Games With Grey

Lil Gator Game is boldly, refreshingly playful; bleakness in all its forms is rejected outright – the game is set apart. The narrative marks greatest manifestation of this playfulness, though it is an endearing playfulness rather than an alienating one – all vestiges of obnoxiousness are rejected outright, too. This obnoxiousness is displaced by sincerity and charm. And despite the narrative’s outward simplicity, many poignant themes lie just below the surface. In many ways, this core narrative is understated rather than heavy-handed, another marker of uniqueness. For games which emphasize narrative, which strive to communicate some thoughtful message, frequently do so by discarding subtly and instead embracing explicitness, as if these hypothetical developers were uncertain of their audience’s interpretative capabilities. None of these thoughts apply to Lil Gator Game, which is at its heart a rumination – the developers look inward, and in so doing they utter a melancholic – if markedly wistful – lamentation; emotion overflows, a mixture of sorrow and comforting nostalgia. Anchoring this affecting narrative is the player character, the titular Lil Gator. As figure, Lil Gator is defined by youthfulness, and the innocence necessarily and always attached to such a state; Lil Gator is unthreatening, heart and mind essentially void of all malice. 

Continuing this narrative fixation on aging, youthfulness, and adulthood, a secondary character of major import is introduced almost from the first – Lil Gator’s sibling, named only Big Sis. Recently leaving behind Lil Gator and their homestead for academic reasons, Big Sis returns to said homestead during her university’s fall break. Lil Gator is, expectantly, overjoyed to see Big Sis, to converse with her – here are further ruminations, and Lil Gator shows additional depth. But being older, it follows that Big Sis is increasingly detached from Lil Gator, no matter Lil Gator’s efforts at rekindling their profound relationship. And still Lil Gator acts, determined to reengage Big Sis and transport her backwards to the past, to their shared childhood. Logic suggests Big Sis should desire this transportation, for her shared memories with Lil Gator were of considerable memorability and intensity – their memories were steeped in beauty, for they were steeped in youthfulness, the youthful disposition. Back then, in a past not too distant, Big Sis took the reins, designing increasingly elaborate games for herself and for Lil Gator – here is a singularly imaginative and affectionate creature. With the pressures of adulthood – and the bookish student Big Sis certainly feels such pressures – inevitably comes detachment. Lil Gator solely seeks to dismantle that distance. To this end, Lil Gaor travels about the vast island landscapes, building an arsenal of companions and supporters. For with their support and companionship comes power – when their powers are pooled, Big Sis can in time be won over.  

The narrative’s easy summarization does bely relative simplicity, which does indeed exist. Lil Gator embarks on a literal odyssey, but it is a condensed odyssey – and accordingly, a wonderfully focused one. And so Lil Gator navigates the gameworld, encountering a rather exhaustive cast of secondary characters, each featuring their own distinct character models, though all are brimming with the game’s characteristic charm. Even here, with the characters and with their portrayals, notions of budget and finances emerge, for in Lil Gator Game voice acting is totally absent. On the surface, this seems a damning disadvantage. In practice, however, this limitation is actually an asset. Consider for instance any installment in Gearbox’s Borderlands series, a series brimming with humor and playfulness; similarities in intent do, in a strange way, link that series with humble Lil Gator Game. In that FPS series, though, the developers over relied on voice acting, holding the notion that voice acting heightens immersion and is thus a total necessity. Voice acting does indeed enhance said immersion, though for Borderlands this is a double-edged sword. For the actors who vocalize the writing consistently cling to garishness – the developers are simply trying too hard to be comedic, and these voice actors actually damage the overall experience. None of this applies to Lil Gator Game, which places writing at the forefront – always. And the writing is excellent – consider the Big Sis / Lil Gator relationship. Consider also the playfulness, which exists and continues to exist even as juvenileness is absent, quite a feat; other games with similar impulses might rightly be derided as excessively “childish.” Not so here. In this abridged odyssey, meanwhile, Lil Gator shows dramatic growth, as wisdom and personal insightfulness are obtained, as Lil Gator learns of Big Sis’s responsibilities and how her studies are increasingly central to her identity. Lil Gator’s likability surges – the reptile anchors the narrative, even as more and more secondary characters – some of them of fair depth and charm – emerge with fair regularity, heaping further charm upon an already charming construction. See only Lil Gator’s trio of boon companions, all introduced in the opening moment. Collectively, these companions – and all of the NPCs – inject fair vitality and diversity into the narrative proper. Grounded yet thoughtful and introspective, the narrative is a major achievement, is capped off with a rousing conclusion of great heart. 

