Scraps

I'm all for experimental games. I like seeing what programmers can create, even if the ultimate results are short or lacking in much purpose. I'm willing to invest some time in a brief story, so long as it offers some kind of payoff.

Scraps... doesn't have that great a payoff. And the path to getting to that payoff is, frankly, a pain.

Concept

Ever seen the movie WALL-E? If so, you'll get the plot to Scraps. The world has gone to hell: all the humans appear to be dead, victims of their own foolishness... and a whole lotta trash. You, a humble robot, set out in a desolate landscape to find some purpose for yourself.

Yeah. As many people have commented on Newgrounds, Scraps is a darker version of Wall-E, with a robot who more closely resembles Mega Man X in capabilities. The result is a platformer that's DECENT, but, in some respects, quite annoying.

Controls

Your robot controls fairly well in Scraps. Again, it reminds me a little of a Mega Man X game, as you can wall-jump merrily up the sides of canyons if you happen to fall. The controlling isn't quite as good as Mega Man, however, 'cause almost ANY time you hit the slightest vertical, your robot will cling - and, then, you'll probably jump in the wrong direction. Blargh.

Graphics

THIS is where Scraps shines. Visually, it's a great game. The robot could use some sprucin' up, but the environment around him is awesome. The trash is both legion and varied: at various points I'm pretty sure I saw a boat (depicted above), a hippy van, lamps, telephones and ragged quilts. There's a short part inside a cave that's a little boring, but other than that? A visual treat.

Sound

Scraps relies primarily on ambient noises and little sound effects. Nothing spectacular, but I'd rather have no song at all than one that's constantly playing and replaying itself (unless it's a damn good song, anyway).

Challenge Rating

Okay.

Okay.

Scraps is not a hard game. It's quite short, and there are no enemies to muck up your progress. I might even say it's an easy game, save for one thing:

BOTTOMLESS PITS.

I'm used to bottomless pits. They've kind of a staple of platforming games. In Scraps, however, they are both unpredictable - like, you really can't tell if you're about to fall to your doom or not - and merciless. How merciless?

You have to start over at the beginning. Merciless.

One misstep and it's BACK TO THE BEGINNING for you. How difficult could it be to restart at, say, the beginning of the screen you're on? Why force players to go back and witness the same threadbare messages about being lonely again? ARGH.

Conclusion?

I can appreciate the experimental nature of Scraps. It's not meant to be a full-on, totally-polished game. There are some definite problems with this thing, though, and given the so-so nature of the ending, ehhh... I doubt I'll play it again.

PLAY SCRAPS