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A Fading Melody review

Game: A Fading Melody
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Action (Platformer)
Developer: Anchorcast

Featured reader review by JANUS2

June 12, 2009

Cast your mind back to a time when Toad could tell us that “the princess is in another castle” and we’d cheerfully scamper off through another vibrant world in pursuit of the evil Bowser.

These were simpler times . . .

This cryptic thought is expressed at the beginning of A Fading Melody and is typical of a game that offers us very few certainties. All we know for sure is that A Fading Melody is a platformer, and so we must run from left to right across countless platforms while we evade the sinister clutches of strange phantoms. We do this in the hope that we’ll gradually learn more. It’s the equivalent of Toad’s famous words – a carrot dangled in front of the player, urging them forward – only it’s been updated for a genre that, post-Braid, wants to tell us an ambiguous, emotionally charged tragedy. This is no traditional platformer. In the words of its creator, A Fading Melody is an “artistic indie platformer with a story.”

Except that unlike Johnathan Blow’s abstract story-telling, A Fading Melody doesn’t need to be deciphered to be understood. For all its emotional weight, there’s a certain poetic simplicity to the flashes of narrative progression that appear on screen between each level. Like all iconic platformers, the premise behind A Fading Melody can be encapsulated in one sentence: guide a coma patient through her nightmares as she struggles to regain her memories. Instead of understanding the meaning, the emphasis is on unravelling this mysterious story. Melody, the tormented protagonist, is in a coma. Why is she in a coma? With each level (and there are seven in total), a bit more of the intriguing tale is revealed as it twists and turns towards a resolution that explains all.

Although the plot is easy to comprehend, A Fading Melody is significant because it unites its solemn theme and platforming gameplay in a way that proved beyond Braid. All Melody can remember about her accident is that it happened in a forest. Each level is therefore set in a surreal woodland environment, a subconscious manifestation of her traumatic memories. This imaginary forest is a forlorn wilderness populated by a few abstract trees that weave across the pale backdrop. The haunting piano melodies of Robert Schumann complete the illusion, immersing you in a melancholy dream world. Initially, this subconscious world is dark and miserable, rendered in monochrome with incessant snowfall, but as Melody begins to remember, her mind becomes infused with brightness. The trees start to bloom, with tangible branches and hints of foliage, while the subtle inclusion of colour adds definition to the forest.

Darkness is never far away, though. It’s important to continually kill the white-silhouetted monsters that haunt Melody’s subconscious, because if you don’t then the screen will gradually fade to black as she falls deeper into her coma. Every time you kill one of the ghostly apparitions, her dreams (and therefore the screen) become lighter. This gives you a few seconds to navigate the platforms between enemies before it becomes too dark to see. This is a clever variation on the old platformer trick of having an ever-moving wall hurry the player through the level (e.g. Butter Bridge from Super Mario World). Not only does it induce a sense of urgency, as you struggle to ward off the encroaching darkness by killing more enemies, it also echoes the themes that are raised by the plot. Melody must overcome her repressed fears before she can wake from her coma. When a monster is defeated it even evaporates into a puff of smoke that’s absorbed into the mind of Melody’s subconscious self. Maybe Psychoanalysis: The Game would have been a more fitting title?

In terms of style, theme and artistic direction, A Fading Melody certainly goes far beyond what you would normally expect from an XNA community game. Even the cover-art looks stylish! The sombre, minimalist tone evoked by the narrative is maintained throughout the platforming gameplay, which becomes the visual representation of Melody’s traumatic inner struggle. It’s easy to lavish praise on this sophisticated integration of plot and gameplay. For an XNA platformer to have such a mature and cohesive aesthetic is nothing short of impressive.

Although the presentation threatens to deceive, it has to be said that the rigid gameplay mechanics betray A Fading Melody’s status as an indie title. Despite its aesthetic sophistication, the core platforming action feels a lot rougher than that of more professional XBLA games, such as Braid. Collision detection and character animation can feel awkward at times, and the level design is raw and unpolished. In the last stage, for example, you’re forced to string together a sequence of pixel-perfect leaps, which is tough because you have to do them in a hurry (while you can still see where you’re going). You then have to contend with a platform of monsters. Easy, you might think! But because enemy hit boxes are fairly small, there’s a chance that you’ll die even though you swore you hit the target. It would be a lot worse if it didn’t have a checkpoint system, but A Fading Melody can still be an unforgiving experience.

This is not necessarily a bad thing, mind you. Those who are easily frustrated may want to think twice before trying A Fading Melody, but for those with a little more patience, the strict platforming gameplay actually poses a welcome challenge. Being asked to nail improbable jumps across ridiculously wide gaps is something that few “professional” developers would do. A Fading Melody seems to relish bending and stretching the laws of physics for some unusual tests of dexterity. Certain sections demand that you perform feats that are simply incredible, in the truest sense of the word. For example, you’re often forced to make a leap-of-faith from a high platform. That may not sound strange in itself. But because you can double jump at any point after the initial leap, the game then challenges you to execute a double jump right at the last possible moment of your descent in order to reach a platform that's positioned just above the bottom of the screen. Such an inventive and unconventional approach to the genre gives A Fading Melody a raw, indie charm that makes its gameplay compelling despite the technical imperfections.

Although A Fading Melody is rough around the edges, it’s possible to excuse its flaws because it’s an engaging experience that’s come from the mind of a talented, creative developer. Christian Seehausen has created a narrative-driven platformer in which atmosphere is everything, something that can’t be easy to do on a non-existent budget. When your goals are this ambitious, there's a fine line between success and failure. If the adventure wasn’t as cohesive as it is then the amateur touches might be more obvious, such as the fact that one of the enemies is a beholder (of D&D fame). Fortunately, the illusion created by the tight connection between the serious plot and the game world is so powerful that you can dismiss these flaws as insignificant. After all, maybe Melody has a repressed fear of beholders?

Melody’s subconscious struggle to remember is the foundation of the simple platforming gameplay. From the nightmarish forest landscape and encroaching darkness, right down to the shrill beeps of the heart monitor that can be heard between levels, A Fading Melody is a triumph of intelligent, integrated design. It may have its fair share of technical flaws and it may well frustrate you with its demanding challenges, but its stylish and substantial thematic concept makes it a unique adventure that's worthy of your attention. The humble platformer has certainly come a long way from the innocent rolling hills and throwaway cartoon plots of the Mushroom Kingdom.

Rating: 7/10

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