Proun, is the product of one man’s weekends over the course of six years of development time. Fast-paced and fun, this game definitely could be the best indie game for some. The game is a racing game, where your goal is to race a ball across a track which is actually a tube, as you rotate around the tube to dodge obstacles and maintain your speed. What makes this any different from any racing game?
But what makes Proun special, is its absolutely magnificent art style, with vibrant shapes and colors flying past you as you recklessly speed on. The art style is truly beautiful and is a major selling point. Large flowing linear shapes, with smooth and defined edges, borrow something from Picasso’s cubism and shows that less really can be more. The grandeur of it all and how small you feel on the track really shows how well put to use the art style is.
The simplicity of this indie game puts an extreme focus on flow and speed, making sure that you are going as fast as possible, at all times. Turning your ball slows you down, so you want to turn as little as possible while dodging the abstract landscape The music on the other hand is enjoyable at first, but sometimes the music really doesn’t fit with what is going on, and feels very out of place.
At first look, the 5 levels that come with what could be the best indie game seem like very little, but the 4 difficulty levels, going all the way up to Speed of Light, really shows that it doesn’t matter. At the highest difficulty level, there is only one way to describe this game: Brutal. It’s just too darn hard, the precision and reflexes required at that speed are ridiculous, and if you make 1 mistake, such as holding down the left key for an instant too long, then you can pretty much wave first place goodbye.
At higher levels, the gameplay is reduced to going through each level multiple times to merely learn the track, before you can think of completing a full race. Since the number of levels is limited, somehow it doesn’t become repetitive as you expect, you actually start to memorize the track over time and play it akin to a StarCraft build order.
Proun has great gameplay, a racing game like no other provides an experience like no other. But the content is limited, although it is sold under a pay-what-you-want system, except, unlike the Humble Bundles you can actually choose to pay nothing. Great visuals and a decent soundtrack make this an excellent game to play on a rainy day.
Conclusion: Proun is a very visually appealing game that can be brutal at times, but the small selection of levels is limiting, but the game is free anyway.