Warp (2012 Video Game)
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''Warp'' is a
video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
developed by Trapdoor and published by
Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...
through it EA Partners program on
Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
,
PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...
and
Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...
. The game allows the player to warp through doors and objects and cause creatures in the game world to explode. It was released on February 15, 2012 on
Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (or XBLA) was a video game Digital distribution in video games, digital distribution service that was available for the Xbox (console), Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles. It focused on smaller downloadable games from both major publisher ...
as part of the second "Xbox Live Arcade House Party", with
PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...
and Microsoft Windows releases to follow on March 13, 2012.


Plot

The game opens from a first person view of the player being pulled out of what appears to be a cave by a group of
scientists A scientist is a person who researches to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosophical study of nature ...
. The player's character, "Zero", is confused and dazed as they take him to a military-grade secure facility. Zero fades in and out of consciousness, and eventually awakens to see two scientists performing
surgery Surgery is a medical specialty that uses manual and instrumental techniques to diagnose or treat pathological conditions (e.g., trauma, disease, injury, malignancy), to alter bodily functions (e.g., malabsorption created by bariatric surgery s ...
on him and extracting a disk-shaped object. Soon after, a fellow alien contacts Zero through
telepathy Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...
and says that it can sense other aliens in the facility and that they should escape together. The scientists then put Zero through an obstacle course where Zero is reunited with the disk they extracted, giving him back his power to teleport. After reabsorbing the disk, the player's goal is to escape the facility and help any fellow aliens on the way out. The game has three endings: Bad: Kill more than 170 humans. Zero heads outside in the rain, is depowered, and killed by a sniper. Good: Kill fewer than 7 humans. Zero heading outside in the sun and running in victory, free at last. Neutral: Kill more than 7 humans, but fewer than 170 humans. After escaping, Zero is ambushed by a small group of soldiers, but effortlessly slays them.


Gameplay

Despite being a 3D game, the gameplay remains similar to a top-down 2D game that features
puzzle A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to find the solution of the puzzle. There are differe ...
solving and stealth. The first power Zero acquires is the ability to teleport short distances, also known as the titular ''Warp''. Zero is able to warp through open spaces, through objects, into objects, and into living things. The speed between warps is dependent on whether Zero moves into an object or into open space. Moving into open space gives Zero a slight timed penalty before it can warp again. From inside an object (or person), Zero can move around vigorously and eventually make it explode. This is known as a Frag. Guards, scientists, and turrets attempt to stop Zero's escape. Upon sight of Zero both turrets and guards will attempt to shoot, while scientists will cower and run away. Once spotted by one
human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...
they will most likely alert other humans of Zero's presence. Alarms that are activated can be turned off by destroying the alarm coil or moving it off the alarm pad.
Sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...
and
sight Visual perception is the ability to detect light and use it to form an image of the surrounding Biophysical environment, environment. Photodetection without image formation is classified as ''light sensing''. In most vertebrates, visual percept ...
also play a prominent role in the game. Zero is about half the size of the average human and so is able to hide behind many objects that are scattered across the map without being seen. Sound will also alert the guards to Zero's presence. Footsteps, knocking into objects, and Zero's powers will create sounds audible to the human ears prompting an investigation, though many of these sounds can be made inaudible through upgrades. Upgrades can be purchased at stations throughout the game. Upgrades cost grub energy that has been collected throughout Zero's journey. Grubs are small parasite-like creatures that cling to objects and give off a purple glow. This glow makes them easier to spot, although many of these grubs are located in hard to reach places and require extra skill or more powers to reach. Once a grub is found, Zero consumes it and absorbs its energy. Zero will come across puddles of
water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...
early on in the game and discovers that being exposed to small amounts of water will nullify his powers temporarily. This is indicated by Zero having a sudden loss of color and a different walking animation. Unfortunately for Zero, the scientists also discover this weakness. They exploit this weakness by creating a malleable water substance that they primarily use as a shield. Zero can't walk, warp, echo, or use a hologram to get past these shields. When exposed to large quantities of water, Zero will die. The facility is located underwater. Throughout the game, Zero will find remains of other aliens and will be able to absorb their old powers in order to aid his escape. The second power Zero unlocks is a solid
hologram Holography is a technique that allows a wavefront to be recorded and later reconstructed. It is best known as a method of generating three-dimensional images, and has a wide range of other uses, including data storage, microscopy, and interf ...
, known as Echo. Zero's echo ghost will move independently from him, but Zero is unable to move when this power is activated. All enemies can see Zero's echo but they can't tell it apart from the real Zero. If Zero's echo is killed, it will
dissipate In thermodynamics, dissipation is the result of an irreversible process that affects a thermodynamic system. In a dissipative process, energy ( internal, bulk flow kinetic, or system potential) transforms from an initial form to a final form, wh ...
. The hologram can pass through all objects and move across gaps but will also dissipate when it comes into contact with water. The echo's movement is restricted to within a certain radius around Zero's position. When Zero activates this power inside an object, the hologram will take on the image and properties of the object. Guards, scientists, and turrets will only notice the object if it is not stationary. When Zero activates this power inside a person, whether the human is alive or dead, the echo will be of that person walking and enemies won't notice anything wrong. The third power is known as Swap. This power is an extension of the echo and allows Zero's echo to swap places with an object of the player's choice. The swap power can be used as an extended warp in many situations. The power will only work when the end destination is an object. If Zero is inside an object while swap is used, the destination object will be placed inside the original object. This causes the internal object to destroy the external object and take its place. This technique can be used to destroy objects/humans and create distractions. The fourth power is known as Launch. Launch allows Zero to fire an object at a high
velocity Velocity is a measurement of speed in a certain direction of motion. It is a fundamental concept in kinematics, the branch of classical mechanics that describes the motion of physical objects. Velocity is a vector (geometry), vector Physical q ...
. The launched object won't be affected by
gravity In physics, gravity (), also known as gravitation or a gravitational interaction, is a fundamental interaction, a mutual attraction between all massive particles. On Earth, gravity takes a slightly different meaning: the observed force b ...
during this time. Launch will only launch an object when Zero is already warped inside of it and will leave Zero in the position of where the object was launched from. This power is primarily used to destroy power generators to access different levels of the map. It can also be used to place objects strategically so Zero can use echo to cross large spaces that were previously unreachable.


