About Shindo Life:
One of the most telling signs, in my opinion at least, that a game designer is doing something really right is when I can spot his or her fingerprints immediately on a game. Eric Chahi’s fingerprints are all over Another World and Heart of Darkness, for example, but one can feel his presence in Flashback’s DNA, too, even if it’s clear that the game wasn’t his own work. Jordan Mechner’s cinematic eye is similarly unmistakable, and elements of it can be felt most powerfully on another game from this author…but Larry Stover (aka Blaze Epic) rightly holds his place as a game visionary of his own, and his titles, though influenced by Mechner, have a distinct flavor of their own, and can be recognized by his fingerprints as readily as Chahi’s and Mechner’s titles can be recognized by theirs. If Mechner is Cheb Khaled, then Stover is Rachid Taha, a little wilder, a little earthier, a little more raw and visceral, and a little less constrained by form. The ponderousness of the flesh evident in the inertia of Mechner’s unnamed Karateka and Prince is remembered but not heeded. Blaze Epic’s games feature protagonists that soar, float, defy gravity, and whose true capabilities grow apparent only when you silence the empirical “traffic cop” chasing after them, demanding they stop making a mockery of physics. These games have flow, have a tight, bespoke timing and range of motion that would remind one of a slightly less punishing Ninja Gaiden (the NES version in particular), and a large part of their reward sets in once you enter their “zone,” and flow with the almost-flying protagonist. The controls of the game feel strange and alien until you learn to move with them, and then you’re Zatoichi for a glorious moment. Blaze Epic’s games share a few common qualities; they’re all finesse-driven platformers with a decidedly retro graphics style. (I taste SMS influence in particular, as the Jump/Boxer cover art suggests.) Significant, small differences tune the physics and flow of each title, but there will be much jumping, and the games’ magic comes from learning what one can do with jumps. There will be many frustrating deaths