Is everything square or are you just happy to see me?
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/41798/the-delusions-of-von-sottendorff-and-his-squared-mind-3ds-review
While the Nintendo 3DS software library is certainly a diverse one, the oddly named The Delusions of Von Sottendorff and His Squared Mind was a surprise I didn't expect. Delirium Studios, known for their efforts with The River of Alice, have made something abstract that fits the handheld extremely well. It has some faults, but overall, the title is worth your time.
You take control of Baron Von Sottendorf, who is an astrocrat from the 20th Century. The goal is to help him escape from a grid drawing of his own mansion. The baron's crazy mind has put it together and you will have to overcome challenges to make it out alive. By completing the puzzles, more of his mind will be unlocked and freed from the madness.
This is easier said than done as the game sees you connecting various rooms, so that you can enter them safely. Once connected, you search the photographs and objects needed to bring yourself back among the living. These objects include keys to unlock new stages as well as puzzle pieces to free a memory. This requires you to use some of that good old platforming to deal with enemies and situations like switches and invisible platforms. The key to completing sets of rooms is to slide them in from various angles and see if the doorways connect. With just a quick touch of the Circle Pad, you change what is in front of you and have to search for that new opening to push forward.
Every set of these rooms can be seen a singular sliding puzzle that needs to be completed. Every world has five of them, which makes for 40 in total. This will keep going for a while, but it is made better thanks to the extra smaller photographs that you can find. These are a special currency that unlocks artwork, videos and music from the game. The only big problem is that there is no indicator of what you are purchasing, which can bring disappointment from time to time. At the end of the day, it took me a good seven hours to see everything. After you complete the game, there isn't really a reason to return to it. You can perfect your skills on the levels you've completed, but do you really want to? There aren't any leaderboards nor any goodies for beating your completion times.
The title looks decent enough, but there are a few inconsistencies in regards to the presentation. There are some blurry textures and the camera leaves a lot to desired, in particular when the clock is working against you. There is, however, a good usage of color and the characters are the true highlight of the show here. I enjoyed the audio side as well, as there were plenty of cool tunes and voice work implemented into the game.
The Delusions of Von Sottendorff and His Squared Mind is an unique title that truly belongs on the Nintendo 3DS. With a nice variety of puzzles and mechanics that will keep you engaged, it certainly deserves a shot. The presentation and longevity problems are unfortunate, but they can be looked past in the grand scheme of things. The camera is, however, the one thing that really should have been better. It causes unneeded frustration and makes a few levels incredibly difficult.
Topic: The Delusions of Von Sottendorff and His Squared Mind (3DS) Review (Read 1148 times)
