Gift - a tale of an odd gift

Fanart by yours truly.

Gift (known as Gift: Le Cadeau des Étoiles in France, and Gifty: Ein Geschenk des Himmels in Germany) was a result of a collaboration between Cryo Interactive and artist Régis Loisel, and was developed by Eko Systems (now called Eko Software). With its cheeky humour and challenging gameplay, it was aimed at an older demographic. Released in 2000 on PC, and later ported to PS2, it's definitely an odd game, perfectly fitting the theme of this blog. It's hard to find in a search engine due to its name, it's quirky, and has personality. But it also features a pretty solid gaming experience, accompanied by fantastic promo and concept art! But there is actually another secret reason I wanted to write about it. And it's a rather hilariously turbulent personal story, in fact, of experiencing a truly awful GBC port. Feel free to skip the next 2 small-text paragraphs, as they will be mostly my ramblings about the past. They are there to accent the disappointment I felt at that time. Note: since I played those games on original hardware, please excuse the potato quality of all my photos.

Gift: PS2 box, GBC box and the cardridge.

Back then, when Pokemon was a huge hit, and the 2nd gen was at its strongest point, my biggest dream was to get the original Pokemon Silver and be able to trade with friends (well, just one friend... but shhh). You see, Nintendo products in Poland were super expensive. Stuff gets complicated, especially as we approach 2010's, but let's just say this country was never a target market for the big N. :B In the late '90s and early 2000s you either had rich parents, or an uncle working abroad to get this exclusive gaming stuff. I myself got super dumb lucky when I was gifted with GameBoy Color. But, alas, I was left with no games to play, except for Oddworld Adventures 2 which came with the GBC. And bootlegs. 

Because of the economic situation, Poland's Nintendo scene was full of bootlegs and pirated games, which is why my parents eventually got me one of those 99-in-1 cartridges, which included a pirated version of Pokemon GS. Getting this cardridge was a bittersweet experience, but being a child I couldn't complain. I just knew really really wanted to own the real thing, though.

Several months had passed and I think my birthday was coming. My mother saved up some moolah and wanted to buy me a game as a gift. And it was going to be Pokemon Silver. Awwyis! What a [devastating] surprise it was when she gave me Gift (pun not intended) on GameBoy Color, explaining that there was no Pokemon games left in the store. That was truly sad moment, full of broken hopes for a child's heart.

But enough of that melodramatic backstory! My child self had finally got a new game to play, so it wasn't all lost. Or was it? Or maybe my memories are all wrong? Well... it's time to go deeper.

1. Gift on GameBoy Color

At the time, Gift (PS2/PC) was considered a decent, above average 3D adventure/puzzle-platformer game with a high difficulty level, unique visuals & characters, and impressive real time light rendering. I remember reading about it in gaming magazines and I enjoying the 2D artworks the magazines showed. It all felt intriguing. So, how's the GBC version, which was entirely made by Cryo Interactive?

Unsurprisingly, nothing like the original game! Gone are the excellent puzzles, unique enemies and creatures, quite creative level designs, and even the atmosphere. I know, I know, it's a GameBoy port, I shouldn't be too harsh on it! Obviously, I can't expect it to be 1:1 transition. But believe me, this port has much more issues than just being an unfortunate downgrade for an underpowered console. Basically, it's a top-view [Zelda-like] barebones experience, with very obnoxious music, underwhelming appearance, and flawed gameplay... And its short. A child-me beat it in around 3 hours. Sad chimes. My adult self beat it in 2hs and 20 minutes. I suppose I could beat it within 2hs - not speedruning - if I wasn't taking pictures, or had to repeat some levels. Thanks to aforementioned issues, I consider Gift on GBC one of the worst games I've ever played...

Even deeper analysis

After the initial logos, the game greets the player with loud music, and starts with no intro at all, dumping the player at the level selection screen. The plot is handed to the player by the box's blurb and the instruction booklet (I will explain the plot later). There are 7 levels in total, and all of them are [very very roughly] based on what could be seen in the main - original - release: Tipanic, Drakuland, Paztec, Star Stress, Iceland, Mines of Horror, and Alcatraz. The player's progress is saved with passwords. Curiously, the manual itself must have been written earlier than the port was released, as some information and illustrations differ from what can be seen ingame.

I must give credit when the credit's due: Gift's rooms can look pretty!
1. A rare example of shadows being actually used ingame.
2. Look at this floor and at the yellow-blue colour contrast!
3. Love these skulls! Note the "colour blocks", though.

