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Microsoft from French
Microsoft from French
How to play a game that does not want to be played?
The answer is in the question since it becomes a game to try to play. Calendula is a funny concept, especially for lovers of puzzles. The hardest will be the first, because once understood the principle, we advance without too slow... towards the end of the game, precisely.
A warning is necessary: Calendula wants to be disturbing, and it goes through unpleasant sounds and some disturbing visions. Nothing bad though, you won't make a nightmare at night; but it's better to be warned.
Other precision: most players collide with the famous "eyes room", which seems deliberately buggy and could force you to revive the game several times. I got out by pressing Z (to move forward) in small strokes rather than leave the key pressed, letting pass 5 long seconds each time.
Calendula is a good concept, albeit a little too dirigiste. I regret for my part that there is no real sequence "ingame", where one would be released with a little freedom and where one would be beset by bug of all kinds, it could have been fun.
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Translated by
Microsoft from Deutsch
Microsoft from Deutsch
Calendula jumps on the bandwagon of games like Pony Island. It tries to persuade you of playing a "possessed" game that actually plays with you. This concept worked fine in Pony Island, but the way this concept is used in Calendula it is way to unimaginative to enthrall me. What we have here is an incoherent series of easy lowbrow-puzzles like you know 'em from many smartphone-games like "100 Doors".
At the beginning of every puzzle you get a hint that points out what you have to do. You will solve most of the puzzles in less than 30 seconds - some others aren't challenging but just annoying, because you have to **** up your mouse controls to solve 'em (inverted controls etc...), or you have to make graphical changes (brightness / saturation (which are regulated ingame)) that are nothing more than a pain in your eyes. At the end of each puzzle (usually the goal is to acquire a password for a "saved game"), you obtain a small glimpse of first-person-gameplay (which means that you move through a short hallway on tracks without any freedom of movement ... so prepare for just holding "W" in the first person sequences) until you are thrown back into CALENDULAS main menue to solve the next puzzle. That's not really thrilling.
CALENDULA tries to be creepy and psychedelic, but in fact it is a simple (and very short!) batch of uncreative puzzles without any kind of considerable atmoshphere, climax, storyline or interesting scenarios. It could have been much more, but the actual game isn't worth the price.