A Smartly Scoped Auto-Runner

The Button Affair is a side-scrolling platformer where the player-controlled character, Enzo Gabriel, is constantly running to the right.  As a player, you have limited control over Enzo's positioning on the screen, but you are in control of actions that allow Enzo to overcome the many deadly obstacles that litter his path to freedom.

I generally don't care for auto-runners.  I can't count how many endless runners on iOS I've abandoned.  I played and enjoyed BIT.TRIP Runner, but that enjoyment was fleeting, and I put it down after playing it for less than 90 minutes.  I loved the ways in which the music was so intimately tied to my actions in BIT.TRIP Runner, but the levels quickly became frustratingly hard, and the game lacked any kind of checkpoint system.  When I died, I was forced to play the level from the beginning.  I died often.

To me, The Button Affair is a less interesting game than BIT.TRIP Runner, but unlike BIT.TRIP Runner, The Button Affair did not outstay it's welcome.  The game consists of only three levels, and each level has a generous checkpoint system.  To a certain extent, all auto-runners not utilizing random level generation require some amount of trial and error from the player.  The Button Affair is no different, and I died numerous times before I was familiar enough with the level to progress past it.  When I died however, I was dropped back to the last checkpoint terminal, and was spared the frustration of having to commit the entire level to memory.

The Button Affair does experiment with a few novel features as far as auto-runners go.  First, the player has some amount of control over Enzo's velocity.  Pressing the right arrow speeds Enzo up, pressing the left arrow slows Enzo down, and in certain situations, releasing the right arrow stops Enzo completely.  Second, when Enzo reaches a checkpoint in a level, the player must input a specific pattern of keys to progress.  Neither feature is revolutionary, but they added enough variety to the gameplay to keep me interested through to the end.

Finally, the level of quality this game exhibits for being a free download is impressive.  The art and animation are great, the story is funny and genuinely enjoyable despite being so simple, and the gameplay is smart and expertly tailored.  The only complaint I can leverage against The Button Affair is the completely artificial choice the player is presented with at the game's conclusion.  I was given the choice to either save the girl who had been my partner in the heist or walk away with the jewel I so desperately wanted to steal.  I played this final sequence twice to see the consequences of both actions, and the game very clearly presents one choice as the "correct" choice.  Enzo was a fine protagonist, but as a result of the game being so brief, he was a character who lacked depth.  As a result, I thought it was strange that the developers expected me to know whether Enzo truly desired the girl or the jewel.  On my first playthrough, I got the "bad" ending because my vision of Enzo differed from that of the developers.  I did not like being punished for making the choice I honestly thought Enzo would've made in that situation.

I enjoyed playing The Button Affair, but this experience does not change my opinion of auto-runners.  Had the game been much longer, I believe I would've either grown frustrated, similar to what I experienced when playing BIT.TRIP Runner, or grown bored.  As it exists however, The Button Affair was smartly scoped, fun to play, and did not suffer from any kind of tedium.

Cheers,

Danny

Marcus Review - The Button Affair

First I would like to admit that I was actually a bit surprised by this little game. After first initially watching the game trailer I thought it might have over hyped the game. But once I started playing it did it justice.

Story- The story is entertaining and yet pretty simple. A thief/ladies man tries to steal a ruby called "the button". An through the three levels it shows the capture, escape and payback of the hero. Also at the very end there are two alternate endings. One is happy and the other is bad so choose carefully.

Music- This games music fits perfectly for what they were trying to accomplish. It diffidently gives the vibe of a 70's spy film or the original Oceans Eleven movie or modern version if you are not into films before you were born. Plus the soundtrack is all original and is free for download.

Design/Game play-The design for this game is simple yet satisfying, kinda like its controls. The only keys that are used are the up,down, left and right keys. Use the up key to jump over obstacles and the down to roll under neath.  Now the game itself with is simple controls can be a bit tricky especially at the end of level 2 and level 3 for the most part. There are times were timing is key to make it to the next checkpoint. Though it is not to hard were one would rage quite. But you will die in this game which in itself is not too bad since each death has its own short cut scene which can be entertaining. Which brings back to the art of the game, where all of the characters have no faces but the text bubbles and body langue convey who each person is. Also each level its own set piece with its own challenges.

Overall this game is simple yet quite enjoyable. Though a down/upside is that it is very short(will take 10 minutes at most to beat) but that works in  its favor cause any longer it would be just too repetitive. Though one can not really complain with a free game.

Now Playing The Button Affair

We're playing a freeware title this week!

The Button Affair is a super stylish auto-runner revolving around a thief as he attempts a heist to nab the priceless Button Jewel.

Download the game here.

Cheers,
Danny