine, calm yet appropriately edgy music for cutscenes, and some even more fine heavy metal tracks for the Sectors and battles, with guitar lines reeking of truly professional creativity (okay, except for the “Tom Sawyer” quasi-tribute). Nearly all the songs in the game have some form of space-aged synthesising or additional softly-produced melodies that add a futuristic touch, and some in particular contain frightening allusions to an impending cybernetic clash. I’ve found that there seems to be such a strong personality to the music that its style is as recognisable as the game’s artwork itself.

Reviews and personal tastes aside, the individuals who wrote and produced Iji’s music deserve some true props for their work in the homestretch. As close as several months from the release date, only a few satisfactory tracks had been completed and it was even uncertain if they’d be used, in lieu of searching for a talented MIDI or MOD composer. Chris and Dan (the musicians, not myself and the game’s creator) kicked into gear and kicked out some kick-ass songs to save the day.

I won’t brag about my own contribution, except to say that some fans of “SID metal” band Machinae Supremacy seemed to get their own self-parodic kick out of it.

The elements of Iji that are most consistent with other Remar Games games, which you should really check out if you haven’t, are the amount of attention paid to detail, and the impeccable level / puzzle design. I’m not just kissing up here; go play Castle of Elite or Retrobattle and see what I mean. I’ll touch on the detail level of Iji first since that’s a minor topic compared to the latter. For obvious reasons, I’m not talking about graphic realism, but a number of cosmetic and gameplay touches that make Iji stand out among many platform or shooting games.

Take a good look at the Sector backgrounds while you play. According to the creator, every single segment of a Sector is designed to represent a useful area of the military complex. The tables, computers, shelves, windows, ladders, and decorations seen along the back walls are so thoughtfully placed in conjunction with the actual walls and platforms to create what is a fully functional complex in imaginative essence, but with Iji and her foes set along a 2-dimensional plane that becomes the basis of a traditional platforming game. Certain background elements, such as messages scratched into walls and a changing skyline, coincide with events in the story’s timeline. A ladder seen in the background never leads to any place that Iji herself could not jump to, otherwise why would she not just go “Paper Mario” into the background and actually climb it?

Objects can be damaged by appropriate means; some can be simply walked over and crushed, some need to be jumped or stomped on, and some must be kicked or shot. Shells from your shotgun, shards of broken glass, detached turret heads, and sentient beings launched airborne via rocket explosions all fall and/or bounce with realistic trajectory. Swarms of Blits, those purple, slug-like nano-beings, crawl and leap in ways that make them seem truly alive, and brainless yet reactive. Nobody changes hand-preference when they turned around; every character is animated from both sides. Shredders feel natural to ride on, and turn and accelerate perfectly – even better than those hover-bikes in Mega Man X2! Even security cameras throughout the complex behave according to events in the storyline. There, I’ve chipped the surface, now enjoy the rest.

Architecture-wise, the Sectors are fairly typical in terms of action-adventure games. They have doors of various types (smashable, crackable, and unbreakable), elevator lifts, ventilation shafts, terminals to unlock other areas, and a little bit of backtracking to reach new areas that you couldn’t earlier on. It’s all fairly well done for the genre, and each Sector adds some new ideas and challenges. Remar has designed some simply brilliant puzzles and levels in his games Castle of Elite and No Friction, and it’s a very rare case when such label is given to level architecture. I don’t quite believe the game Iji makes the case here, but perhaps that’s not necessarily meant to be its crowning design element.

