Lucid

I am convinced that Lucid was made by 2 and 1/2 people, using only half of each other's brains while simultaneously making breakfast at midnight.  That comes to Lucid being made by 1 and 1/4 of a brain.  That isn't an insult.  I know lots of games made with only one brain that entertained me to the dickens.   check out 'VVVVV" for one.  But Lucid is the exception.  the game is so simple, AND DON"T EVEN THINK I am going to turn down the "simplicity is godicity" road, because with games it never is.  An entertaining simple game while fun is never fun that evolves into more fun.  the original Mario is fun, but if you were to play it again today, more than half your fun would come from nostalgic memories, not the actual gameplay in and of itself.  Why do you think as sysetms evolved so did Mario.  nintendo didnt just stick to the same game with each new installment,  They added more and more and more until the system burst from the seams and they were forced to make a system that could handle more.  Lucid is way too simple.  there are a bunch of blocks stacked utop bibby bop.  each move has a  target color, you connect blocks of the target color and your meter fills up.  You fill the meter up and you succeed up the level ladder(trademark).  THATS IT!!!!  I was emotionally done with the game by level 10 and there are a lot more levels after 10.

but I digress, Lucid did offer some complexity....around level 40.  I still am scratching my head about how I played until level 40 to discover this complexity because scouts honor level 1-39 were played the exact same way with next to zero diversity in tactic or style or or or or or OR!!!!!!!!!!  but nothing could have prepared me for level 40+ and I give NO credit to the developers for this!!!!  Hey, I am not mad at all, I am just convinced that this sudden emergence of difficulty was in no way on purpose.  It was equivalent to 2 frogs;  one is born with short legs and one is born with long legs.  the long-legged one survives because it can jump further and faster than its partner, but did the either frog have any say in this diversity?  Did the developers choose for level 40+ to require a complete change in strategy in order to be solved?  I highly highly like a kitey doubt it.

But I fear I have expressed even the slightest hint that i don't like this game, and if I have, i am sorry.  not to the developers, or to the gamers,  but to the game.  Because game, you gave me joy.  but in a way that you wouldn't even understand even if you had the ability to understand.  and possibly any reader of this article won't understand either because....because.....well.......you probably haven't played Lucid. And I have no expectation you will because the surprise I experienced at level 40 is not of a value that exceeds the sacrifice required to battle through the preceeding 39 levels.

The joy you gave me was surprise.  I am a sucker for it.  A surprise make my poop ice cream taste like a poopsicle, and this surprise is unique enough that it deserves at least a semi-accurate description.

The kicker to this surprise, the panel that gave me access to such a meander, was a little restriction that was occasionally added  to the target color, to whose compliance raised the meter, that gave way to the next level.  Every once and a while in addition to a target color, a target number was also present.  so not only did you have to connect like green squares, but you also had to make at least a pair of 3, or 4, or whatever the number stated. and say you could only connect 4 of a group of 5 squares in one continuous line, then the whole thing was void.  this was difficult because in order to fill the meter to finish the level, you had to line up 4 black for example, and if you never were able to find 4 black side by side, you would end up without a move to make and be forced to start the level over.  this little number restriction was implemented long before level 40, but so sparingly that it never posed a threat.  it was easily surmounted and progress to the next level was never hindered.

But for some freak mutated reason, at level 40, the game, by some naturally selected way, completely detached from any expectation of me or the developer, started to attach a target number to each and every target color, meaning throughout the entire level you always had to plan each move so that next target color/number combo was easily accessible.  If you didn't then it would turn into a slippery slope and before you knew it, you would be out on the street holding a sign that read "kill me".

To be able to do this, it required me to play the game completely different.  I had to look for patterns,and then the pit falls that kept me from these patterns.  I had to anticipate them, and play each move with the next 3 moves in mind.  It was so much more difficult than the previous levels that I CANNOT believe it was on purpose.  there was no gradual steps into this, no preparation, no anticipation.  it was like going to sleep in a village, and waking up in a dungeon.

But I found my way out of this dungeon.  I enjoyed it and I know that is in part because I like pain.  I like being treated bad, and I like surprises.  Lucid surprised me.  But no one deserves any credit for this and as such I won't recommend this game.  If I did, I would then by default be giving props the developers of the game and I don't want to do that.  They are lazy.