PPP2 Review: The Binding of Isaac

This is probably one of my all time favourite games, and it is difficult to put into words why. I don't know whether its the overall theme, which probably is the creepiest thing about the game actually, or the art style, which has been described by the creator as rushed.. I don't know. But this game is definitely a must buy as it so wonderfully simple and beautifully created.

The creator of The Binding of Isaac is Edmund McMillen, the creator of Super Meat Boy and Gish, is a well known Indie games developer from America and is definitely well know for the creations of strange and disgusting imagery in video games. All of the games that he has made include strange characters and this is what he likes most about them, creating these weird worlds in which could live alongside or intertwine with each other.  Obviously his most famous game to date is Super Meat Boy, known for its challenging and difficult levels but more recently he is known for creating The Binding of Isaac.

The Binding of Isaac is a beautifully horrific game where you play as Isaac, a small naked boy who is cast away into the basement to flee from his very religious mother who is trying to kill him in a so called act of God. This then leads to a number of floors that are all procedurally generated in order for him to eventually kill mom! According to McMillen, 'the game touches on dark, adult themes including child abuse, gender identity, infanticide, neglect, suicide, abortion, and how religion might negatively affect a child.'

The game is a top-down 2D rouguelike adventure game in which the player can control either Isaac or one of the other six characters as he goes on the quest to defeat his mother from her satanic deeds. The game is very similar to older, more retro, styles of gaming like the first few Legend of Zelda games and there are things that must be done on each level to proceed further to victory. On each floor players must fight of monsters in a room before continuing to the next and doing the same, before eventually coming across the boss of the floor where they will then get the chance to go further down. Alongside this their is also opportunities to collect money, bombs and keys to be able to go to shops and treasures rooms to be able to collect items that will help improve Isaac's power and abilities, making him stronger for the final boss fight.

The characters that are included are all very similar to each other and are really just Isaac but with different accessories, but they have their different abilities which makes it nice playing as all of them, making the game more interesting as each character has something unique about them. The environments again aren't amazingly designed, but this could be down to McMillen creating the art for the game in about 4 months. But the environments tell that basic story and let you know what section of the game you are in through different flooring and walls. Going back to the art style, this is something that I actually really liked about the game, but when McMillen announced that the new art style for The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, which is due to release this year, was going to be pixel art based, I was actually quite interested. I'm not a huge fan of pixel art, but the style of it does suit the retro feel to the game, and also the new one will no longer be flash-based which is something that will drive you insane if you don't have a computer that can handle the multiple flash explosions.

So altogether, I still don't what it is really that has made me play this game for 217 hours so far, and I know this will keep increasing, but putting the factors together shows how interesting the game actually is. It stands out from other games, and with the new one coming out this year, not in flash, will mean that McMillen will be able to try out a lot of new techniques and also push the game to it's maximum without having to worry about whether it will work on everyone's computer.