Music Toggle Confirmed!

Update Released: April 7, 2009
Price: $0.99 | Lite Version Available
Developer/Publisher: Innerplays
Verdict: Buy It, the Advanced levels make the game so much more worthwhile.
Pros: Advanced levels add a fun new degree of actual challenge to the game, you can play your own music now
Cons: Inability to fail may turn off some completionist gamers now that low scores are an actual possibility, Advanced and Easy stats are combined.

If you recall my earlier Paralellus review, I noted two flaws in the game – the inability to play your own music in the game, and the lack of challenge in the game. The new update for the game has just come out, and it addresses both of these flaws in a big way.

So I'm supposed to catch the bombs, and avoid the hearts? No, stupid!

First, there’s now a music toggle button on the main menu. So finally you can rock out to ear-splitting sounds while playing a brain-splitting game. If you’re unfamiliar with the game, Paralellus has you controlling two triangles on their own playing board that must either dodge bombs and/or collect hearts falling from the sky. The concept is ingenious, but the game was surprisingly easy for its concept. But with the new Advanced level pack in the free update (enjoy the free update system while it lasts), the game starts to reach the brain-melting peak the idea promises. The patterns have not only just gotten more and more complex, both sides are often completely different – you could be dodging bombs on the left side at a fast speed, while collecting hearts on the other side at a much slower speed.

Objects can fall at different speeds now to add to the brain-frying goodness.

It’s incredibly satisfying to be actually really really challenged by the game – on some of the really hard levels in the pack, I started to get the feeling like this is what the game could really do, and I was definitely having trouble with some levels. Also, something new I’ve apparently discovered is that you can’t fail a level (unless you have to get zeroes on both sides – harder than you think, I tried several times), although I understand this. The developer wants to make this a test of your skill and improving those skills, and by failing and repeating levels, you won’t accomplish this. So while it may be weird to think “OK, I’ve completed this, now what,” the focus is pretty squarely put on skill improvement, and developing the ability to do two completely different things at once. The advanced level pack pushes Parallelus from nifty idea to a solid recommendation in my eyes – the concept is being explored and expanded on, and it’s really intriguing now because of that challenge it provides. I just wish that the scores section had separate listings for the Easy and Advanced difficulties, as right now, the scores and rankings for the Combined mode include both your performance on Easy and Advanced in one ranking. I suppose if you keep playing Advanced, then this will not matter in the long run just by sheer mathematics alone, but it could be misleading if you’re trying to judge your actual improvement at the game.

So, with this new update to Parallelus, I can whole-heartedly say that it’s worth picking up, as it matures the game from a neat idea to a good game. It’s only $0.99 as of publication, and it’s definitely worth checking out now for more than just its concept alone, it’s an actual good game.