game reviewThat unique sniper-with-a-twist gameplay, that non-verbal revenge story, those, er, ‘artisan’ graphics. ‘Children of the Sun’ does not always consciously rub against the expectations and comfort of today’s gamers, but in terms of a brutal and frills-free workshop in stubborn perseverance, you definitely get value for your money.
With regard to “value for money”, we should point out that ‘Children of the Sun’ can be downloaded to your PC for just under 15 euros. A modest sum for a game that takes just five hours to complete. However, know that those five hours are quite intense and that many gamers will double that number of hours because they cannot resist adjusting that personal high score a little more each time.
‘Children of the Sun’ tells its story through the short, crudely animated intro scenes that precede each level. It all revolves around your game character, a nameless teenage girl who grew up in a twisted cult with occult tendencies. You’d rather discover more for yourself, but assume that your character has plenty of reasons to, mission after mission, abruptly send an endless number of members prematurely towards their idea of the afterlife. The visual style of the gameplay itself, in stark contrast to these videos, mixes hand-drawn 2.5D scenery with mostly faceless 3D enemies.
High-caliber solar children
The setting is rather generic but points to remote and disadvantaged regions in the US. Somewhat dreary, gray, with a supernatural edge here and there. Chief among these is your character’s ability to change the trajectory of the one bullet she is allowed to fire from her sniper rifle per mission, changing direction along the way. How, when and under what conditions is what makes the entire gameplay and therefore experience of ‘Children of the Sun’.
1 bullet, 12 enemies, 0 problem
A level usually starts with you somewhere a safe distance from your future victims. And there you stay. First you walk a bit to the left or right and zoom in with your rifle scope to map as much of the environment and your targets as possible. Once you have chosen your first target, you dock, press and then the camera follows that one bullet that will have to do it all. Once underway, you can adjust the projectile slightly and the game will switch to slow motion. On a hit, the bullet stops and you can direct it to its next target. This continues until every enemy has been eliminated, or until you miss a target. In the latter case you have to start the level again.
Just puzzle
An experienced player can already see the puzzle element in which a chain of hits must be figured out. It is made a little easier by including explosive decor elements or the occasional bird flying over as a target in that chain. At the same time, each level also becomes more difficult when moving, armored or ball-bending elements are introduced.
Good luck…but we can do better!
In theory, almost every level can be completed in less than a minute and often much faster. In practice, this can take many more attempts, experiments and time. If successful you will probably start the next one, but this game will activate a competitive trigger for many players. After all, you will be presented with a score afterwards and you will receive more points for headshots, ‘creative’ kills and the speed with which you clear a level.
Conclusion: 8/10
Apart from the hunt for an increasingly tight high score, ‘Children of the Sun’ is good for an intense half a dozen hours of puzzle shooting. And given the compact levels, also ideal for a short session. The setting is not very uplifting, but the thrill of that very last perforated enemy remains fresh for a long time. The only real downside of this idiosyncratic one-man project is that it is (so far) only available on PC.
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