Quick Review: Dimension Jump

(should've posted this yesterday, but I forgot!)

It’s weird whenever I stumble upon a game in my collection that’s no longer available for sale. Makes me wonder why. It is the case for today’s game.

Change the dimension, and that floor blocking the way
no longer exists.

A creation of Redpoint Games released on March 15th, 2017, Dimension Jump is an 8bit puzzle platformer. You move left and right with the arrows, jump with up. The game’s main mechanic involves swapping between two “dimensions” by hitting either Z or Space. A level can change quite a bit between dimensions, and you quickly learn to swap even while in motion, mid-jump often. The game uses very simple color coding: Pale grey is a free space to move in, black is a wall, the goal to reach is green, and touching red is instant death. Doesn’t matter how you get to the green area, as long as you get there and don’t die on the way – you have only one hit point.

The whole game is comprised of nine sets of 10 levels, and each set adds a new mechanic to the mix. The first ten levels set the basics. The second set of 10 remains close to the themes here, adding + and X buttons that force you into one of the two dimensions and blocks your ability to swap by yourself; however, you can hit a button with the symbol opposite the one you last activated in order to swap back. Following this, the next additions are standard puzzle platformer fare: Squares that, when hit, spin the entire level around 90 degrees; blocks that our character can break by falling from high enough; boxes to move around; a power-up that gives a one-time ability to instantly teleport to the other end of the room in a chosen direction or through a wall; and so on. You get the hang of the new mechanic quickly, with only the increasing difficulty standing in your way.

Dimension Locked? Looks I'll have to make do.

Is beating the 90 levels not enough? For an added bonus, you can try out the Challenge variants to each of them. Not enough? Each level comes with two collectible stars, one for beating that level in a certain amount of time, another for picking up a star that appears in that level after you’ve beaten it once.

Coming through! ...Literally going through the wall, yes.

That’s… uh… about it, really. As simple as it gets, and that reflects in both its look and base gameplay. Despite the simplicity, the game shows its true colors in difficulty quickly enough. Piling on new mechanics while you still have to think in two dimensions. It quickly becomes a meat grinder (…pixel grinder?) as you die over and over trying to figure out how to reach the goal. Some later stages require pixel precision – and the fan-made levels are even harder in that regard. In the end, the game merely suffers from not being notable in any peculiar way in the tough competition of Steam's puzzle platformers. (Seriously, do you know how many of those I reviewed?) All in all, not bad, but not quite the memorable experience.

I’d say try it out if you own it and haven’t tried it… I can’t really say “buy it if you wanna”, since it’s no longer for sale… dammit, what am I to do now?

(The Quick Review I was planning for Friday has morphed into a full-length one, so it'll take me some time to finish it - expect it Friday next week. I'll try to slip in another Quick Review until then in the meantime. Also, I might have an announcement this coming Saturday, which also happens to be my birthday. Stay tuned!)