Floating Point

Grace and grappling hooks

Don’t read anything into the fact that this month’s Top 10 features two games from former PC Gamer section editor Tom Francis. They’re simply both very good. Gunpoint is a known quantity, but Floating Point is an entirely new creation. Originally designed for the Ludum Dare gamejam, it outgrew the weekendlong deadline and became a bigger project. It’s now available for free, and can be downloaded from Steam.

It’s based around a grappling hook system, similar to that used in the Worms games. Once attached to one of the procedurally generated floating platforms, you swing to gain momentum and release to soar across the level. The smoother your arc, the more the red bars on each platform elongate. It’s these you must collect to progress to the next map.

Getting a smooth parabola takes some practice, and even once you’re gracefully swinging between points, it can fall apart as you queue up the next motion. It’s especially difficult in each underwater section, where the physics is dramatically altered. But the penalty for failure is minimal, so you’ve plenty of room to experiment. Get it right and your reward is an intensifying tail and a bigger score. PS

www.bit.ly/FloatingPC