The UFO 50 diaries: Campanella
Flappy Bird's cool older brother
Just before UFO 50 came out the USB port on my (now quite ancient) PC controller broke, so I've had to suffer through the fairly dreadful keyboard and mouse controls for most of these games. Movement in the right hand, actions in the left, and I almost always fall afoul of getting my Z and X mixed up at the crucial moment.
It's manageable for the most part, but I'd be lying if I said it was the optimal conditions to play these games.
When it came time to play Campanella though, I had to take action. This extremely precise, weighty navigation ‘platformer’ is just a little too unwieldy for controls that aren't ergonomic. Realizing stupidly late that my old PS4 controller will probably work, I fished it out, plugged it in, and wouldn't you know?...
It's still too bloody hard for me.
Instinctively the first thing that Campanella reminded me of was the tricky space ship controls from outer wilds. The heft and momentum that had to be factored into every button press. Too soft and you’ll go nowhere. Too hard and you’ll end up inside the sun. Campanella has this same weight and momentum to its controls although mercifully in only 2 dimensions and in a far more constrained environment.
It's a struggle. The weight is a difficult thing to get to grips with. Even discounting the enemies, environments are extremely lethal, with twists and turns and moving parts to avoid. Add to this the scoring system, which often requires you to imperil yourself further, and you have a gaming experience that's really not for the faint of heart.
That scoring system at first feels like a means of demonstrating mastery. Points gained from attacking enemies that are largely off the critical path means the safe route often leaves you without any payout from a level. You’d think survival meant steering away from danger as much as possible but this is where Campanella’s most ingenious bit of design comes into play.
Points mean prizes.
For every 1000 you score, you get an extra life. Even in the early stages this is surprisingly attainable and helps bolster your chances as you head into the unknown, with intermission zones that let you rack up extra pocket money in a sort of navigable shooting gallery.
Unfortunately I still suck at the game, and often my score chasing became this sort of pyrrhic victory where I ate shit far too many times trying to thread the needle on some bullshit death maze of a section. There's something in there that says more about me than it does Campanella, but I don't want to continue that thought thank you very much.
A fun, funky and astringent little endeavour. If I had infinite time maybe I reckon I could down half of the 50 levels required to beat the game. I can definitely feel myself getting better at the game the more I play it.
Perhaps one to put on the backburner for when I’ve completed these diaries.