Monument Valley may be short but it’s worth the price
Though it has its fair share of drawbacks, Monument Valley is one of the most beautiful and intelligent games I’ve ever played.
And it’s for an iPhone.
Angry Birds, 2048, Two Dots — they’re all great iPhone games. Some might bring an entirely new concept to the market, but not nearly as much as Monument Valley.
Monument Valley takes the concepts of perception to create a game with the crisp beauty of Journey and puzzles that seem straight out of Inception.
Just like in The Last of Us or Bioshock Infinite, there were points in the game when I simply stopped to take in the visuals. The game is far from impossible to beat, but it still forces you to think. While there isn’t that much of a challenge — until the end — the journey makes up for it.
In Monument Valley, you control Ida, who is traveling through castles and dungeons toward an undisclosed location. Your perception is reality. Turning and twisting platforms are key in order to get Ida out of a jam.
It’s still hard not to feel as if there could have been more content. Eventually, every level has a new challenge or unique situation, but for some reason those ideas and concepts end as quickly as they were introduced. I kept waiting for a level with every conundrum previously presented in one grand puzzle but it never happened.
After paying $4 at the iTunes store, I beat Monument Valley in two days. Still, I don’t see the game as a waste of time or money. You could either buy that magazine you’ll never actually read or you could play this.
You’ll need headphones for this game because a good portion of the experience comes from the music.
Plus, athletes around the campus rejoice, this game looks amazing on an iPad.
Monument Valley is the quality game I’ve always wished were free. Creativity and beauty go hand-in-hand for about an hour of mesmerizing content. You’ll want more once you’re done because you’re upset the designers didn’t take a bit more time before releasing it.
If you’re going on a long flight or just enjoy good looking games as much as me, I strongly recommend buying this game. There are no added challenges or difficulties when beating it. In my mind, that’s the best part.
It is what it is, but the face value is already high enough. Monument Valley sets the bar for what could finally be quality games on the iPhone. It may not be the pinnacle of gaming, with a lack of true difficulty, but it starts an interesting conversation pushing the boundaries of mobile gaming in the right direction.
As with any Rubik’s Cube, set Monument Valley down for a couple of weeks and I promise you’ll be back.
Monument Valley was released by Ustwo on April 3. It has been downloaded more than 500,000 times on iOS, making up for its development cost two weeks after being released.