Graphically, I'd say Gift looks alright. It's a GameBoy Color only title, and all the backgrounds are - as expected - quite colourful. While the locations re-use assets heavily, and many rooms look alike, there are indeed some places where Gift looks truly pretty, and few environment elements are charming with their simple execution (eg. the bridge in Mines of Horror comes to my mind).

The game uses a really odd way to colour its world - at least odd to me as I haven't seen any other GBC title doing this yet. There are blocks of colours "projected" onto the neutral pixelart assets. These "colour blocks" look plausible and blend nicely with the pixelart. (If I could compare it to something, it would be colourizing a grayscale painting; in these, the artist lays down values first, and then choose the right hues). However, it often happens the colours "bleed" onto the surrounding assets, with the most clear example of this being the ending screen. You could call it lazy or ingenious. I call it both because looks fast and effective.

More colour bleeding. This monk-looking guy is a gnome, apparently.

So, how's the gameplay? Well, I mentioned it's a barebones top-view Zelda-like game, with 7 dungeons levels, and with the most features from the original release gone or changed drastically. The main hook of the original game - playing with light and shadows - is almost nonexistent and serves no point. The enemy rooster is full of generic (or shapeless) creatures. And most of them act just the same way, with only difference being the amount of hits they require to kill. Only few of them stand out from the crowd. Many (but not all) enemies respawn upon reentering a room.

The real menace of GBC Gift are... the lasers. These are instant death tools, forcing the player to restart a level from the beginning, and a lot of the gameplay revolves around them. Combine that with unfair hitboxes/hit detection, uncontrollable jumping, long and tedious levels, and you get yourself a pretty irritating experience.

Since I'm at it, more about the controls. Jumping in this game is similar to Frogger's jump - it's one directional, and it's always the same length - the player has no control over it. Gift's obstacles aren't evenly spaced, and the little red hero will often get stuck onto something (especially when it involves lasers). The player is forced to vaguely predict where the character will land, and hope for the best. Gift's only attack isn't the most impressive either - he has his magic staff, which does a wide swipe. One would think he should be able to hit anything within the staff's range... but that isn't entirely true - the hero can only take down enemies located, more or less, in front of him. This leads to hilarious (or annoying?) situations where a stuck enemy cannot be killed until the hero moves closer, risking loosing some health. Some enemies even seem to take an advantage of this, and consistently approach just below the effective hit range. By the way, the staff isn't magic at all, sadly. All its additional effects and powers are gone in GBC port.

1. Deadly laser! Whoever designed this room was a sadist.
2. "Platforming" is a bit difficult to perform. In this room, jumping is a puzzle. 

Musically... the game is obnoxiously loud and I can think of only one passable track (the one from Drakuland). Excluding Drakuland, none of the tracks fit thematically with the levels, and they are being reused between them. The music restarts when the player exits the map screen, or collects an important item, which adds to its repetitiveness even more. Sound effects are also lacking... Or rather - they are absent. Gift jumps and attacks in silence, the lasers give no buzz, collapsing walls won't crumble, etc. Some items respond with a sound when they are collected/used - but the effect feels glitchy, muffled by the loud music. The only prominent sound effect, which gives an impression of a police car siren, plays when you hit an enemy.

It's worth to note that I got a graphical glitch on my health bar, causing the empty hearts to seemingly not fill when collecting a heart. It was probably related to the fact I collected a piece of heart (this game's Heart Container) and died, which should probably reset this progress, but it didn't. It went away after a while, though. Not complaining here, just a funny thing to write down if anyone even wants to research this game's bugs further.

Concluding thoughts

After revisiting GBC Gift, I sadly have to admit that my memories were true to the reality. The game is indeed lacklustre, frustrating, and gives no satisfaction when playing. Obviously, it's unfair to compare a GBC release to a PS2 one, and it's likely that Cryo Interactive had its focus on other things than Gift on GBC. Yet, with how the final product plays, I deeply believe that with enough time and money, you could achieve a much more compelling 8-bit experience.

Having this played as a kid, I was both afraid and curious to try the full - original - release on PC/PS2. It felt like a curse. Many years had to pass, until I finally got an opportunity to play this game on PS2, encouraged by my boyfriend who... yes, gifted it to me. With Gift's GBC ghost still haunting me, I didn't know what to expect. The reviews were good, but so was the game?

2. Gift on PS2

While other regions didn't get it, Europe was blessed with Gift on PS2. According to Wikipedia, the PS2 version got some graphical improvements, as well as more rooms to explore over its original PC release. 

