Maze (Wii U) Review

When Maze begins, users will see the TreeFall Studios logo, and while this might seem innocuous at first, it does set a subliminal precedent right from the start. The logo of TreeFall Studios is very peculiar - when looked at it becomes very difficult to discern what part of the tree's graphic is supposed to be the branches and which part is supposed to be the roots. It is this kind of sloppiness and incoherence that runs consistent with Eli Brewer's work, and it gets much worse the longer the game goes on.

When the main screen shows up, things look a little more inviting than they did when The Letter's start screen showed up, but not by much. Thankfully, Eli Brewer heard the huge criticisms about The Letter not having any options for controls, which were permanently inverted. Yes, Maze can be played with the standard Y-axis setup. However, the sensitivity is still locked and turning is still excruciatingly slow.

Eli Brewer's skills did improve enough that he finally learned how to implement a saving system to his game so players can continue where they leave off, but still there is no option to pause the game ever. It should be mentioned that the way the menu is laid out and how the cursor always defaults to New Game makes it very easy to overwrite an existing file, since the game automatically saves when the New Game option is selected. This is especially frustrating, since there is a tedious little animation for the start screen that will make players instinctively mash buttons to skip, only causing them to overwrite their file and start a new game. This is either blinding incompetence or Eli Brewer hates his audience.

When the game begins proper, players have to sit through a very long and wordy cut-scene that gibes the exposition of the story of Maze. That's right, Maze has an overly long and unskippable sequence that goes into detail about some kind of vague oracle, and when a boy comes of age he has to go through a set of arbitrary trials, which is basically the core game - collect 10 coins in a maze and find the exit. There are also some nebulous references to robots but the game doesn't make their presence very clear. There are bouncy little T-shaped creatures that give out expository and tutorial text throughout the game, and it's assumed that these things are the robots, but the game never makes it clear. Pretty much, the plot is just an excuse to have the player run around in mazes in first person and collecting coins. There really is no logical explanation for any of it; this is the best Eli Brewer has.

The core gameplay of Maze is not that much different than The Letter. Both games have players navigate sloppy and artless environments looking for crap that Eli Brewer hid. Like in The Letter, Maze has very stiff and unresponsive controls and lacks pressure sensitivity when moving. Movement is restricted to two speeds: standing still and full sprint. Normally this kind of game would be pretty harmless and probably even kind of relaxing, but when the controls and movement have been totally botched, the game becomes nigh unplayable when Maze introduces moving platforms. It should also be mentioned that all progress resets in a level when players fall off the map. Since the player casts no shadow, either, the first-person platforming in Maze feels more like blind luck than actual skill involved. Sometimes jumping won't register even though the "hop" grunt can be heard; the player character will plummet like a brick.

None of the mechanics from The Letter have been adjusted or worked on, it is identical and Maze can be best described as a level pack or expansion for The Letter. The walls in Maze are like they are made of sand paper, too, because the player character seems to get stuck or caught on the flat surfaces when he brushes up against it, breaking the flow of the game constantly. The game is also very jittery, and when moving around the frame rate fluctuates and the 3D geometry flickers.

The level design of Maze is the result of Eli Brewer haphazardly throwing crap at his PC and letting it fester and dry up. Nothing ever feels thought out, just like a stream of consciousness, and since the visuals are so ugly it begins to wear on the player. Even the layout of the coins that users must collect reflect on Eli Brewer's lack of vision and effort when some coins will be grouped together as if he couldn't be bothered to hide or place them in an interesting location.

Now, Maze is a better game than The Letter, but that isn't saying much considering how Maze actually feels like it is worth the $1.99 because it is an actual game with a real lose state, and has more going on than nothing at all. These are Maze's best qualities, and it can be only recommended as a novelty game because of how stupid the game actually is and to see just how incompetent and amateurish the game design is. Some of the bizarre visuals include the very obvious skybox with some kind of phallic striped thing plastered on it. One level was made of pure dominoes, and sometimes there are clouds that look like cartoony pieces of popcorn.

The game itself is like a very dim-witted child who wets himself when he gets excited, running in circles with snot running from his nose as he flecks around his urine moronically, yet so innocently. It fails so much at almost every moment, it becomes kind of heart breaking in how earnest it is. Despite that, there is no guilt to be felt when making fun of this game.