From Dust

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Release Date: July 27, 2011
Developers: Ubisoft Montpellier
Publishers: Ubisoft
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network
Genre: God game, Sandbox
Players: Single-player
Rating (ESRB): E10+


Synopsis:

What if you had the powers of a god? The earth would shift at your whim and the seas would tremble at your touch. You could raise mountains, divert rivers, and transform dry deserts into lush forests. From Dust grants you these powers and more, and it's satisfying to wield them as you try to safely usher a small tribe of humans through a perilous world. Yet, for all your world-molding abilities, you are not omnipotent. Like the villagers you shelter, you must contend with the inexorable power of nature. From the subtle influence of gravity and erosion to the devastating forces of volcanoes and tsunamis, nature compels you to adapt to survive. This task can get difficult, especially when touchy controls, finicky pathfinding, and unforeseeable disasters conspire against you. Yet the challenge of being a lesser god is an engaging one, and From Dust makes it even more enticing with appealing visuals and evocative music.

Synopsis Rating: 7.5/10

Story:

In the story you are this mystical white light sort of thing that the people summon up in the start of the story. You suck up land, water, lava and anything else they need and make paths for them to get to their temples and eventually go into this big temple and crawl through caves into another land. You can suck up dirt and put it down over water for them to get across or even suck up lava and make a rock path. You'll en up going through alot of challenges and puzzles. A few times I couldn't figure out what to do and got frustrated and would take a break from the game for a while and come back and beat the level 1st try. You protect your people from volcanoes and tsunamis. When you help the people connect with a temple wild life will start growing from it and spread across deserts and turn them into forests where eventually these huge worm animals will start living. Through the story you help the people go through many challenges that get increasingly more difficult and time consuming. I still really enjoyed how it made you think about what you need to do in order to keep your people alive.

Story Rating 8/10

Gameplay:

The game play is fun even when your doing work protecting your people. Blocking sources of water and creating huge deserts or the opposite and turning a desert into a vast ocean is very fun to watch. When doing missions you have to be fast and dealing with sand and water can be a hassle as it deteriorates easily but you should get used to handling it. The gameplay was fun and new to me and I really enjoyed it. I've never heard a complaint about it from people I've referred it to so far. The in game music is very entertaining also, I think you'll enjoy it.

Gameplay Rating: 9.2/10

Graphics:

The graphics are awesome, I love how all the elements look in this game, They did a great job with erosion, deterioration and how water acts in the game. The lava looks almost real and the plants look spectacular. When I watched the trailer for this game before it came out the graphics were what bought me right away. They are the best I've seen in a Xbox arcade game so far. Sucking up sand or whatever element your sucking up to put somewhere else looks realistic and fun to watch.

Examples:


Graphics Rating: 10/10

Controls:

The controls are easy to pick up on and get used to. I was playing like a From Dust veteran my 3rd land. It's easy to suck up land or water and put it down somewhere else. The camera angles are easy to maneuver and perfect for the game and its type. You need to be quick on the buttons though when your people are going by waters, Barriers guarding them from the water or lava can easily break causing your people to be swept, burnt or killed away very easily and you only have a certain amount of your people so you can't waste them. So you need to be able to quickly suck up dirt or already have it ready to lay down to protect them.

Controls Rating: 9/10

Awards and Nominations

1UP - Best Strategy Game - Nominated
1UP - Best Downloadable Game - Nominated
GamePro - Best Puzzle Game - Nominated
GameRant - Best Original Game - Nominated
Game Critics Awards - Best Original Game - Nominated
Game Critics Awards - Best Downloadable Game - Nominated
Game Critics Awards - Best Strategy Game - Nominated
GameRant - Best of the Show - Nominated
XBLA Fans - Best Geology Lesson - Won
GameSpy - Best Downloadable Game - Nominated
Machinima - Best Strategy Game - Won
Shortlist - Best Puzzle Game - Nominated

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Rating: 9.5/10 (Very fun game with alost everything perfect except levels getting to frustrating to play sometimes)