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I have played quite a few puzzle, action and platform games over the years. However, Noclip´s fast-paced action/puzzle platformer “Standby” is something out of the ordinary with no doubt (there are some racing-like elements to the game as well). Well, for starter, the lightning-paced minimalistic design works like a charm in the world of Standby. In the matter of fact, I actually got quite a few adrenaline kicks thanks to the visuals and the soundtrack of the game (which is the same kind of kicks that I get from playing games such as “Project Brutality” or “Gran Turismo 7“).

Standby is not the game for you if you´re a slow thinker and suffer from sloppy reflexes.

So, what about the plot of the game then? Well, this is pretty much the whole background story for the game:

“STANDBY tells the story of a small-time hustler who dives into a whole life challenge inviting to break through the world gone corrupted. Slide your way through the spacetime with teleports, use the entourage to outsmart the broken security mechanisms, blast the obstacles away with a gun and remember that it’s all about an escape from the decadent, cruel but visually stunning darkish neon lit world!”

Think what you want about Standby, but the game´s soundtrack is really, really good. Well, at least, in my opinion.

So Standby has the kind of plot that you find in old games from the 80s and 90s. In other words, the plot works, but it´s all about the gameplay really, and Standy does indeed deliver a truly rock solid and enjoyable gameplay experience. I mean, even though your just supposed to catch every single rhomb that comes in your way (a rhomb some kind of an orb-like object), and make it through each stage as fast as possible (without dying in the process). You still have a blast while doing so, despite the really simple basics of the game.

That´s no joking matter, because every move that you make does indeed count (for good or bad).

A fair warning though, Standby may be an easy game to learn, but it´s rather hard to master. So if you suffer from anger management problems, think slow or have half-broken reflexes. Then you´re probably not going to enjoy Standby all that much. You see. Every single move that you make counts (it´s no gimmick, because that´s really how it is), so you really have to pay close attention to your environment and make correct decisions on the fly. Trust me, I know. Because I had to learn that the hard way, thus the reason why I died quite a few times while I recorded my Standby gameplay video (you will find that video further down the page).

The speedrun mode offers a real challenge with no doubt.

I would also like to point out that Standby is far from flawless, because in the alpha version of the game. I caught a pretty bad headache due to all the blinking lights throughout the demo (if you suffer from epilepsy, avoid playing Standby!). Furthermore, some parts of the demo was rather frustrating thanks to the somewhat stiff controls (keyboard, in this case). You see. Timing is the key to success in Standby. So if you make one single bad move, then you´re done for (you also have to start over from the very beginning each time you die).

Nevertheless, I still had a really good time with Standby. So I´m looking forward to playing the full version (which will offer 54 levels in total) sometime during the first quarter of next year.

Pros:
+ Nice graphics
+ Fun to play
+ Awesome soundtrack
+ Easy to learn but hard to master
+ Global leaderboard and the SpeedRun Mode

Cons:
– All the blinking lights gave me a headache
– You will lose your temper
– Death will laugh at you over and over again
– The controls are rather stiff at times