Recently, I was given the pleasure of reviewing Blackhole: Complete Edition by FiolaSoft Studio (Developer/Publisher). Blackhole: Complete Edition is a hardcore puzzle-platformer that’s set in the year 2121, Earth is in danger from the consistent threat of blackholes coming close and wiping the world out. But earth has also the answer with a crew and an advanced A.I program to stop from these dangers from existing altogether. However, as it’s your first day on the job as the coffee guy, you’re not actually built for the job. Until the ship gets swallowed by said blackhole and it begins your adventure to save your friends and the world.
Graphics
The graphics of Blackhole: Complete Edition is a simple art style. Depending on what zone you’re in, the graphics change up by color and by platforming style utilizing whatever is in the next world. Each level in the zones depending on the layout has a very colorful palette as the colors pop out at you from jungle worlds, lava based worlds, and even worlds that have you jumping into the nucleus of the said world.
The graphics get a 7.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Blackhole: Complete Edition is the best and worst thing about the game. The best thing coming from the gameplay is how challenging and complex it can be. You have to work on the extreme platforming and harsh level layouts to time your movements right to collect blue orbs that are called selfburns. Collecting these orbs have you utilizing the many extra items in the level such as gravity wells, emp blasts, bounce bubbles and much more to beat the level and set your record time on beating other people’s time around the world.
However, the worst thing about the gameplay is that it does lack platforming mechanics. It lacks double jumping, sliding down walls, non-fall damage, swimming and a lot more you’d see from other from platformers such as Super Meat Boy or N+. It’s a huge hindrance as its more difficult because it lacks these features. Which doesn’t fully help the platforming.
The gameplay gets a 6.
Sound
The sound of Blackhole: Complete Edition really plays a huge factor into the platforming experience as the music genuinely captures the feeling and tone of each zone and world that you explore. The overall soundtrack is filled with an influx of Techno and Eurobeat songs. But selectively, you’ll get a fresh of breath air as each world changes the soundtrack. One world samples African music, another world samples hard rock samples and another one uses more catchy uptempo sounds as you progress through. Which is ear capturing when you hop from world to world.
Also, Blackhole: Complete Edition comes packed with quality voice acting. Another part of this games complete packaging is the voice acting and writing as it’s filled with hilarious dialogue from your crewmates and your A.I partner that not only breaks the fourth wall but constantly berates the player if you’re dying too often on levels.
The sound gets an 8.5
Online
The online of Blackhole: Complete Edition is based on Time Trials that are called King of The Vault that runs in seasons. Each season you play a select level that’s made for the trial mode, every week a brand new level would be available. At the end of the month, your results would be posted with how many times you died and how long it took to finish out each of the levels with a generated ratio of time altogether. The online play for Blackhole: Complete Edition is competitive as you try to fight for the best time on the leaderboards per season. It generates an aura of competition and continuously challenges you with the creative levels.
The online gets a 6.5
Story
The story of Blackhole: Complete Edition starts off interesting, as it presents a strong start with introducing how Earth is in danger from a consistent black hole threat in the year 2121. Starting you off as the newbie of the group paired up with a ragtag crew and persistently berating A.I the story hits you with both hilarities and the seriousness to start.
However, as you progress the story begins to be weaker and more forgettable area of the game. It takes a huge step back from the quality of the game as its forgettable due to the funny writing and tough platforming gameplay. You get brief reminders of your main mission every time you beat a select amount of levels, but it tends to just be collecting selfburns and rescuing crewmates with a warning of the potential dangers from world to world with nothing else in between.
The story gets a 4.
Verdict
With my playthrough of Blackhole: Complete Edition I was honestly surprised at how tough the gameplay was as I expected it to be a simple platforming game. The music and dialogue took me away as I found myself laughing and smiling at the bad jokes and puns, but also nodding my head to catchy music between stages. Also, the online play keeps up the competition as you try to race for the best time and least amount of deaths. What turned me off from the game, was how much the story took an entire back seat from the gameplay. Also the dialogue is based to be more comedic even in serious moments. I enjoyed Blackhole: Complete Edition a lot more than I thought I would. You can try to save the world for yourself after reading this review.
