GAUGE

Developer: Étienne Périn | Publisher: Neko Entertainment | Release Date: 2014 | Genre: Casual / Indie | Website: Official Website | Purchase: Steam

GAUGE is one of those games ideal for when you feel like killing some time but don’t want to invest hours in something more in-depth. Your only purpose is to chase a high score, and pressing the Spacebar key is the only thing required to do so. Occasionally, you may have to press Spacebar and Ctrl, but that is about as complicated as things get in GAUGE.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that GAUGE is easy, though. Tapping the Spacebar controls the length of your gauge, but if it touches the inner or outer edges of its confines, you lose a life. The closer you can get your gauge to the outer edges, the more points you score, but the easier it is to slip up and lose a life. This risk versus reward mechanic makes for very tense and addictive gameplay sessions. There is only one power-up in the game, and it always appears close to the inner limit of the gauge bar. You can take a risk and let the gauge drop down to grab it, which nets you a bunch of bonus points and the option to activate a second gauge that you have to control with the Ctrl key. Using the second gauge doubles your score, but since it moves at a speed different from your primary gauge, it can be tricky to prevent it from touching the outer limits.

GAUGE would have been a little boring if tapping Spacebar and Ctrl was all there was to it, so in order to make things a bit more challenging, the game continually tries to distract you from your task. Text will randomly pop up in an attempt to draw your attention away from your gauge, and pulsating colors place an extra strain on your eyes. The game also plays dirty with stuff like screen shakes and blurring, which really mess with your concentration. In fact, things become so psychedelic that the game warns players with epileptic conditions to consult their physician before playing. Usually, these types of warnings are just in place as a precaution, but in GAUGE, it is absolutely essential that players take heed. This is the type of game where it is a good idea to take frequent breaks while playing if you value your eyesight.

While initially a mobile title, GAUGE works pretty well on computers, and the psychedelic retro visuals don’t look out of place. The price has also been kept low, and considering that there are five game modes available, it offers pretty good value for money. In “Normal” mode you try to attain a high score before you run out of lives. You can achieve extra lives while playing, and your lives actually serve as your score multiplier as well, so it is not a good idea to waste any of them if you want to climb the leaderboards. “Baby” mode makes things a bit easier, while “Hard” mode, on the other hand, only gives you one life to play with.

Finally, there is a “Timed” mode that only gives you a specific time limit to achieve a high score and a “Touch” mode where you are only allowed to press the Spacebar a certain number of times. These modes offer some nice variation and will keep you playing longer than expected. The PC version also includes some Steam achievements, but don’t expect them to be easy. In fact, the developer of GAUGE has intentionally made one of the Steam achievements impossible to get, which might be a dealbreaker for achievement hunters.

The electronic music in GAUGE matches the psychedelic visuals, although the tracks are also designed to lull you into breaking your concentration. Getting too caught up in the music can cause you to start timing your button presses to the beats, which rarely ends well. We wouldn’t call GAUGE a relaxing game, as blinking at the wrong time can literally cost you a life, but like all score-chasing games, it will put you in that hyper-focused zone where you can forget about your surroundings.

The game is being advertised as an experimental and minimalistic sport game, but don’t be fooled into thinking that it is like anything you might see on ESPN. To the casual observer, it will more than likely resemble something that some secretive government agency or cult might have used to brainwash people. For all we know, they might be correct, as we enjoyed the game way more than we thought we would, and we will return to it regularly.