Obsessive Collecting Disorder Review (XBLA)

rating:3.5

Simplicity is an often underestimated part of human existence. Despite the hardware we play our games on being more intelligent than ourselves, the dynamics more complicated and the situations more tenuous, sometimes gamers just want to sit down, have a bit of fun and experience a challenge. With this in mind, Obsessive Collecting Disorder is a little gem; an addictive, one-more-try type of puzzler which is as delightful as it is utterly infuriating. The premise of Obsessive Collecting Disorder, an 80 MS points Xbox Live Indie Game, is an unsurprisingly simple one. One must collect all the coins in a stage using your extremely mortal stick-man whilst trying to avoid all the traps that can remove his head. Whilst heavily parodying the Poral series ('Craperture Science', cameras watching etc), OCD bares more in common with the likes of Super Meat Boy, where strategy, timing and reflexes are more important than the nouse to solve puzzles. Make no mistake, however, OCD is hard. This is a game where trial and error is rewarded, where the slightest mistake causes dismemberment and a single puzzle can take up to ten goes to get it right. Your exprience of OCD will likely go one of two ways; either you will take gratification from finally completing a puzzle, refusing to give in, or you will smash apart your XBox using just your controller and sense of indignation. OCD to its credit never feels unfair though; most deaths are down to your own errors, and the fact that each level does feel possible to complete means that you barely feel cheated when you once again fail to make that jump. Obsessive Collecting Disorder is, unlike many in the XBLIG range, pretty good value. Each mode (casual and hardcore) has 7 stages, each with around 6-7 levels within that bracket. With each new stage new obstacles are added, from spikes to whirling discs to THWOMP type falling blocks; when these all come together, you can be sure of a tough time. The graphics are clean, sharp and serviceable; more detail would have been unnecessary, and may have distracted from the task of surviving. The music is somewhat repetitive, but its simplicity means that it can be easily ignored. How much you get out of it really depends on what you're willing to put in, and how good a gamer you are; better ones may breeze through it, whilst more average gamers like I may spend a considerable amount of time stumbling through one level. OCD is a very decent effort, and a good example of what XBLIG can offer; simple but challenging gameplay at a competitive fare. What it lacks in presentation it makes up for in style and replay value, offering a gratifying experience that severely punishes your mistakes but rewards your expertise; just as a puzzle-ish game should. You may love it, you may hate it, but it is definitely worth a try.