Google Daydream is a platform desperate for more must-have virtual reality (VR) content, and while the Play Store is ever-increasing its line-up there are few titles that scream ‘essential’ upon release. Turbo Button’s Along Together, now available to download, is one title that comes very close to achieving that goal.
The premise of the videogame sees the player becoming an ethereal blue hand that befriends a young child after he or she (depending on the player’s choice at the start of the videogame) loses their rather peculiar looking purple dog. From this point on it’s the two of you on an adventure to reclaim the pet, in a tale of friendship told by way of faux dialogue and recognisable human emotion. It’s not quite as touching as Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, despite the similarity in the delivery, but Turbo Button has certainly made a good attempt at a relatable, encouraging storyline.
Along Together starts simply enough, teaching the player the basics of moving their chosen kid and interacting with objects; clicking and aiming or clicking and gesturing in a direction, respectively. The kid will automatically jump and climb, providing the player makes the ledges available at the appropriate height, and despite the limited input system there’s very little issue in detection of what the player is attempting to do; rarely does Along Together get confused between movement of objects and movement of the kid.
Levels are comprised of self-contained puzzles, similar in a fashion to Rise of the Tomb Raider; increasingly elaborate and growing in number as the player progresses through the videogame. Essentially mini-mazes that involve creating a path – often by using a single object multiple times – Along Together will rarely taxing on the brain for an experienced gamer but still provides enough intrigue to pull you through. It’s an incredibly well-pitched design of encouragement and challenge that walks a fine line between the core gamer demographic and those coming on-board through VR.
Despite the input system, VRFocus would argue that Along Together is not a point-and-click videogame as Turbo Button suggest. It’s much closer to a platform-puzzle videogame in that the experience is less about objectives and item collection, more concerned with path-finding. This certainly isn’t a negative comment however, as Along Together is a welcome addition to the Google Daydream’s software catalogue regardless of how you choose to define it. With a pleasing, chunky and colourful art style and a fine assortment of puzzles, Along Together is an easy recommendation for Google Daydream owners.
Awesome
-
Verdict