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Staff review by Mandy Safai
December 16, 2012 Party of Sin isn't about frat life or Rumspringa, but The Seven Deadly Sins are still involved. Game developer Crankshaft will put you through Hell in this wicked cool puzzle/platformer title.
Certainly puzzle-a-plenty, Party of Sin features over seventy puzzles to solve. They span four crisp and colorful biblical locales: Hell, Purgatory, Earth, and Heaven. Priggish winged folk banish every Sin from ever practicing their love with humankind, and your job is to inhabit Envy, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Pride, Sloth, and Wrath to take the angelic legion down to pound town.
While the story is to a certain extent just there, the appearance of each anti-hero is at least good for a giggle. Greed is channeling his inner glamour rapper with a gold grill; Pride is a meathead cliche; Lust is a buxom maneater; and Sloth is the physical incarnation of me. Personally, I would have gone less by the book where character design is concerned. Imagine Lust as an oiled Fabio on the cover of Savage Thunder, or Greed as a Televangelist. Hey, Wrath could be that one German spaz on YouTube playing Unreal Tournament. There are endless possibilities here, but I digress.
The slightly cel-shaded and cartoony art direction is a great choice for a sidescroller like this one, and the graphics as a whole are lovely. It was much more than I expected for an Indie title that was partially funded on Kickstarter.
Levels progress by room; each room contains a puzzle, a battle, or both. Teamwork is key as you attempt to manipulate the environment to work in your favor. I enjoyed and even preferred when a solution called for me to utilize my entire arsenal of sinning prowess. For instance, in order to reach a lever, I’d have to headbutt a switch with Wrath in order to activate a moving platform. I'd then slow the moving speed of the platform with Sloth in order to buy time for Pride to close the jumping distance with his sword thrust ability.
Similarly, I might need Lust to conjure a temporary platform with her pink pheromone, which could allow Gluttony a way to hurriedly transport a pressure block from his pot belly to a higher place, or allow Envy and her green gaze to set an out-of-reach torch aflame. While you employ the same skill set for every puzzle, the technique and pattern is different every time, and familiarizing yourself with what every Sin is capable of can take some finesse. Every level requires the use of every power at your disposal, and every Sin has a specialty, so you shan't have a chance for favoritism. Remember, there's no "I" in "sin." Wait, no…
While the game isn't difficult in itself, every action has a sticky residue feeling. Jumping is plagued by a "sliding" effect common in the platformer genre, which can make precise landing more difficult than need be. I fairly can say that it often sent me over the edge both literally and figuratively quite a bit. If you do intend on playing this game in single-player mode, you'll see the "Game Over" screen just enough to remind you that you have to try, and this is especially true during a boss fight. Even then, the game is genuine fun.
The fighting portion of Party of Sin is the weakest link, albeit a solid effort. For example, Gluttony can swallow a vulnerable angel whole for more health; it's a nifty skill to have when gunfire is flying from every direction and there isn't an apple in sight. Unfortunately, being able to attack and digest simultaneously broke combat variety for me; I had uncovered an impromptu easy mode, and every other Sin just wasn't worth the effort.
As you progress, the puzzle and combat difficulty will steepen, and I've encountered many a puzzle where the solution wasn't immediately obvious to me; this is a good thing. A knack for proper timing, know-how, and patience are crucial here. Although I welcome a challenge, you do also have the option of grabbing a co-op partner or three in the event that your hotkey mastery is lacking. My main gripe is that co-op is limited to local, so if your housemate is terrifying or your pet rabbit isn't keyboard savvy, your soul is damned to wander alone.
The subtle dark humor in Party of Sin is a charming detail, and I can't decide on the game’s defining feature. It's either the fact that it doesn't try to do too much, or that Lust has a combat upgrade titled "Breast Implants." Whatever the case, Party of Sin is a party I encourage you to attend.
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