Just over a week ago we revealed the finalists in Contraption Challenge 16 and asked you to vote to decide the eventual winner. Well, voting closed on Friday and now we’ve counted them all up and can reveal the winner of CC16.
There are all sorts of wild rumours and speculation circulating on the web and I’m sure you have your own theories on what’s going to go down at this year’s show. You think Michael Pachter’s got nothin’ on you, right? Well, here’s your chance to put your money where your mouth is.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. Unfortunately, the citizens of Yebestwearsunscreen didn’t heed my warning and instead chose to protect themselves with a diamond!? But now the jewel has gone missing and your job in this charming platformer, is to get it back. The art style and character design is brilliant and reminds me of The Canyons from LBP, with a bit of Mnniska stirred in. The level flows nicely with fun gameplay and brilliant pacing and ends with a strange but entertaining boss battle… if you can even call it that? Lil_Morta_7′s upbeat original soundtrack is excellent and suits the level perfectly. This is definitely one to add to your queue.
Aura: Visionless Dreaming is an ingenious puzzle-platformer come point-and-click adventure by L1GhTmArE. You control Aura – a glowing orb of blue energy – as he helps visionless Niiya through underground caverns filled with old machinery and deadly drops. You guide Niiya by laying down a variety of waypoints, each with a separate command (run, jump, grab and throw). Although a little daunting at first, the controls are very intuitive and easy to pick-up. Niiya can be stubborn at times though and I ran into a couple of instances where she would refuse to do as she was told, but these bugs were rare and in no way detracted from what was an otherwise amazing level, both visually and technically.
Media Molecule today announced the winners in the 2011 Sackie Awards. Since voting closed at the end of February, the studio itself has picked-up two BAFTA Video Game Awards. Picking up the gong for Game Innovation, Mm co-founder Mark Healey thanked the LittleBigPlanet community saying, “they are the real innovators”. The Sackies are a celebration of that innovation – the talent, creativity and ingenuity the community continues to demonstrate year after year.
