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| Quico has to placate the monster in order to solve puzzles. |
Tucked away in a corner of the massive
PlayStation booth at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo was a
single demo station for for a game that puts players in the bare feet of
a young boy named Quico trying to coax a giant rhinoceros-like
monster through the world to solve puzzles.
“The creator had a rough childhood,
and this game is his way of expressing it and dealing with it,”
Stéphanie Landry,
environment artist for developer Minority Inc., said.
Landry went on to explain that the
monster, whom is addicted to eating frogs, represents a disinterested and aggressive father figure, and that Quico is analogous to the creator of the game, Vander Caballero.
The monster is largely uninterested in
Quico's activities in the demo level, so he must be coaxed through levels with fruit
because the only thing the monster likes more than sleeping is
eating, according to Landry.
The level I demoed revolved completely
around moving the monster from point A to point B, which required puzzle solving and manipulation of objects in the world and reach the other side of a
courtyard.
The controls are a little stiff, the
graphics are decent, but not amazing and character animations don't
seem to mesh well with the environment, but “Papo & Yo” is not yet ready for release and seems
to be aiming more at storytelling than
impressive graphics.
The game will be released later this
year, according to Landry.
