Entwined

In that way, Entwined feels like Journey and that’s high praise for upstart developer Pixelopus.

It may lack depth in gameplay, and even the visual can get repetitive quite quickly. Still, gameplay is interesting, and perfectly entwined with narration, as the title may suggest, and that's a great achievement.

With the Dyad and Mizuguchi works as a core base, Entwined takes a peep at thatgamecompany masterpieces and tries to be as spiritual and poetic as Jenova Chen's works, and remains behind them, although in some moments almost scratches their surface. Constantly poetic, always metaphoric, this artsy experience has its flaws -some windows patterns too complicated considering the audience this game aims for, always the same routine in all levels-, but it's indeed a short dream to take us away from reality for the couple of hours we are going to be playing it.

It’s a fun little game with some gorgeous visual and musical style, but it fails to evoke the emotional core that similar games like Journey and Flower were able to. The challenging gameplay and the musical score may be enough for some players, but those in search of more depth will need to look elsewhere.

Feels oddly hollow. [Aug 2014, p.94]

The whole production is imbued with stunning environments replete with this trenchant sense of beauty. It's just really a pity the gameplay is rarely as cogent as these ornate landscapes or the gauzy, resonant soundtrack. There's obviously something special at work here bubbling beneath the surface, but it's too subtle and poorly realized to merit delving into.

In a first look, pretty as a bubble, but as empty and ephemeral.

I just sat down and played this game from beginning to end in a few hours or maybe not even that, but even with that said I believe this game has enough emotion to impact someone on a different level. This may be their first game but from what I've seen...bravo. In it's own way the game is beautiful. The visuals are gorgeous and although made on the Unity engine which is notorious for making some of the ugliest crap ever this came out a true pleasure to the eyes. Watching the different scenes, and different areas go by was a treat. Of course the visuals were beautiful but that's not where the game excels in. The gameplay is pretty basic. You move your bird or as I called her...Bird with your right analog stick. Then you move your fish or as I like to call him...Fish with the left analog stick. You set them over their colored target and basically fly through said target. It's very basic but it ends up becoming very challenging a nice rhythm based game. Of course there isn't much to say about the gameplay. It's basic, it's addicting, it's fun, and it even has challenges in case you want to get more gameplay out of it. All in all it's fun, pure and simple fun. Not run around and shoot at things with your unkillable numbskull who has rechargeable health kind of fun. (Which by my standards isn't fun.) It's a more relaxing, more enjoyable fun, like Journey, or Flower. Still this isn't the best part of this game. The real splendor of this game is the beautiful soundtrack. The sounds that came from out of my T.V. were almost tear jerking. The music is gorgeous, absolutely beautiful. I loved every track, and I would buy a soundtrack CD in a heartbeat. The music is the best part by far. From soft lullaby's to fast upbeat almost trancelike songs. I swear this game has some of the best music ever heard. Much like the mentioned before games Journey, and Flower this game is on par with them as far as beautiful tracks are concerned. I recommend this game for anyone who has emotions and isn't dead inside and likes to shoot at things all day.

"Entwined" is kind of an interesting game to review. On one hand it is a fun and beautiful experience. On the other it's incredibly brief length and lack of variety make it not worth the purchase for the majority of gamers. It's definitely a game for those looking for a memorable experience rather than a complete gameplay package. The area where the game soars is in it's presentation. The graphics are gorgeous, particularly on home consoles due to the larger screen, and the soundtrack is soothing. The game tries to establish some sort of emotional connection with the layer with it's story about love taking place over lifetimes even though the lovers are separated, but due to how underplayed it all is it falls short. Still it's attempts at being artsy and deep to a game that is both pleasant to look at and listen to. The gameplay experience consists of controlling two characters at once with the analog sticks and guiding them through rings. Along the way you'll have to pick up gems in order to fuse the two characters into a dragon. Once that happens you'll fly around an open with somewhat awkward controls collecting more gems. It sounds boring, but it's actually a pretty entertaining experience. However that is mostly due to how beautiful the levels themselves are, rather than the simplistic gameplay itself. With only nine brief levels there isn't much content in the story mode. The real meat of the game comes from the challenge mode. However it too is also quite brief. In the challenge mode you are given three lives and left to last as long as you can flying through the rings. Get a high enough score and the next level opens up. It's a straightforward experience. It's the mode you want to play is you are looking to get the most out of Entwined, but it's also where you notice how tedious the gameplay can be. In the story mode you are distracted by gorgeous graphics and how brief the overall experience is. In challenge mode when you are actually trying to go for a highscore and the threat of death is actually present (I'm pretty sure you can't die in story mode) you notice how bland it all actually is. It's safe to say Entwined has a lot of flaws. The biggest one being it's length, or lack thereof. It can be beaten in an hour or two and the challenge mode doesn't do much to extend the game's lifespan. Still there is something here worth experiencing to the right audience. It's more of an artistic experience than a satisfying game, but there are people out there who are looking for that. I definitely don't regret playing it, but had I not have gotten it for free I would have definitely regretted paying for it. Those looking for enough gameplay content to back up their purchase should look elsewhere, but those looking to see just how beautiful and meaningful themes of the medium can be should check this out. However even they might be disappointed with how little they are getting for the price tag. A shame considering the game is only $9.99.

This was free with ps plus the game is really fun but is also really repetitive PROS - Great game when your bored - Can be played on the vita on the go - really fun -Nice Visuals - nice story CONS - VERY VERY REPITITIVE - can be really boring overall - 7.9/10

Boring repetitive gameplay. Do the same thing from level 1 to level 10. Just a color matching game. Requires precision but has some of the most finicky, imprecise controls I've ever seen. No story or real point to game. A case of impressive visual design does not make a game.

In Entwined you control two animals with the movement of each tied to a single thumbstick and one half of the screen. The object is to build up a gauge for both creatures by guiding them through coloured triangles as you fly into the screen and eventually synchronise them forming a green dragon which you then steer around an open environment, collecting further orbs to open the exit portal. Apparently the game consists of nine levels (or lifetimes as the game calls them) which will take 1-2 hours to complete but, to be honest, I gave up well before that. These kinds of ‘artsy’ games can work, just play Journey for proof of that, but I felt only a mixture of boredom and frustration when playing Entwined. The game is clearly aiming to provide a laid back experience but this is constantly interrupted by the angry rumble of the gamepad every time you miss a shape. The one note gameplay also doesn’t change at all and there appears to be no link between said gameplay and the message the game is trying to communicate. Things weren’t helped by the fact that, whether as a result of a bug or by design, my progress in the story mode didn’t save forcing me to start all over again each time I played it. I don’t like to be overly critical of these small indie developers but Entwined just didn’t connect with me at all.