Review for Trover Saves the Universe. Game for PC, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR, the video game was released on 31/05/2019 The version for PC came out on 04/06/2019
Do you know the definition of insanity? An essay (or was he a fool?) Defined it as “pursuing something always through the same methods and with the same tools, seeing it fail, and then trying again without changing approach by a comma”, convinced of a different outcome.
In a world that surprises every day for better or for worse, it is natural to feel the desire to take refuge in the safe walls of a video game, and what better reality than the virtual one, controlled and us-centric? Well, the unstoppable madness of the absurd and the comfort zone of virtual reality come together in Trover Saves the Universe, the latest title from Squanch Games.
And if you're wondering, the answer is yes: you feel every milligram of the madness of Justin Roiland, the creator, among other things, of that masterpiece called Rick & Morty. Fasten your seat belts, ragazzi. It will be a very, very crazy journey.
Let's get rid of the doubts right away: Squanch Games' title, like Accounting + before it, is not a conventional title at all; from a mind like Roiland's one cannot expect otherwise, and in this (as in another) Trover Saves the Universe does not disappoint. In a sense, indeed, it exceeds expectations, as a video game and as a mere entertainment product, pushing the metaphorical rod of both worlds a little higher. But let's start from the beginning.
In Trover Saves the Universe you will find yourself dressing the (seats) members of a "Chairopian”, A particular alien race characterized by their voluntary and constant sedentary lifestyle; sitting in your floating chair all day is a status quo here bizarre planet, so much so that in a dialogue with an NPC it turns out that nothing less than a war, and barely that, is needed to get a Chairopian up from his comfortable chair.
In what can only be described as the most absurd narrative incipit in the history of galactic entertainment, the protagonist will see his two beloved dogs kidnapped by Glorkon, a huge bird whose most absurd feature is its completely empty eye sockets. Yes, really. And no, that's not all.
In fact, the volatile criminal decides to place the aforementioned dogs inside the aforementioned eye sockets, obtaining an immense power that, obviously, he intends to exploit for his evil purposes. Don't worry, it's all downhill from here. Immediately after the strange event, you will find yourself in front of one of the most absurd tutorials in history, as unusual in presentation as it is meta-narratively ridiculous towards the absurdity that now seems to be the lowest common denominator of in-game tutorials.
After this first phase of becoming familiar with the basic commands, you will almost immediately end up face to face with the supporting actor Trover, another absurd alien who in no time at all will explain to us what is basically the main movement mechanics of the game: your in-game alter ego, the Chairopian, has and in fact uses a controller very similar to the DualShock that you hold in your hands in the real world; this is the tool with which the Chairopian will be able to move Trover, who will have to place himself on some luminous portals thus allowing the Chairopian to move through them.
Trover therefore has maximum freedom of movement in the game world, leaving you relegated to these fixed points; this consecutive of "player moves character that moves character" makes a little smile, but never turns out to be wrong or out of tune with respect to the level design parameters of the title.
Although in words it may seem a bit boring or potentially cumbersome modus operandi, it turns out to be an excellent springboard for the introduction of all the subsequent action and movement mechanics; both Trover and the Chairopian will in fact obtain, during the course of the adventure, various upgrades that will make each time more complex and colorful the way to navigate and pass each level.
The introduction of a good number of collectibles colors the game with a slight "metroidvanic" nuance which does not hurt, especially in a title where replayability is vaguely suggested but only summarily justified. Furthermore, the "practical" aspect of collecting collectibles: if in fact all the other enhancements concern the mobility of the Chairopian or the attack power of Trover, only by collecting the Power Babies (this is the name of the collectible) can you improve the health of the latter, a statistic that we can consult at any time at screen.
At least in the definition of its genre, Trover Saves the Universe respects the canons more, sitting comfortably at the intersection between platform, action and puzzle game: if the first is more a flavoring of the chaotic dish, the last two are the ones that characterize the identity of the Squanch Games title more, with the action part more in the foreground than the sporadic and very simple puzzles that will appear in front of you.
La variety of enemies is good, so much so that after a few battles with the basic minions, you will find yourself having to outwit giant tank enemies while avoiding the explosive sniper bullets in the distance, all looking for something to throw at the armor of that angry bird that you is running towards. Don't expect who knows what depth in division into classes of enemies, a lightness that again does not clash but reaffirms the “caciarone” status quo of the title.
There are no real boss battles, but there are different situations in which we will find ourselves “stuck” in a section, with all the teleportation portals deactivated and hunted by the opponents; to overcome these areas, the only way is to kill all enemies on the screen, death to be administered thanks to that pseudo-lightsaber with which Trover is provided. The "house arrest" freedom offered by the Chairopian's floating armchair provides a further opportunity to bring the protagonist back into a sort of "Deus Ex Machina", A" supervisor "who is always able to save the situation at the last moment, or at least has the means to do so.
Thanks to one of the first upgrades that you can activate, you will find yourself having to slide from low ground to 10-15 meters vertically and then back to the ground to keep all enemies under control and try not to let Trover die in the meantime: the level design in this it proves to be really well conceived, made respecting the sort of wide linearity which already had as its last maximum exponent God of War and its Lake of Nine.
Also thanks to this multi-dimensionality the search for collectibles is never tedious, and will test your diopters, looking for that floating green speck hidden in the landscape or perhaps within that semi-invisible ravine or why not, at the bottom of that secret area that you just discovered by accident.
Let's be clear, Trover Saves the Universe is a title absolutely designed for VR, truth also confirmed by the presence of a sort of mechanics for answering the questions that the various characters can ask you during the adventure: while a different game would have relegated the answer to a button, here VR allows us to perform one of the most newspapers of all time, that nod of assent or dissent with the head which is capable of replacing a short dialogue even better than many other paraverbal mechanisms. Clearly don't expect who knows what consequences to your "no" rather than a "yes", but it is yet another curious mini-feature in an incredibly such game.
Don't worry though, because Trover Saves the Universe can also be played outside the VR: while in virtual reality our rotational movement on the chair respects 90 ° intervals (so with each stroke on the rudder we would move 1/4 of a circumference to the right or left), without Playstation VR the rotational movement is completely free, at 360 ° . Yes, another mechanism with minimal effects on the game but which returns the picture of a well thought out title, and not "thrown in" as one might think at first glance.
In a title so brilliant in its madness and unbalanced in its genius, it hits (but without hurting too badly) the musical sector and dubbing: while the former can hardly create a vital space for itself in the midst of the all too prolific amount of dialogue, it is the latter that tires more quickly.
Although the dialogues are written with that acidity and bite that are now Roiland's trademark, the fact that these are practically dubbed by themselves a couple of voices becomes very stagnant very soon; then put in that 90% of the characters are voiced by Roiland himself, and you can begin to understand the subtle discomfort.
Apart from this little blunder, Trover Saves the Universe is still a very valid title; easily separable, as needed, from its non-binding VR nature, it has few levels but all very original, a story full of absurdities and some gameplay mechanics that are really refreshing in their intrinsic spontaneity. There are many titles that claim or aim to be the caviar of the videogame supermarket, and few succeed; following this metaphor, Trover Saves the Universe is and wants to be nothing more than the best of frozen pizzas, brilliant in the category it has decided to carve out, without claiming to be anything more than the last among the first.
► Trover Saves the Universe is an Adventure-indie game for PC, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR, the video game was released on 31/05/2019 The version for PC came out on 04/06/2019
