HUMAN FALL FLAT

So good it makes you (literally) sick

This 3D delight follows the grand tradition of platformer questlines: get from this place to that place without dying. Easy! Except here you’re controlling a boneless tube of meat, afflicted by physics and comically challenged by simply pushing a big red button without falling over. Harder!

Placed in a series of big, low-poly themed worlds, 1 you need to jump, lift, drag, and puzzle your way through obstacles. The solutions are easy; it’s doing them that’s the problem. The mastery here is that it rarely becomes annoying – partly because the puzzles come thick, fast, and varied, but primarily because the inherent slapstick of simply getting around just doesn’t wear off.

Local co-op adds an excellent extra layer because it becomes clear that the game’s challenges are designed to be broken. A siege catapult that one player might have had to drag into place, crank down, and load with stones to smash a barrier can now be used simply to fire one meatsack over a gate, which can then be unlocked for the other. NoBrakes has balanced set puzzles with multiple solutions, and done it with aplomb – co-op quickly establishes itself as the real way to play.

The only true problem is a practical one. Lifting items and climbing onto platforms is simple – point the camera where you want your arms to move – but has an unexpected side-effect. After an hour of enforced screen-swaying as my character’s jellied limbs flap around, I become seasick. 1

Unpleasant stomach-squirms aside, Human Fall Flat manages to be silly, smart, and rewarding, all at once. It really does follow in the footsteps of all the best platformers, huh?

FOOTNOTES1 The building site is my favourite – smashing a wrecking ball into a friend was always a personal goal. 2 Imagine my horror at discovering a later level is almost entirely set on water.