Hazardous to Your Health

I like console games, but when I first heard the premise for Voodoo Vince, I honestly didn't know what to think. A platform game in which you play a… voodoo doll? Arriving on Xbox this autumn, Vince leaps, glides, trots, and careens from level to level in this quirky and offbeat offering from Beep Studios.

You're Vince, a congenial and nearly-indestructible voodoo doll trying to find and rescue your creator, Madame Charmaine, who's been kidnapped by a second-rate conjurer and his gang of slack-jawed thugs. Your quest takes you through a surrealistic, magically-altered version of New Orleans, all the way from the French Quarter to the bayous and back. This twisted landscape is populated with a menagerie of dangerous beasties, including savage guard dogs, animated dolls, single-minded zombies, unhinged alligators, and a belligerent overgrown piggy bank. Vince must defeat them all and pilot an array of vehicles, from a steam roller to a submarine, on his way through the levels. The plucky voodoo doll can fight, but his greatest talent is defeating his foes through self-inflicted injury!

How to catch a redneck.

I approached Voodoo Vince much like any other platform game, which was a mistake. The elements that make it different from most platform games are welcome but surprising, and they all combine to create an experience that had me glued to my chair while trying to finish the game. I used normal attack modes—like punching and kicking—when facing the monsters, and that was pretty effective as long as the critters didn't surround me. Once that happened, Vince was a goner, and I found myself repeating levels after being repeatedly pummeled by monster mobs. I learned quickly that action isn't necessarily the most important aspect of this game. There's plenty of exploration through an abundance of richly-detailed levels and puzzle-solving on a grand scale. I had to steer Vince across bottomless pits, through dank monster-infested sewers, and across a life-sized version of a model railroad, all the while searching for clues to his creator's whereabouts and the means to move from level to level. In true platform style, the puzzle solutions aren't always obvious.

After multiple attempts at getting past a huge, intoxicated gasoline pump that flailed its hoses like the tentacles of an octopus, I realized that I couldn't sneak past him or defeat him with any method I expected to see in a platform game. So, I started looking around for alternatives. That's when I spotted the natural gas vents dotting the exterior walls of the nearby buildings—including one that was lit, much like a pilot light. And, then, I remembered that voodoo dolls like Vince are made of burlap, a highly flammable cloth material.

The explosive results were merely my first taste of Vince's true nature. Defeated monsters release colorful Mardi Gras beads that Vince absorbs into his own body. Absorbing beads charges a voodoo meter, and when it's fully charged your special voodoo powers are ready. That's when, contrary to all standard platform game logic, you run straight into the biggest mob of monsters you can find! Then, as the slavering monstrosities close in for the kill, do your voodoo! Voodoo power attacks destroy all monsters within a certain radius, making it the most effective means of clearing out large numbers of hostile creatures, while Vince walks away unhurt.

Ready, aim…

Unlike some platform games, you don't have immediate access to your best powers at the game's start. You must explore each level (all rendered in stunning detail) and find the voodoo totems; acquiring these icons grants you access to new voodoo powers. By the time I reached the second level, I was eagerly anticipating getting my hands on the next voodoo powers and watching Vince destroy himself in a novel and grotesque fashion. Among my favorite voodoo powers (and I am not making these up!):

• Vince being zapped by lasers from an orbiting alien spacecraft.
• Vince immolating himself in a roaring bonfire.
• Vince diving into a huge electric blender.
• Vince throwing himself under an enormous falling cow. (The destructive bovine has other means of, uh, inconveniencing Vince that you'll want to discover for yourself!)
  

Despite the horrific damage, the unflappable Vince always escapes unscathed, while his foes take the brunt of the pain and injury intended for his burlap hide. Stick a pin in Vince this fall—and you won't even have to worry about the hospital bills!

By Jason Carl