Constant C Review

By Kevin Mitchell  |  Posted: July 1, 2014

Desolate and alone, you find your little fragile steel body on an abandoned outer space research station. When you awaken the damaged Artificial Intelligence Control Platform that controls the space station from hibernation, he helps you slowly unravel the mystery behind what happened to every single living soul and figure out why time no longer exists, keeping everything in a perpetual motionless state.

Constant C slowly adds new gameplay mechanics throughout the dozens of stages, avoiding overwhelming the player from the start. From the onset, you'll have a sphere of influence around the tiny Rescue Robot, influencing any objects you come across stuck in a suspended state. Fans will spring to life, electrical wires will spark, leaving orange embers suspended in the air, but there are also much more dangerous parts of the environment.

As your sphere of time can't be deactivated, caution must be taken when trying to cross near hazards, such as spinning blades, falling boxes, and lasers. Jumping on a suspended box to cross a gap may seem like a good idea, until you come in contact with the box and start falling as a result of the box no longer being suspended. Almost as deadly as all the hazards, falling from small drops will see Rescue Robot exploding into pieces, blackening the background. You'll need to get used to the sight, as the more difficult puzzles will have you dying multiple times per minute.

Time isn't the only property you have control over, as you'll be able to manipulate gravity at will, rotating the entire environment around you. Blending these two properties together creates an inspiring and enjoyable puzzle platformer that I couldn't put down. Some of the stages are quite easy, as you can reach the exit by a simple rotation of the environment. Tape recordings hidden deep within the witty AI allow us to piece together what really happened aboard the installation. In order to unlock these, you have to find optional data tubes scattered across the puzzles. If you happen to die while securing the data tubes, you won't have to recollect them.

The puzzles themselves are quite open-ended, with multiple solutions on how to get from Point A to Point B. There may have been a simpler solution to some of the puzzles, but using a brute force method of trying a single way enough times usually yielded results. Or, I got lucky many times throughout my time with Constant C.

Simply Put

Through all of my success, Constant C remained a frustrating experience, from cheap deaths to my own ignorance by rotating the environment in the incorrect direction. Constant C provides an enjoyable and challenging experience that will have you literally standing on your head thinking of a solution.