I had hardly any time to play games last week. It’s been a bit of a mad one, but I don’t think I could recount what I’ve actually done.

I’m currently sitting (at the time of writing this first draft anyway) on a train to Köping in Sweden. We’re going to a wedding tomorrow, a Swedish-Irish wedding no less! …

And now we’re on our way back! That’s about how much time I had to do any writing. For the record, it was a great wedding (congratulations to Ulrika & Paul) but I don’t think I’ve ever had such a stressful journey as this one – I will be very glad to be home…

I also played the Kane & Lynch 2 demo last week but having it all as one post started to turn it into a bit of a monster so I’ll be posting that separately, later.

Anyway, onto the main bit of gaming I did last week:

LIMBO (XBLA, Xbox 360)

Finished off LIMBO, yay! As reviews and players alike have mentioned, it is rather on the short side, perhaps 3-4 hours in length. For my money though it’s a fantastic 3-4 hours and well worth the 1200MS (roughly £10) price tag.

The game can be broadly divided into three different environments. What’s so great about the opening section is just how bleak and scary it is. As I mentioned last week, I love how wonderfully tactile the game is. This (along with the clever use of sound and pad rumble) really helps sell the idea that you’re just a fragile little boy and that anything can (and will) kill you; there is a genuine feeling of trepidation and fear of what is to come, something I find very few games manage to achieve.

Normally I’d be quite critical of things like hidden insta-death traps, but in this instance I think it actually added something to the experience (and I quite enjoyed it when the game made me jump)! This is something that in other games would be incredibly frustrating and seemingly unfair of the developers to do but it’s handled well here; the checkpointing is forgiving and the nervous trial and error nature of the game just made sense to me within the context of the “story” – we are (presumably) in limbo after all!

Unfortunately by the time you reach the third area, the oppressive, suffocating atmosphere that is so striking in the opening section is somewhat lost and it becomes almost exclusively about the puzzle-solving. This isn’t necessarily the game’s undoing as the puzzles remain fantastically devious throughout, but it is a real shame that this feeling can’t be maintained all the way through to the credits (especially considering how short the experience is).

For the completionists among you, the game also features hidden collectables and they’re tied directly to the achievements. I loved how the achievement descriptions actually provide clues as to their location; a great little touch. I’ve still got quite a few to find!

For those of you who scoff at the idea of paying around £10 for 3-4 hours of quality entertainment, I’d probably wait for it to be Deal of the Week. For everyone else; it’s chuffing brilliant – buy it now!