What's Up There? Reviews

[h2]"Want some up dog?[/h2] [h2]"What's up dog?"[/h2] [h2]"I dunno, what's up there dog?"[/h2] [hr][/hr] I want to give this a thumbs up, because it is what it says on the tin - [h3]jump jump revolution.[/h3] I want to give it a thumbs down because I don't think I can really say I could recommend when there's nothing about the final achievement if you bang out a good run - but not everyone gives a damn about completionist stuff. I do feel like the other reviews are a hair short, but at the same time, there's not a lot to really say - I know I've written out a lot, but it's more to give people a better sense of the game. Graphically, don't expect to be amazed. I couldn't say I even remember there being a soundtrack, there is no story to speak of but I will say as you get to the top there is something vaguely analogous to doing a walking mediation (guided, personalized or Koan) and feeling something once you start to see something outside of the tower - if you're not locked into a "carry water" or zone-out type mindset, the feeling will probably be "OH THANK YOU IT'S NEARLY OVER". I guess I'll do the old-school magazine thing here: [hr][/hr] [hr][/hr] [h1][b]*Overall Experience*[/b][/h1] [hr][/hr] You're just jumping up platforms. I can recommend it on that if you've got not much else to do, want to slap on a [i]podcast[/i][b]/[/b][i]video essay[/i][b]/[/b][i]let Youtube just serve you whatever[/i] - you'll be in there for a while, the screenshot I took before making that final jump was 6,123m, about 5,563 jumps, 4,151 steps, 17 blinks (I can't remember at this point what those were) and 1 reset. I'm a little irked at there being zero info for what the "bad ending"/[b][/b]"[b][i]A Bad Ending[/i]" achievement is[/b], I don't recall there being a choice aside from sticking the landing and getting teleported to a white room, but that'll be entirely determined by your understanding of the mechanics rather than a clear and obvious choice It should run you about 45-60 minutes if you stick the landings and intuit the process. [hr][/hr] [hr][/hr] [h1][b]*Pros*[/b][/h1] [list] [*]It is what it is, and on days where I've felt burned out at a job that needs mental effort, this one is actually a pretty damn nice. You just circle around, I do vaguely recall some sections the platforms would retire to the shadow realm after jumping on them, as well as clearly marked safe platforms [*]For something that's effectively an active idler (As in, having it running if you do like the game play literal loop, do some hops, alt tab out after you feel a bit bored so you can clean or cook or if you've got a pomodoro timer for work and use your break time to game like a naughty little turd, what have you), in terms of content, sure, why not? [*]Hippity hoppity, three achievements will be your property and if you give a shít about "Overall Completion", well it does take a good while to nab a 75% achievement on this [*][b]You'll know if you want to keep this within [u]10 minutes[/u][/b] but at about NZ$1.50, money isn't really going to be the issue if you don't quite figure that out before whatever Steam currently has for their refund criteria [*] [code]If you like removing stuff from your "Games with Achievements" list and/or slapping them into a 100% category so you can casually go back to them later on and just have fun, you may be disappointed - We'll get to that and if you ever to wrangle the 4th achievement, do let me know - if I ever crack it, I'll update this[/code] [/list] [hr][/hr] [hr][/hr] [h1][b]*Cons*[/b][/h1] [hr][/hr] [list] [*]There's jack squat up there. I've slapped my screenshot up of what is in fact up there. I do remember posting my screenshot a while ago and it disappearing - I'm not sure if I accidentally took it down, or some moderator did it, but it's up for now. Check the community page for the game (it's barren) but I'll keep it up - for now this is the link to see what's up there, https://steamcommunity.com/app/2756610/. I won't take it down, because it's not really my storage space is it? [* ]That "Make the wrong choice" achievement - it could be anything from jumping down to the bottom, or it could be trying to jump outside of the tower you progressively hop up. Who knows? [list] [*]All I can say is walking on to the yellow square, you get shunted to a white room, you get the "right choice" achievement, and you'll kinda be just stuck there. I've run to each corner of the room and not actually encountered anything resembling a choice at that point. [list][*]You can start a new game but I'm starting to really feel my time slipping away from me so maybe I'll figure it out and update this in a few years, but for now, I can't give any advice.[/list] [/list] [*]On that - [list] [*]The creator (I'm not being insulting here, but I feel like this was just a case where development was just test running a single spiral and then copy and pasting it, so saying developer or "dev" might be blowing smoke up their bootyblast hole) has had zero engagement with the discussion page, and there's fúck diddly squat in terms of information for this game. [*]I know that sounds harsh, but I can appreciate the game for what it is. [*]Someone else I think really did try to do it all with no breaks, and snarkily asked the creator to do a run - I hate saying skill issue, but it's monotonous enough that you really do just have to be in a head-space where you're okay doing nothing more than WASD, space, and aiming with the mouse. [/list] [/list] [hr][/hr] [hr][/hr] [h1][b]*In summary*[/b][/h1] [hr][/hr] [list] [*]It's simple, it is what it says on the tin (Jump and jump). It could have really just done with one achievement - Reach the top, do the bit. [list][*]I know I'm harping on the achievements, but it's just because this is not a small commitment and often a small game developer or creator will at least give some indication for how to get close to achievements. I've previously had that fixation on achievements when I've felt stagnant in life, and I know what that feels like so if you're wanting to just pump up your numbers, you may or may not be disappointed.[/list] [list][*]I [b][i]can't fault[/i][/b] this game though, so I will have to say, a recommended - it's also cheap as chips, so if you enjoy an Active Idler vibe, go for it. If you want to maybe help out someone financially who put out a simple game, you probably won't notice the hit to your bank account. Googling RazDva brings me to a Russian Twitch Streamer. It [i]could[/i] be them - They seem active, so if you're boycotting Russian anything on account of the Ukraine conflict I imagine they were exempt from service one way or another (I've known people that refused to fight and got out with a bribe or for legitimate reasons at the doctors) based on the publish dates of their games and streams, and the cost of living there means a buck will go far for them - maybe they can also go through with making games with more going on[/list]