Above's storybook surface hides a wonderfully frightening interior
There is something about a bright red airplane buzzing over endless blue seas that is not easy to put out of mind. I saw a screenshot for Above a few weeks back - or maybe it was a GIF; this is a game that has a real power when glimpsed in GIF form - and part of me has been with
There is something about a bright red airplane buzzing over endless blue seas that is not easy to put out of mind. I saw a screenshot for Above a few weeks back - or maybe it was a GIF; this is a game that has a real power when glimpsed in GIF form - and part of me has been with it ever since, moving in low over the calm waters until my fixed wheels sparkle with seaspray and my propeller sends up tumbling cords of froth.
If this was all there is to Above it would be enough, I think. You grab the controller and the opportunities presented by a clear blue ocean seem limitless. One stick to steer, another to do stunts, and - why not, then? - an occasional stab of a trigger to send a little line and hook descending to pick up salvage scattered across the waves.
But that was never going to be all there was to Above. Stare long enough at that red plane moving over the blue seas and the toy box, children's book dreaminess starts to turn to something darker. The plane seems terribly small, and the ocean terribly big and terribly frightening in that way that featureless oceans can't help but feel. Thoughts turn from Lindbergh to Amelia Earhart.