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Story – 9/10
Convergence is a game about life and life choices. You are an average human being who goes through three stages, within each stage the decisions you make will affect the next. It is thought provoking and a really well done piece of art. Yes the graphics are basically a bunch of pixels, but this game focuses on the realities of life rather than just giving us a good show.
Game play – 7/10
The three stages mentioned are of your life as a baby, adolescent life and then adult life. The most fun of all was playing as a baby, where you had to race against a rather evil sibling (who locks you in the attic by the way) to collect all the toys. The other two stages are just walking around and hitting the action key which can get a little boring.
Make your choice...
With that said, each stage is not too long and fairly simple so that you are encouraged to go through the multiple possible routes. While the first stage was the most fun game play wise, the second stage I found very thought provoking.
I have always had a personal fear of becoming an over worked office drone, and the faceless characters, each sitting at their desks, really made me think about that. The music in the background was ambient and suited the middle stage very well. The bar at the bottom shows how much you care about work or love, and the initial starting point on the meter is determined by your choice in the first stage…I will leave that to find out for yourself.
The third stage is just a conclusive stage with not much going on, it just shows you where your choices got you in the end. I guess the reason that the life story of this character is so “average” is because the “average person” will be playing such a game, but I think a lot more could have been done in terms of the story itself and the endings (although one ending was quite saddening). But it is thought provoking in the end and it carries out what the developers intended it to carry out.
Achievement room!
Graphics/presentation – 9/10
The monotony and simplicity of the game’s graphics help us to focus more on how the game affects us emotionally. The music is great, especially in the second stage as I have mentioned before, and it also has a similar simplicity. Funnily enough, I just couldn’t imagine a game like this with “better” graphics.
Overall score – 8.3/10
Go and play this game now! – I am going to look for more thought provoking stuff!
Credits go to:
Streetlight Studios - Ray Chan, Mike Hadley Sean Li
Music by Kevin MacLeod
