Kolibri

"Beautiful Presentation...but what in the hell am I supposed to be doing?"

Strange games come and go, but there has to be one game that I just can’t figure out. Kolibri is a game that portrays itself as a shooting style game, but without the lasers and explosives, leaving you with not a fast moving ship of destruction, but a hummingbird. Yes, you heard me when I said a hummingbird. Although the premise of the game is lost to me, as is the story line, the one thing that I can say about the title itself is that it is presented beautifully in both the visual and audio aspects. The 32X never fails to amaze me in the way that it just came up with games that were completely off the wall, or simply sucked, and this one is more of the off the wall variety.

Without a determinable story line to really follow, it may be hard to get into this game and appreciate what it may have to offer. The game play that you see in the game is extremely challenging for several different reasons and you’ll find those out in the first few minutes of play. Even though the game looks and sounds beautiful, the game play is lacking in the action department and is hard to dive into, especially if you’re an action game fanatic that was looking to play this game as one of those types of titles!

The game play that you find here revolves around you running through various missions that are more or less killing off the different bugs that get in your way. Your weapons are weird and nearly indistinguishable from the rest of what you’re doing, and when you boil the game down to what it is, it’s the puzzles that you have to figure out that stops the game play cold. When you move through the game, there are problems knowing just where to go and what to do, and without a good clue on where you are, you’ll find yourself in a stigmata of annoyance. As a solo player game, there is nothing here that will really catch your attention in the game play department, which kills the replay value completely!

Control is an option that you really don’t have to worry about, in which you simply direct your hummingbird through the various stages of forest and hunt down bugs. The directional pad is responsive, but the problem that lays here is that the game just doesn’t seem to allow you to know when you’ve taken damage at any given point. Beginners and veterans to games such as this should have no problem getting into the intricacies that the game has to offer, and after a few minutes, you’ll realize that it is more of a seeking game than it is anything else.

Visually, Kolibri is as tight as it comes and really shows off the power of the visual engine that the 32X is capable of. With lush environments and bright, beautifully detailed designs and layouts, there are points in the game that detract from the monotonous and boring game play. However, most of what you find here is little more than the same thing repeating, with small variations thrown in for substance. The enemies that you face off against are swarms of bugs and although they move quickly enough across the screen, there just isn’t enough detail to them to truly pick them apart.

The audio is another portion of the game that is rather surprising and it tries to make up for the lack of game play. The music tracks are all relaxing and keep you in the natural theme that the game attempts to portray at all points. However, there are problems with this simply because the game doesn’t have enough action music to it to keep the game moving swiftly, and that can draw on your nerves after a while in some cases. The audio effects are of nature as well, with the smaller aspects coming through crystal clear and is really a treat for the ears in the way that it all blends together for this odd title.

Kolibri is a game that really doesn’t have a genre although it tends to lean towards the shooters side of gaming. With the lack of story line and the overall lack of game play that you find here as well as a problem in getting different clues to help with the puzzles, the trip through this title may be exceptionally short if you don’t have the patience. However, if you’re looking for a game that truly shows off the visual and audio capability that the 32X should have had with all of its titles, then you’ll find that this game does just that in all senses except with the key component of the game play!

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 03/04/02, Updated 03/04/02