With ten Sectors in all, one would hope that they’re large enough to provide a good play length, and also have the kind of dynamics that would increase the game’s replay value. Both of these design elements are where Iji meets and exceeds standards for independently-developed games. The Sectors are not quite chock-full of hidden secrets and alternate routes, but do contain several apiece, which are found by meeting a large variety of conditions. Some are found by careful exploration, others by employing a number of hidden skills or thoughtfully-conceived techniques, and nearly all depend on how the player has chosen to upgrade Iji’s statistics. With that primary factor in mind, all of the upgrade panels (known as “Cyborg Stations”) have been so meticulously-placed in the Sectors that they practically coincide with the architecture and how you’re expected to explore it. It’s virtually impossible to discover every hidden area on your first play through the game; you’ll often find yourself realising that upgrading different statistics earlier on, or merely upgrading in a different order, would have allowed you access to a hidden area or alternate route, or have given you the ability to carry superior weapons, or have provided the opportunity to perform a tricky maneuver to reach seemingly-unreachable areas. Sometimes these maneuvers require some unlikely assistance, and most often, the path to finding a secret requires several or all of those conditions.

When you do go back to try an alternate route or attempt to reach a new area, chances are you’ll find another possible alternate route within it. And repeat. And repeat again. Some of these alternate routes are so elaborate that they span several Sectors’ worth of upgrades and achievements. Just for a fairly spoiler-free example early on in the game, defeating and sparing certain enemies in a section of Sector 2 will allow you to make an improbable leap towards a normally-unreachable path, which will activate a hidden elevator to return to that section later. Then, having the right strength and cracking statistics when you do return will give you access to a Cyborg Station that can upgrade your Tasen-weapon-carrying ability. Recalling a path that you couldn’t reach before finding the jumping upgrade will bring you to a Rocket Launcher, which you can only carry with a high enough Tasen statistic, which then likely means you’ll need to re-think how you upgraded in Sector 1. When you finally get that shiny weapon in Iji’s arsenal, you’ll find out that it can be modified, but only with a certain cracking statistic which can only be achieved by performing one, and precisely one order of upgrading Iji’s statistics. Of course, there’s nothing at all stopping you from playing on as you normally would and picking up these weapons and modifications within the next few Sectors, but brandishing a Spread-fire Rocket Launcher in just the second Sector of the game is awesome, and is just one example of many incredibly well-designed routes.

Each Sector has a hidden room containing unlockable artwork, some of which are extremely difficult to find. Some additional secret items, mini-games, and messages are also waiting to be discovered. Completing the game on various skill levels, or while achieving certain numbers of kills (both high and low) will open new options and new ways to play. Certain discoveries you may find later in the game can radically change the way you replay the game. If you’re an explorative gamer, then you’ll definitely want to save your game in a different slot after each Sector, just for the chance go back and try something else.

But it doesn’t end just there. Perhaps the most elaborately-designed and well thought-out alternate routes concern the game’s storyline. Your opponents will react differently to you, through both their actions and their logbook notes, depending on how violently you conduct your business, and many portions of the game’s dialogue differ with what information you’ve learned by reading certain logbooks. You may end up not even knowing or caring about the personal affairs of some of your opponents, or you could end up feeling quite empathetic toward them if you learn of how your actions have affected them. Some of it is a little bit of superficial substance, to be sure, but many of the modifiers that change the game’s script are necessary to keep the storyline consistent with the player’s methods, and show another great deal of attention to detail. A player who takes the path less traveled and sticks to controlling Iji according to her initially-pacifistic personality will experience some dialogue and confrontations that are very different from the norm. I realise that it sounds strange to include a “minimal kills” path in a game that largely revolves around obliterating everything that could Do Unto You, and I’ll admit I was a bit perplexed when this element of the game was introduced. It’s hard to say for sure whether it was the author’s attempt to add an extra role-playing element, or some kind of artistic statement, but whatever the case, it gives the story-intrigued players something different to try. Whether you’ll enjoy the differences, should you choose to pursue them, probably depends most on how involved you typically feel with videogame stories. Which brings me to the conclusion of this Preview.

Iji by Remar Games is a true example of a labour of love, having been in the works for just over four years. When considering the number of breaks taken during development, the actual time may be closer to three years, which is a long dedication nonetheless. I hope to have given you the reader plenty of details and insight into the game’s content and style to promote an interest in playing Iji, as well as sharing it with your friends via freeware license. But with all the unique risks that the game takes, the questions du jour remain: Who will most enjoy playing Iji, and will any inherent “flaws” be too much of a detraction for some players?

