The Joystiq Free Game Club: Auditorium

by Justin McElroy { Dec 8th 2008 at 11:17AM }

You've probably seen Auditorium already on numerous other sites, so, since the Joystiq Free Game Club can't be the very first, we're going to be the very best, with the most insightful analysis yet of this melodic, meditative Flash puzzler. Ready? Here goes.

What the hell is going on in this game?

Seriously! OK, so we don't have any problem moving our space ship around, but our light bullets are almost impossible to control. Also, no matter how many bullets hit the little castles, they never explode. If we didn't know better, we'd say they're actually getting bigger! And, come to think of it, they don't even look that much like castles!

Also, the music seems to cut in and out at random, and we're not even sure any of the instruments is an electric guitar. ... Oh, and the first level is called "Hajimemashite." Nice localization, guys!

We give it a 6.5.

Tags: auditorium, free-game-club, joystiqfeatures

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Erluti @ Dec 8th 2008 11:27AM

6.5?! That'll kill their metacritic score! They're going to pull ads!

CaramelZappa @ Dec 8th 2008 11:40AM

Your icon is awesome. I think I'll have to dig up my genesis and play vectorman today.

Kamizar @ Dec 8th 2008 11:29AM

The bigger the circle around your arrow sphere, the more deflection of the light particles...

Fuze9 @ Dec 8th 2008 11:43AM

That's what SHE said.

Tucker @ Dec 8th 2008 12:47PM

All your arrow sphere are belong to us?

Jtenma @ Dec 8th 2008 11:42AM

This is an excellent find Joystiq! I'm on 1:5 now and the music starts to get really good!

Ranus Studios @ Dec 8th 2008 11:45AM

I feel like MAYBE there was a little bit of sarcasm used in this post.

Maybe.

butaneko @ Dec 8th 2008 11:55AM

Hajimemashite means "nice to meet you".

See now you're learning stuff. Opening doors.

ogvor @ Dec 8th 2008 12:13PM

I played this after Penny Arcade posted it last week and its a fantastic game. I'd be willing to pay up for a full version.

Michelobius @ Dec 8th 2008 12:17PM

Ditto. I donated $10 because we need more games like this one.

NukeAssault @ Dec 8th 2008 1:12PM

Played this a few days ago... for the life of me i cant get past the WINTER level.

Courtney @ Dec 8th 2008 1:45PM

Nice post Justin!

I've now played through this 3 times, the second two just messing around seeing how weird/beautiful patterns I can get. Can't wait to see the finished product.

ThornedVenom (Harley Quinn Defense Force) @ Dec 8th 2008 2:35PM

I'm really liking the elegance of this game: I'm at level Winter 2:4 right now.

Zak Canard @ Dec 8th 2008 5:49PM

Great game but it's only meditative up to a point. At times the relaxed feeling you should be getting is overtaken by sheer frustration of the particles won't movinh in the right direction no matter what position and strength your orbs have. Or maybe that's just me.

Einhanderkiller @ Dec 8th 2008 7:29PM

Fun.

MrLee @ Dec 9th 2008 7:24AM

The guy that wrote this article must be the dumbest guy on dumb street, dumbsville to not be able to work out what this game is about and how it's played. 10 seconds of exploration is all it takes to work out the simple and intuitive gameplay.
Just because it's not written in 'American' with a big neon arrow saying "CLICK HERE DUMBASS" it gets a 6.5?