BRAINPIPE: A Plunge to Unhumanity

There isn't really a lot to Brainpipe but that's OK. It's a game where you zoom through a tunnel at speed, grab glyphs and avoid anything that's likely to kill you (that's pretty much everything that isn't a glyph, really). And doesn't it sound so terminally dull when you put it like that? (YES, IT DOES) Is it terminally dull? Nope. it is so very far from terminally dull! Rejoice. There's a couple of things that really make Brainpipe special. One is the graphics which, y'know, aren't quite up to the full Minter they're certainly not far off. It's like flying through someone's fevered attempt at a 70's Doctor Who title sequence or what might happen if someone sat down and said "Mr Trumbull, could you make us a videogame please" or something. The other is the sound. Oh man, the sound. This is the stuff of headphones on, turn it up, sit back and enjoy. Or just turn it up really loud if you can't manage that. Parts of the soundtrack wibble in and out of focus, sounds zip around you ear...

Okay, this game is fucking awesome. It's the kind of game you play once every few weeks, but for the rest of your life. Great if you randomly feel like immersing yourself in a richly aurally-textured half-axon half-multiverse tunnel with a pace ranging from narcoleptic to highly spasmodic. The actual goal is collecting glyphes embodying tiered concepts, with a final one marking a progression we'll get back to; all while avoiding obstacles as your speed slowly increases with each level. For instance, level 1 is the nasal ganglia, with concepts such as "peculiar insight" or "nervous laugh" and the final glyph being Awareness. The gameplay also involves the ability to, holy fucking shit, [b]SLOW DOWN TIME[/b]. The game really has a particular relation to time in general, as you slow down the sound environment as well and pausing temporally stucks you in one audio piece. Said pieces otherwise naturally flow with the game. While all golden glyphes make you "progress", and the general goa...

This game consists entirely of dodging obstacles while flying through the opening to Doctor Who. Along the way you'll pick up various hydrocarbon chains, most of which are butane, but 1,1-dimethylcyclopropane does make an appearance (for all you 1,1-dimethylcyclopropane fans out there or "1,1-dimethylcyclopropane-iacs"). The options menu allows adjustment of music and sound effects and nothing else. So if you l find the controls too sensitive, as I did, then too bad. So far I've only gotten to level nine. Doing so took 20 minutes. I'd be surprised if this game is longer than an hour. Without any evidence to the contrary, I'm forced to assume that the game's brevity is to make sure it doesn't get repetitive. If flying through an abstract something-or-another while dodging stuff sounds fun, then buy "1... 2... 3... Kick It!" If you feel that you must buy this game, then wait for it to go on sale first, it isn't long enough for $10. Also, consider checking into rehab, hippie.

I played this high... Help.

Great sound, good visuals, and fun words. Got in on sale for $0.99 and I think it was worth it, just for the enjoyable experience. Also fits really well with certain music, like Pete Namlook & Bill Laswell's "From the Earth to the Ceiling", Biosphere's "Baby Interphase", or Boards of Canada's "An Eagle in Your Mind" (try some!). It's a fun, trippy experience into the mind... the most dangerous place we'll ever know!

Beating level 10 made me feel as if my physical human body was improper. Wonderful meditation tool. 10/10

I found this to be one of the strangest games I have encountered. It is basically a reflex and control game that offer no instructions. There is discovery, which is most of the game experience. Even with that, I still couldn't find myself liking the game. Perhaps the experience that this game offers is not for me. Maybe I'll try it again someday but not anytime soon. I give this game a "Not my cup of coffee OUT OF 5".

Simple game, but all those colours. If there was an AI that would play the game for a screensaver I would watch that for hours on end. 10/10

You are a being of some kind, traveling through some psychedelic pipeline, collecting runes along the way until you achieve a state of unhumanity. There's 10 runes per level that you have to collect in order to gain a master rune ( I guess). Collecting all 10 runes plus the master rune at the end will elevate you to the next stage of being. The pipeline does change color and sometimes you hear voices or other audio effects but its all background noise. The music isnt harsh on the ears but I'm not sure I would pop it into the player for hours on end though. Said pipes are also home to diverse perils, such as green spines sticking out from the side walls, or spinning purple-pink plasma disks, There's also a cage type feature that you have to pass through as well. If you hit any of these obstacles, your display ( if you can call it that) flashes red and you hear a buzzing-warning-klaxon type sound. (very short though) You do speed up as the levels progress so quick reflexes are good...

soo trippy an adictive