Exception Review

Wow, this was a well needed platformer. The vibrant neon lights, the obstacles and the glyphs that flip the world upside down or to the side, brilliant. This world depicts software sequences called threads. These threads work to ensure the orderly flow of information. This is the story of how the threads are tasked with maintaining the system integrity. Some inside, well they oppose the way of life in which it was programmed. The awesome comic graphics show the threads city from afar. The way a city would from a post card, only their city is inside of a computer. With all the components making up towers and things that look like taverns and even houses. The gameplay is based in environments that rotate and transform. This game consists of more than 100 levels as well. Also, as I will mention it has world leaderboards that people can compete for the fastest time.

There is talk about an Alice34. This Alice is actually a human being that owns the laptop the threads live in. One day while Alice34 "an elderly woman" was checking her comp for emails from her grandchildren, she gets a prompt that pops up out of nowhere. "FREE SOFTWARE" being warned and asked multiple times if she'd like to download it, it may be a risk, she did so anyhow. Boom! Destruction. In an all too quiet thread city a blast of fire strikes the ground out of nowhere. What emerges, something dark, terrible and wanting to destroy everything in its way. The more of the story you trudge through the threads start realizing that their world is not the same anymore. They start to notice threads that are disformed and rusted. Some threads were actually happy with their jobs and loved waking up everyday doing their duties. One thread wakes up only to realize that he has been deactivated for one thousand years! 

The Great Revolution... A typical day was taking place while the threads were working on information, when suddenly... The world changed. A great blast of light in the sky engulfed everything above. The threads looked on helplessly as a massive vortex formed overhead. A giant shock-wave rippled across the entire world. Then, the vortex disappeared just as quickly as it formed. The information ceased from the far reaches of the system. It was truly a dark moment. Little did every Thread know, the situation would become way worse than it was. A dark presence descended upon their system...

My good guess is that you are an antivirus looking to clean things up. You get some upgrades along the way as well. Yellow chassis and head, the rest yellow. Almost something that looks like bumblebee. Your hands and feet blue. You carry around a neon blue staff that you can swing like no one else's business. Everything is killable. Your best ability that comes free, climbing and jumping. Wall jumps mixed with whipping your staff at enemies, good stuff.

In each level you will find "BYTES". Bytes are upgrade points that allow you to level up your character. Some have been easy to get while others not so much. As long as you can get every Byte in a level, you'll get 100% completion. There are record times you can try and beat as well. I have gotten in first more than a couple of times on the world leader board. By holding RT on the Xbox, you have the ability to run faster, which I did not find out until three levels later. I could have used that feature a lot. Some Bytes you will have to find walls that glitch. These glitching walls allow you to smash through them and that is where some Bytes will be hidden and can be procured. Watch out for secret walls and other ways of finding the Bytes. You may have to turn the board upside down or around. You'll have to find out for yourself.

Some moves include, Down Dash, Sword Throw, Sword Throw (AIR) and Sword Throw Up. They come in handy and can be improvised. The more Bytes you put on a specific power the better it gets. That goes for the distance at which you can throw it or how fast you can throw it. Look for every Byte if possible. When reaching potential, you can throw your staff/sword pretty far. The skills are what really help you out when you are running through these levels like a mad man.

These levels get pretty hard, but it is a great game and will test your skills. I bet your thinking, man I can beat that game no problem. Well, I am here to say that I am a vet when it comes to gaming and I'd put money on it that this will not be all that easy for you.

Exception was first debuted at PAX West in 2017 as part of the indie Megabooth.

As always, I'd love to thank Games Xtreme for everything that they have let me accomplish. I could have turned out to be a terrible writer, but a good friend named Darren Pearce had faith. Also, to Traxmaster Software.