The old "navigate through a maze" concept enjoys a small rebirth in the form of Overhead Persistence, a gorgeous Flash game by Acrid Rose. Guide the cursor through each level avoiding the walls and any other obstacles in the way. One mis-step and you have to start all over. Normally a game like this wouldn't be anything special, but Overhead Persistence provides a great audio and visual package along with a level editor and other extras to make a worthwhile experience.
There are two major modes in the game: persistence and existence. The former requires patience, a stubborn resolve, and chamomile tea to prevent your nervous system from frying itself. The levels are long and often tense, and one mistake sends you back to the beginning. Existence is much more casually-oriented and features shorter levels and less-stressful gameplay.
Another nice touch in the game is the ability to view background artwork and play any stage at your whim. It takes some of the pressure of completion away and allows you to experience more of the game.
Overhead Persistence is actually part of a series of "overhead" games with a similar "don't touch the walls" design. Each one has a unique theme, though Persistence is the most polished and complete of the lot.
Analysis: Overhead Persistence is just like any old maze game on the surface, but the beautiful visuals and soundtrack make it special. The creative maze elements (such as moving doors and swinging objects) make it exciting and challenging. The parallax backgrounds are a nice touch and add a lot of depth to an otherwise flat game. It's the same old mechanic at its core, but with so many bonuses it's hard to overlook.
Cheers to Tim for sending this one in!
The sound when you hit the border
is ... AUCH
agh, I didn't think that the trees and flowers counted as part of the borders.
Are you sure this isn't a trick? When I'm concentrating really hard will the screen change to a scary picture and make a screaming sound?
What annoys me most about games like this is the turnaround time. Alright, I get it, I hit the wall. Just please don't make me wait five seconds before making me click start before I can try again.
Solved the existence campaign. Very neat - not nearly as frustrating as the patience one - except the last level. Unlock new cursors, etc when finished.
Daunting... Never bothered to try finishing the first level. Then again, the title IS Persistence. And persistence is a quality that I am repeatedly told I lack.
this game is really spectacularly well done. i just hate this genre so much that i can't bring myself to play it.
cool game,
ive got far and accidently clicked the mouse button and had to start over!!
[just my luck]
Okay, am I the first person to notice the glitch? You know.. the one.. where you can go to the finish... easily... like... cheating. Hahaha. Seriously, has anyone else found this out? I'll tell it in request. I made it to the end with this.. and that yellow bastard got the best of me. I just quit.
from the little i've played of this so far, this game is spectacular! i'll try to remember to comment on this more later, but for now... who else started this game, watched the theme song, and immediately thought, "katamari damacy?"
Haha! Yes! That's exactly what I thought.. And even a little Loco Roco.
I found the biggest cheat of all. It help me breeze through most levels with very few exceptions. Only look if you are frustrated and just want to get to the end.
Use the scroll wheel to jump walls. After experimenting a little you should figure out how to work it.
Or when you are just starting, when you press start, before the screen shows up, then just move your mouse to the place on the map you wanna be. I did notice something odd tho, when I got to the final boss, and I rolled over the yellow spikey ball to open up the gate-thing, and got to the other side. Then the gray box just kept repeating it's motion, even though I was on the other side...hard to explain.
Bah!
okay, i finally beat both worlds... first off, in the persistence mode, i loved all of the music. i read the story/description going into level 10, and heard the music, and cracked up laughing. sadly, there wasn't much to "figure out" in any of this game, for me at least... the only part that took some doing was how to beat the final level. most of the color "puzzles" were really self explanatory.
as for the existence mode... was it really necessary to do a total 180^ to the atmosphere made by the persistence mode? they just went from happy and cheerful, almost comedic, and went to the dark and creepy side. i'm sure you could have had all of the exact same challenges in existence mode, but without the change of mood.
i was going to mention something else, but i can't remember what it was... i think it has something to do with how much i liked the music in the persistence mode and intros. but hey, been there, done that.
Some may find these games challenging, I find them tedious. Also, I suspect the pure-black level (existence level 4) is only possible on an LCD monitor. I see no difference between (what I expect is) 100% black vs 99% black on a 5-year old CRT monitor.
eh guys, The cheats you few came up with are essentially what I figured out, however, it is much easier.
If you move through a barrier in the fastest motion possible, you can exit the whole course, move straight to the end, and once you are ready, make the same motion into the place holding the end of the course, and rest on the circle. It is incredibly easy. Just make sure you are out of the barrier itself in less than .5 seconds literally.
Also the reason that the act of clicking sends you to the beginning is so people can't cheat using the right click feature to move the position of the curser. I'm not sure if you already figured that out.
Wonderful graphics, creative use of music, easy-to-understand gameplay, fun... overall great quality
The only thing I didn't like was the long title sequence or the noise that it makes when you fail. I felt like whimpering a little and hiding in a corner every time I heard it.
I didn't get much enjoyment out of the game. I've tried to play it in both IE and Firfox and neither worked. Once I'd pressed start I could only get the mouse to move so far. Seems like I'm the only one to experience this. Oh well.
