Game Reviews

Strung Along

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Strung Along
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My relationship with Strung Out has been about as fragile as the very strings holding up the game's puppet.

And really, are those strings made out of wet noodles or something? Jeez they break easy!

Loose wires

I started off with a pretty positive outlook. The game seems interesting, and I dig the wonky puppet thing. It's sort of like a mix of Daddy Long Legs and Octodad in how intentionally difficult it can be to control.

But it's just so easy to snap one of those strings. If the puppet places a foot on "uneven terrain," you fail. If you stretch its legs too far apart, you fail. If you step off a ledge, you fail. If you get hit by an obstacle, you fail.

It's the uneven terrain thing that bothers me the most. Sometimes I step and everything is fine, and other times I'm off by a couple of pixels and SNAP.

Conversely, I've had moments where I only managed to complete a level because I accidentally glitched through it by getting a foot hooked onto the underside of a platform or because the game counted a step as valid even though I should've fallen.

Hanging by a thread

Things get more and more devious as you progress, too. Simply walking can be tough at first, but then you have to deal with steps. And after that it's lifts.

Then moving platforms, rolling logs to jump over, and even hooks you need to grab onto. It's ultimately fairly simple, but it's definitely not easy.

The thing is, Strung Along is still pretty fun. It's charming in its own unique way. It's hard not to love how goofy the puppet walks, the silly little costume bits you can add on are fairly cute, and it can be immensely satisfying to finally get through a level that's been giving you trouble.

Most of the time it can be frustrating, but Strung Along definitely has some appeal. And you can always save and share clips of a particularly fantastic performance with Everyplay so everyone else can envy your puppetry skills.

Strung Along

An interesting, frustrating game that just about manages to be worth some of your time
Score
Rob Rich
Rob Rich
Rob Rich is the editor of 148Apps.com