Defunct

Genre: 3D Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

Defunct is a 3D Platformer with an interesting approach to physics that sets it apart in the genre. You play a one-wheeled robot that builds up speed by “gravitating” down slopes, and must use this to try to proceed through platforming levels, often getting up to pretty high speeds.

It’s a great concept that does something different than the usual physics-based games. However, I wish this game did something different with it. If this were more of a puzzle-platformer, it would make for a really cool way to set up “how do I get from point A to point B?” puzzles. If the controls were a bit more simple and easy to work with, they could have gone the traditional route, like a 3D Sonic game. Or if they pushed this more in the direction of, say, Tony Hawk, that would have been a really interesting spin on the genre. Instead, it’s kinda’ some in-between thing that doesn’t really hit all the right notes for any of those.

I’ve heard that this game has framerate issues, even in “performance mode” (this game actually allows you to choose between high-FPS performance and low-FPS detail), but I didn’t notice that myself. However, the game doesn’t look impressive in any sort, and I did run into other issues – namely, the sound. For some reason, no matter how high I put the settings, it was like I was playing this game on mute. I would get occasional sounds, but no music, and the whole thing felt eerily quiet.

In the end, I think Defunct needed more time in development. There are some really interesting ideas here, and potential for some great high-speed gameplay, but the concepts here don’t seem fully explored, and the finished product has enough problems that, while I wouldn’t call it “defunct” per se, it definitely feels incomplete.

tl;dr – Defunct is a 3D platformer where you play a one-wheeled robot using physics to build speed on slopes. There are some interesting approaches to the gameplay of the genre here, but the game has enough problems that it feels incomplete, and probably needed more time in development.

Grade: C+

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