@Ben, clicking a start button is essential for these games. As you need to reposition the mouse cursor after every level start.
I don't like this kind of games too much. You invest plenty of time and patience and then a small speck of dust on your table ruins 10 minutes of nerve-wrecking gameplay
That said, this game deffinitely is seeping with style. Persistence campaign is just plain too frustrating for my taste, but the existence is just right - perhaps even too easy. Apart from level 6 of course which I'm fairly sure has a bug, but which is solvable by abusing the start button trick.
All in all a fine, but ultimately a bit too frustrating. I'd like to see this kind of attention to graphics, sound and style applied to a more relaxing type of game.
Oh, and I hated how the game constantly refers to "obstacles" as "puzzles".
Then again, I'm not a native english speaker, so perhaps it's just me having trouble with the language barrier. Well, never mind, I'm off to solve some rather tough puzzles in the second level of Super Mario Bros 3. Cheers!
Didn't really like the music, the scrolling map was kinda confusing, and most annoyingly, there was no way to change the quality! It lagged really slowly and I couldn't change the quality to help.
@Evilwumpus
There is actually a way to change the quality, on the start screen (not menu screen) in the upper right corner there are two large buttons, I think they say "H" and "L" for high and low, respectively.
They don't highlight when you select them, but you should notice the slight visual change.
This game is really good, although it is hard. After losing quite a few times, you don't want to play it anymore.... for a few minutes. Then play again.
By the way, what is the name of the music that plays on the first level? I've heard it before, and I can't remember where it is from. Is it from a TV show?
It doesn't help that the music is pretty awesome and just makes me wanna dance all happy-gogo like... It makes it much harder to hold still and concentrate. LoL. Great game, though. =]
The intro is *way* too long. By the time the game actually started, I didn't care anymore.
Didn't make it through the first level, don't care to do so.
Everyone does realize that you can skip the intro very easily? If you look closely you can see an arrow in the top left hand corner which you can click to bypass the intro altogether. It's the same button used to skip the smaller intros in the game.
I admit that I didn't see that for a long time. He should have put a button clearly marked "skip".
Hm, the presentation was actually a big turn-off for me, with the opening logo animations and music taking a long while to load even on a fast connection. I don't want to see "Persistance" flash about to the music, I want to play the game.
I finished the game on the site before.
Red=lifts, Blue=passage, Green=wheel, Purple=twizzlers, Light blue=snow, Pink=road, Brown=storm cloud, and Bright Yellow=Laser Cannon (boss)
Oh, and the song for Normal and Fall (levels 1 to 5) appeared on the Spongebob Squarepants episode "My Pretty Seahorse.
-The fact that you know that creeps me out, AJ. Thanks for the cursors, though.
-I really think that it is a greatly-designed game, but I do have a complaint- The teeny-tiny, virtually useless level designer!
-I want to be able to import pictures, be able to actually /draw/ courses with cursors that have changable sizes, put in moving objects, have draggable straight-line making thingies (Like in Line rider,) then give it a name and a code, so I can force other people to play them.
-To play someone else's, you would either put in the code for instant play, or search the name/catagory of the custom piece. You could see rather the imported picture (if there is one) has been approved, see what other people have rated it on difficulty/quality, and try to get the top score in time trials. GAH! -MANAX
THE BEST MUSIC I HAVE EVER HERD!!! I Put this game on standby just to listen to the music.
SPONGEBOB!!!
If this is polished, watch out for Overhead: Consistence!
Type this into cheat box.
liquid-Turns your cursor to a liquid blob!
laser-Turns your cursor into lasers!
hardmode-Add more obstacles on Persistence!
original-Turns your cursor to the original arrowhead, with a twist!
mario-Turns your cursor to the italian plumber!
funky-Turns the background to a groooovy one!
I'm playing Existence, on the last level. How do I defeat the "boss"?
The boss on Existence is the King Wall Ball.
To deafeat him, you need to lure him, then escape. Keep on doing this until he tires up (the stamina bar is called "health bar" for some reason.) and EXPLODES!
King Wall Ball is the 2nd boss on the original Existence with 77 levels, 5 lives and passwords! Existence was the previous Overhead. Before that was World, and before that was the first Acrid Rose overhead, Armaggedon.
Great, great game! Looking forward to Consistence (and acrid rose's 'Tuwoir' game)
I couldn't get past the last level and I stopped trying after like 30 min or something because of the music
LOVED IT!
Consistence is out. I'm playing it right now.
Please feature it on your site!
MANAX, those were not cursors, they're obstacles. Or as the game calls them "puzzles".
Yeah, Consistence is EVEN BETTER! Feature it :D
Link is now dead :/
This from the author's website:
"Hold the phone! I'm back! I'm doing my best to sort out all issues, and am hoping for a relaunch shortly!"
"I have three games in production! Hold tight!"
Also, the music in the Winter levels (6 and 7) is Sleigh Ride, a Christmas song.
COME ON IT'S LOVELY WEATHER FOR A SLEIGH RIDE TOGETHER WITH YOU!
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