by Faith Marlow

Created on: January 09, 2009   Last Updated: January 12, 2009

Rating: 3/5

Have you ever wondered what the inside of your brain looks like? Not the grey matter, but inside the mind where thought and consciousness reside? The developers at Digital Eel asked themselves this question and their answer was Brainpipe: A plunge to unhumanity. Although it is unclear whether the HUD that you control is an alien being, an eyeball, or some sort of mind reading device, the journey is more important than the destination. As you travel down the passages of your mind you pick up glyphs that represent aspects of personality to raise your score and have to pass through gateways (writers block maybe) avoid sparks (of creativity perhaps), green flashing lights (possibly bad ideas) and other assorted hazards to ascend into the next level of awareness. The psychedelically colored landscape moves with and independently of the direction you are traveling and is accented by an equally hypnotic soundtrack and sound effects that reflect your actions. As you progress the pace quickens, making each of these tasks more difficult but you can periodically slow time to even the odds for a few precious seconds. The difficultly level in Brainpipe increases at a devilishly quick pace, giving a whole new meaning to the phrase "bad trip".

The graphics and sound is the main focus of this game and are intended to be encompassing, similar to maneuvering through the visualization on your media player while your favorite techno music is running. The visuals and audio work hand in hand to deliver the experience and are inseparable in the game, even an attempt to review them but be done simultaneously. Approaching brightly colored objects make their own individual sounds, helping you to know how close you are to the glyph or hazard. Unfortunately there is a side effect to all this mind reading, severe motion sickness and headache. Although this may not be the case for everyone, those who are sensitive or have had similar experiences with other games may not want to play Brainpipe and anyone with any type of seizure related illnesses or Epilepsy should not play this game. It is noted that such a warning was absent from the demo or website.

In the demo, the player is simply dumped into the game without any type of explanation, tutorial, or easy to find directions. More of the game's premise is available on the website and hopefully in the full version of the game. When you see it, you will understand why all the hippies were so happy in the 60's. So if you are looking for a gaming experience that is far from average or want to know what it's like to be in a Jefferson Airplane video, Brainpipe: A plunge to unhumanity is worth checking out but be prepared to get frustrated quickly at the swiftly increasing pace and don't forget to buy some Dramamine. Unfortunately, I will not buy this title only because of the motion sickness problems.

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