The issue of the graphical style can be resolved for yourself just by watching the trailer video at the link provided earlier, and keeping two things in mind: 1) There isn’t that amount of action happening all the time. 2) The video leaves out many enemies, segments, and special effects that you will see throughout the game.

If you consider yourself or others to be spoiled by modern shooting games and how many maneuvers their characters can perform, then you may find Iji’s physical limitations (namely; not being able to crawl and only shooting from the standing position) to be a breath of fresh air, considering that the variety of weapons, cracking abilities, and aforementioned strategic elements to the combat still bring plenty of fun and versatility to the action. The in-game tutorial, which takes place at the beginning of Sector 1, simply teaches what can be done and makes little to no mention of what can’t, so by the time you’ve adjusted to the controls a few minutes in, there’s a fair chance you won’t even feel like anything is missing. In my estimation, the group of gamers that will most likely be turned away by Iji’s controls and abilities are those who perhaps aren’t riding the cutting edge of videogames, but expect new releases to constantly bring as much as can possibly be offered, as well as those who are looking for a pure “shoot to kill” thrill.

The replay value of Iji depends mainly on how much the player cares for RPG elements. To reiterate while extremely condensing the upgrade / alternate route / hidden secrets briefing, each time you restart the game you’ll be likely to have a different experience, and finishing the game unlocks extra features which will at least be worth seeing what you’ve earned. If you play Iji and never seem to care much for the extra exploration or seeing what could be done differently, but enjoy the game anyway, then perhaps this bit of advice from my personal experiences will add some replay value. Put the game away for a while – several weeks or months – and then try it again someday. What I’ve found was that the controls and appearance will feel the same, yet using Iji’s 17+ attacks to their best potential, knowing what works best in various situations, and being able to strategise on the fly to survive massive battles are all skills that easily fall out of practice, so you’ll essentially be an eager and awestruck beginner once again.

Finally: The storyline and its “pacifist mode” counterpart. Iji not only has a story, but a back-story as well. Just under halfway through the game you’ll encounter a series of computer terminals which reveal a slew of information on how the present strife came to be. Personally I found the tale to become quite compelling at this point, and the timeline in which various facts are revealed to the player seems very professionally-written, regardless of whether or not you feel the dialogue is top-notch or if the story itself will satisfy you sci-fi buffs out there. Earlier I pondered that how positively players would feel about the changes they’d encounter by sparing most of their enemies, probably depends on how involved they feel toward videogame stories in general. My best estimate is that anyone in between the “too little” and “too much” camps would at least enjoy trying it out. My reasoning for this is that there’s not much for these players to lose simply by trying to dodge their way through the Sectors (which can be a challenge!), and the very premise of an entire race’s only hope going against all reason, and expectations, would make one begin to wonder how her opposition would react. If you’re a player who would feel involved with the game’s story to the point of feeling negatively about this chosen addition, or if you’re a player who just doesn’t care a whole lot about the story, then you could do yourself a favour to read most of the logbooks that you’ll cross. Only a minority of them deal with story elements, while the rest are digestible anecdotes with all-too-human, regular Joe writing tones, with a few that are there just for a chuckle or two. By following along with what the game’s author has written, you’ll be reminded that neither story path’s true meaning is to be taken too seriously, and it’s all just a game.

I would apparently write so much in the hopes of promoting interest in a good friend’s outstanding project. Daniel Remar has worked unbelievably hard on this game, just for the love of giving gamers worldwide something new and free, and should be proud of his efforts. I personally feel proud to be helping to reach those gamers in whatever way that I can, and I hope that this Promotional Preview has been useful in describing what Iji has to offer, as well as, admittedly, putting a positive spin on some of the concerns that were had in releasing such a game to today’s marketplace.

Here’s to a hard-fought victory for independent freeware!

Chris Laviolette is an amateur game developer and musician with chronic uncreativity. He is one sexy beast, does not apologise for his use of Canadian/European English, and currently has a deaf kitten sleeping on his lap.