Lil Gator Game’s graphics and art direction are another source of individualism. Creativity overflows, as does vibrancy. Here are no dull browns and grays, but here instead are dazzling oranges and reds, the trees at the sweet height of their autumnal beauty, disarming in that beauty. Superficially, with vibrancy’s total embrace, the game departs from reality, discarding it in favor of total fantasy. Mainly, however, Lil Gator Game and its various environments are a neat admixture of groundedness and fantasticalness; Lil Gator’s world is indeed conceivable. The terrain is rugged, with a major emphasis upon verticality. Conventional mountains have their place, though they are in turn complemented by more spindly ochre structures, extending upwards towards the heavens. Water effects are mostly impressive, too, fitting and reassuring indeed when considering the explorable environments are literally islands. Lakes and streams have their place, too, existing alongside the oceanic waves and the sea’s great vastness. Environmental diversity also overflows, and each segment of the island manages to claim its own distinct identity. This diversity naturally enhances the joys of exploration and discovery,joys which are abundant in Lil Gator Game – traversing the beautiful, vibrant island, even if for no formal or practical reason, brings its own delights. In this regard, it is difficult to overpraise the presentation, its complexity. Immersiveness soars; the player is transported into a world greatly like this world though simultaneously unlike it – consider for instance the player character and all of the NPCs, literal anthropomorphic animals, their speaking state only furthering originality. 

Failings inevitably exist, of course, and the greatest failures in presentation are technical in nature, rather than artistic. The draw distance is typically very low, a disappointing lowness. In efforts to mask this failing, the developers employ a blurring effect, morphing the skies and the horizons into an ungainly mass of orange. Visually, this effect is unappealing, though its inclusion is rightly understood, for it conceals those selfsame technical limitations. Conversely, this could be interpreted solely as a creative flourish – the skies were made impossibly orange to satisfy some vision held by the development studio. Whether this creative impulse was present or not – and very likely it was present in fair, immense quantities – it is rather difficult to overlook the technical failings, generally poor texture quality among them. Still, those selfsame oranges and reds compensate for these various failings, and Lil Gator Game’s openness must absolutely be commended. For the player can traverse the island at will and almost instantaneously – all barriers are removed. This openness is treated in a unique fashion, too, for a consultable map of any sort is totally absent. In so many open-world games, the player opens the map, scrutinizes the map, places a waypoint and then promptly proceeds onwards to that designated location; this design process and overall gameplay experience is highly automated and predictable in nature. Not so here, for the explorationist’s impulse is of dramatic intensity; openness is embraced to the last. With no formal HUD, immersiveness expands further still; the game world grows more arresting; its transportive capacities reemerge in full force. Some might lament the world’s more condensed size, though this condenseness only prompts a wonderful directedness. In its design, art direction and gameplay philosophies, Lil Gator Game is like a panacea to the conventional open-world experience, where the game essentially plays itself and becomes a simple routine.    

Lil Gator Game’s core gameplay is, tragically and foundationally, highly simplistic. The entire gameplay experience is supported by essentially one core pillar – exploration. Most highly compelling games are sustained by multiple, oftentimes diverse pillars; exploration might exist alongside, say, combat sequences, which might exist alongside stealth sequences, and so on. Not so here; exploration is emphasized to the last, almost to a fault – diversity in gameplay is absent.. Were the exploration of poor quality, then, it follows the entire experience would collapse into itself. Fortunately, exploration and the movement mechanics are rewarding and engrossing indeed, are incredibly intuitive. For Lil Gator is empowered, capable of scaling essentially any obstacle in the gameworld (though crucially, a stamina meter influences precisely how high the player can climb – when the meter is depleted, Lil Gator uncontrollably quits the ascent and falls downwards). Alongside this freedom – and the verticality which it directly facilitates – the player has access to a makeshift hang-glider of sorts, which further bolsters freedom in traversal. Outside of this pillar, though, the included progression system is admittedly rather flawed, in that the player obtains sword, shield, and hang-glider in the narrative’s opening moments, just as the bracelet enabling upwards mobility is obtained. In this regard, the general sense of newness is absent; almost all tools are immediately bestowed upon the player; sensations of genuine surprise are lessened; the progression systems are predictable indeed. While frustrating, this makes sense – the experience is short in nature, meaning that, if any of these given items was awarded in the late game, opportunities for their usage would be scant. And so the developers initially bombard players with item after item, the only instances of progression being related to the bracelet system; if a predetermined NPC can be located, then a new bracelet can be obtained, meaning the stamina meter’s expansion. Naturally, then, actually discovering this NPC is singularly exciting, for the discovery represents growth, both for the player and for Lil Gator also; he grows in dexterity just as he grows in heart and awareness. But such growth is rather minimized, and the gameplay’s simplicity is rather divisive. On the one hand, any given player might desire greater progression robustness. On the other hand, one player might delight in the game’s directedness, its total rejection of bloat – and progression systems in other games are often steeped in bloat. And so the player navigates the islandscapes, employing bracelet and hang-glider in turn, delighting in the act of exploration. Some new NPC inevitably waits just over the horizon, and their eventual discovery is a great source of delight; exploration marks a major achievement, too.    

