Is there anything more divine than not only winning a race, but crushing your opponents in the process? Harold, the new game from developer Moon Spider, seems to think so.
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Harold even does you one better. It literally makes you divine. The game puts you in the role of a Guardian Angel in training. Your job is to watch over humans and ensure their happiness in life. Or something. Actually, your job is that of a petty, mischievous interloper who meddles in the affairs of mortal races. Footraces, that is.
Yes, you're fixing thousand yard dashes in the name of helping out poor, pathetic Harold. Why is this ginger-haired, skinny weakling more deserving of help than that pudgy guy who is always in 5th place? Because Harold is yours, dammit, and winning is everything. Because you're not going to let your classmate Sera get the best of you.
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Not that you'll win a lot. In fact, you'll come in third or less most of the time.
Harold features 12 different Death Race-esque courses, filled with spike pits, crocodiles, frozen water and all manner of things looking to hinder your progress. As a benefit of your divine providence, death is merely an inconvenience. Running through the level, you'll gather up various Wingrings, halo-infused clouds that add to your Puff Power meter - which allows you to, quite literally, strike Harold with some divine lightning (and therefore make him move faster).
Fans of time attack titles - like last year's Fenix Rage (which almost made the Top 10 list) - will be enthused. The 'fastest run through' is a big section of Youtube these days, with people coming up with more elaborate and ridiculous ways of defeating games. Harold should fit nicely in the Venn diagram between time trial fans and sociopaths. Because it's not just about going real fast, it's about ensuring that the other guy doesn't move at all.
Think of Harold like a 2D sidescrolling Mario Kart: racing, with extras.
My biggest complaint against Harold is, ironically, also my biggest compliment in Mario Kart 8: the death delay. In the latter, the time spent off the track after falling or being otherwise incapacitated has been severely reduced, making for a less frustrating experience. Harod, on the other hand, makes death hardly an obstacle. At least, not for you.
Harold's major gameplay mechanic is the ability to manipulate the various obstacles throughout the course, making it easier for the endlessly moving racer (you don't control Harold's speed, only his jump ability). Spin levers, move blocks and otherwise aid your heroic underdog. However, it's not enough to simply help Harold, you have to screw over the other guy by way of 'interference'. In addition to moving a board to assist Harold, you can push that same board away and let an AI opponent tumble to his or her doom.
The infuriating part about this process, however, is that it's almost like you're gifting your opponents a free pass the current obstacle. After falling (or being chomped on by crocodiles), the AI runners instantaneously 'resurrect' at the end of the obstacle, buying you little more than a second, if that, of time. Meanwhile, you're still busy trying to navigate through the pitfall, and he's on his way to the next one. The same death mechanic also applies to Harold, except that the number of Puff Power clouds you have determines the number of 'lives' you have per course. The AI can screw up or be otherwise interfered with forever and ever and they'll keep on running.
Watching your fellow players get impaled or hilariously misjudge the length of a jump (because you've shifted the ground) is never not satisfying. I understand that this is a game of seconds, of milliseconds even, and he with the fastest time wins. Yet, it is such a glaring and apparent design tic that the lack of consequences for the AI nearly ruined extended play sessions on more than one occasion. I can handle a difficult game. In fact, I relish them. Harold, however, feels like an unfair one.
Harold requires a game controller of some sort to play. The settings are basic and explained in full via the game's many practice modes (which allow you to run each race's obstacle beforehand and are, by far, the most enjoyable part of the game). What the settings never told me was why, when my thumb sometimes slipped to the D-pad - often when I was trying to spin a lever that refused to budge - I would suddenly be back at the beginning of the race. Another frustration.
It is a poor player that blames his or her controller for the failings of skill. While skill is required in Harold, luck and an expert sense of timing are of higher importance. At the least, a key remapping option would be appreciated in future updates.
There is no one frustration that is a dealbreaker. Add them up, though, and you have a game that leaves you leaves you behind from the moment and then kicks you down for not finishing first. I do mean that literally. Every race begins with Harold somehow missing the starting gun and having to play catch up.
Harold feels like a work in progress. The core gameplay is fun, the storyline is culled directly from some high school anime adventure and the hand-drawn visuals are a joy to look at. None of my complaints can take that away and all of them can no doubt be fixed at some point in the future. Until then, though, I'll sit this particular race out.