Game modes

There are two game modes featured in ''Warp''. The first is the story mode where players spend their time solving puzzles and ultimately escaping from the facility. During the story, players can discover challenge orbs which can be activated by warping into them. Once Zero is warped into them, they are unlocked and accessible through the main menu. The challenge mode places Zero in a training room and gives the player one objective. The rewards for completing these objectives are tiered: a bronze grub, a silver grub, and a gold grub. The bronze grub is always given for completing the objective and is the lowest tier of reward. The silver and gold grub is often given out in reward for completing the objective in shorter times respectively. These challenges are often placed in the story mode to help train the player for a new type of challenge/puzzle that is coming up. They often require critical thinking or advanced skills in order to attain the silver grub. The times that players complete the challenges are recorded and put up on a leader board to see how a player compares to others.


Reception

According to the review aggregator
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, the PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows versions of ''Warp'' received "generally favorable" reviews from publications upon release, while the Xbox 360 version received "mixed or average" reviews. Daemon Hatfield of
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
scored the game an 8.5 out of 10. Hatfield's review was mostly positive, with his only problems with the game being its lack of polish, which he pinned down to lower production values, and ending levels. Even though Hatfield particularly disliked the final boss fight for being the "opposite of fun", he said that the game's level design and core mechanics make up for it by being "so much damn fun". Hatfield also spoke positively of the premise of being an alien against humans, rather than a human against aliens, the humour, and the difficulty balance.
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
's Jeremiah Johnson was more critical of the game, summarizing his review by saying: "It's best to take ''Warp'' as the carefree fling it's likely meant to be, because anyone looking for a rewarding experience here will find only a charmingly warped vision of games we've seen many times before." Johnson praised the enjoyability of the puzzles, the "charming mix of gore and cuteness", the overall presentation, and the leaderboards. Johnson's main criticisms were concerning the controls and the "trial and error"-nature of some puzzles and encounters.
Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'' is an American monthly Video game journalism, video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and video game console, game consoles. It debuted in August 1991, when the video game reta ...
's Dan Ryckert also had mixed feelings, stating: "''Warp'' is charming at first, but the simple A.I. and basic puzzles aren’t enough to make it an XBLA standout. Completionists may find replay value in the collectible grubs, basic upgrade system, and challenge rooms, but anyone looking for deeper stealth or puzzle-based gameplay should look elsewhere." Ryckert scored the game a 6.75 out of 10. Dan Whitehead for
Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 alongside parent company Gamer Network. In 2008, it started in the formerly eponymous trade fair EGX (Eurogamer Expo until 2013) organised by its parent company. Fr ...
scored the game a 7/10 in his review and wrote: "The ideas at the heart of ''Warp'' are sound and, in general, the game is well paced and introduces its evolutions at just the right time. There's a looseness to the execution though, and it keeps the experience from becoming more than the sum of its parts. ''Warp'' is a pleasant enough diversion, but with patchwork design that remixes gameplay ideas and stylistic elements from sources as diverse as '' Splosion Man'', '' Metal Gear Solid'' and '' Portal'', it never gels into anything particularly memorable."


References


External links

*{{cite web, url=http://www.ea.com/warp , title=Electronic Arts Inc. ''Warp'' Website, date=6 September 2016 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20171003172027/http://www2.ea.com/warp , archivedate=2017-10-03 2012 video games Electronic Arts games PlayStation 3 games PlayStation Network games Puzzle video games Stealth video games Unreal Engine 3 games Video games developed in Canada Windows games Xbox 360 Live Arcade games