In many considerable ways, the developers took ample influence from Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda series – this is obvious. But breaks from that rightly-fabled series are immense – and frequently negative. In any conventional Zelda title, the player might be met with a combat sequence, a puzzle-solving sequence, or a protracted sequence of exploration; gameplay is diverse, and this diversity only prompts wonderful unpredictability. The notion of pillars again arises, Zelda being firmly cemented and secured, Lil Gator Game foundationally unsteady; diversity’s absence is painful indeed. Exploration is enjoyable, though exploration stands completely alone. Instead of formal enemies, cardboard cutouts occupy their place. And rather than striking as a conventional enemy might, these cutouts are completely static and unthreatening – they exist merely to be destroyed and looted. Further yearnings arise – a bit of combat, even if weakly implemented, would greatly better the experience. But it is not to be; exploration ever stands alone. Reflecting the clearness of developer vision, meanwhile, and the fascination with accessibility, it is impossible to so much as to take damage in any way; enemies are, again, absent, while even fall damage is excluded, the player enabled to traverse the islands in a state of relaxed ease. Clearly, the developers strove to craft a more cathartic experience, and in this regard they met with manifold successes – overwhelming tension is completely, deliberately missing from Lil Gator Game, and the game becomes a tool to escape from the horrors of the wider, actual world. Clever personalization systems also heightens these joys. For self-expression is encouraged indeed, the player capable of crafting cosmetics with materials the cutouts drop upon their destruction. While these appear to have little gameplay repercussions, their implementation is welcome, and Lil Gator ultimately becomes canvas for the player. 

Lil Gator Game is a stimulating and profound experience across the board – consider only the interrogations on youthfulness, its fleetingness and inevitable destruction; questions which have rarely been raised emerge with considerable intensity here. Crucially, though, the title is not exclusively carried by the compelling Lil Gator / Big Sis relationship. See only the gameplay proper, principally the fixation on exploration, emphasized to the last at the expense of all other gameplay systems. Climbing this or that structure; jumping from this or that structure; opening the hang-glider after the plunge has been made – it is exhilarating indeed, bolstering enjoyability, already existing in fair intensity; the game is a sheer blast to play, even with the world’s occasional lifelessness and hollowness – the enemies’ absence is sorely felt. Further successes are evinced outside of gameplay and narrative – consider most obviously the world-building and art direction, which affectionately embrace vibrancy to the last. Masterful music and audio design contribute to a disarming atmosphere’s construction. The developers consistently act with determined vision, a determinedness manifest in the game’s length, too. Again: the conventional open-world bloat is totally eschewed; rather than lasting many dozens of hours, Lil Gator Game can be completed in some four or five hours. This willed brevity makes the game easily completable in one sitting, and indeed this approach seems the intended one; tackling the entire experience in such a condensed situation brings out the game’s better attributes, while assessing it in its totality only expands upon player resonance. Flaws are scattershot and minor, though one might be leveraged at the mentioned customization systems. Given their status as cosmetics, it follows they have no or little impact upon the gameplay proper – they are ancillary, meaningless save for instances of self-expression. This occasional meaninglessness diminishes the joys felt whenever discovering crafting materials (which is almost constant, the cutouts’ presence being ubiquitous on the island). In this regard, the crafting process is trivialized, and becomes almost unexciting. Still, the game’s swelling heart – a constancy – compensates for whatever miniscule gameplay faults exist. The simplicity and directness is necessarily divisive, alienating some, charming others, though for me this simplicity is a total asset, for it further fosters uniqueness; in an industry which increasingly valorizes complexity, Lil Gator Game pushes back.