Celestica: Crystal Towers 2

This one goes out to all of you who didn't think I should have posted about New Super Mario Bros. 3 down there. Mike Rose of that inpenetrable bunker of good taste the Indie Games blog just dropped me an email about Crystal Towers 2, a platformer inspired by 90s platformers that's also a PC game in everything from its pricing plan to its gently sardonic script. You can grab the free edition (which offers some 15% of the game) here, and watch a trailer and browse my dainty collection of impressions after the jump.

In short: It's sweet! The characters and dialogue made me grin, and while the level design and feel of the character didn't get me too excited I did manage to drift happily through the game's levels for some twenty minutes before remembering I had work to be getting on with.

It's also curiously feature rich, possessing an almost daunting number of spells to be collected, items to be found and objectives to hit on each level. As much as I was playing about as far outside of "the zone" as it's possible to be, I was also aware that there was all kinds of stuff on the peripherary that I was sailing past.

Also the plot is themed around music, with you collecting instruments and magical Music Crystals, though the game's audio never manages to be quite impressive enough, which is totally endearing. Give it a shot. It's excellently eager to please, and I'm sure it'll click with a good few you of you.