So, how is it? I must say the original is really darn good! It's a solid 3D puzzle-focused adventure game, with indeed a high difficulty level, just as described. It can be unforgiving at times, with a lot of backtracking too, yet I enjoyed every inch of Gift. It often forces to think outside the box too, always throwing a surprise here and there. It just keeps you on your toes. There are some commonly overused elsewhere elements (a variation of Simon puzzle for example), however the stuff usually just works well together.

Gift was marketed as a parody game as well (taking references from various sources, such as Indiana Jones, Tomb Rider, Aliens etc), but it's pretty tame in that matter when played in 2020s. It was probably more impressive in 2000s, though! With all that said, I found the game being rather creepy in tone - the dark and claustrophobic corridors, the odd music and sound effects, petrifying creatures, and the feeling of unknown (or instant death) - it all boils down to a bit disturbing experience. Considering the comedic intro, and the cheeky main character, this was unexpected at first. Perfectly odd for my blog😉

Somebody had a vision.
That somebody being R. Loisel and P. Ulrich.

Going deeper, again

I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of PS2-era graphics, yet I would say Gift presents itself very well audio-visually, and its graphics definitely fit the game's atmosphere. I don't have much to add here: the stuff is clear and it's easy to see what happens on the screen. I did experience some FPS drops, though. The music feels a bit repetitive, and it ranges from "good👌" to "eh?🤷". It adds the creepy vibes to the game as well. Probably my biggest pet peeve in Gift's presentation are the lacklustre menu/pause screens. 

Gift starts with a nicely rendered CGI cutscene and it offers 11 levels to choose from, each unlocked one after another. They are thematically ordered (see the 7 worlds mentioned in GBC part), and they suppose to parody the popular media from around the time the game was released. The environments are detailed and unique in each level. Although the static elements lack in interactivity (eg. hitting a metal box won't respond with a sound effect), it didn't bother me much. The gameplay formula is based more or less on "find a solution to get a key, and open a new path to progress". The way the puzzles and level design tie this formula together makes it a surprisingly compelling experience. There are various hidden objects and bonuses to find, inviting you to really explore the worlds, and even bonus mini-challenges to beat, once you manage to access them. It's barely explained what these bonuses do in-game, though - they unlock some useful power-ups in the hubworld. The key to success here is to be really persistent and curious, as Gift is a really cryptic game. (Beware when you unlock the 3D map, though! Using it makes the game vulnerable to crashes for some reason!).

1. Hubworld (all levels unlocked)
2. collecting bonuses and clearing bonus challenges
opens power-up doors in the hubworld.

Controlling the main character feels good! Gift's jump may be a bit stiff at first, but you can get a hang of it (keep in mind that there's fall damage though!). The camera wasn't a big issue for me either, and can be easily centered behind the character. The game also offers static camera angles in certain areas, if the player chooses to use them. The biggest issue I had was grabbing an object - it gets a bit finicky here. Generally, while you can see some lack of polish here and there, you shouldn't have any problems with moving around and experiencing the world freely.

Various enemies await to attack the little devil, and Gift can defend himself by using his staff. And this time the staff can use magic too, granted it's loaded, and the powers are unlocked from power crystals first. Thanks to that our hero can fiddle with light, darkness, ice and fire - one at a time. These powers are elementary to progress through the game, and can help deter or kill enemies. This leaves some room for experimentation and creativity, and to prevent the player from becoming overpowered, green crystals remove any magic from the staff. Light and darkness are often utilized, in combination with the Shadow Gun as well. That's right, with this gun, Gift can shoot at shadows to freeze objects, or even enemies that casted them, for several seconds.

1. It's hard to see on this shot, but Gift can use special platforms to jump across pits.
2. Featuring two different enemies: The Innocent - is a Goodie enemy that won't hurt Gift. The Patroller, guarantees instant kills with his laser vision. There are other enemies sensitive to light or darkness, as well.
3. Shooting view: mini puzzle which teaches the player how cold can affect heated objects.

I should probably talk about the plot finally... Well, it's an European game so it's kinda an odd one, haha! The action takes place in Game Valley - and I think it's an alternative dimension - in which there's a bar/factory producing video games. Apparently, all heroes (game testers) had failed at rescuing Princess Lolita Globo, who is suffering from Snow White delusion - a spell she somehow casted on herself. And it's up to Gift - the red devil-like creature - who is the only one horny enough to risk his life to to find 7 dwarfs and save the princess. Or this is more or less what I gathered from the game's cutscenes, manual, box blurbs, Wikipedia, the animated series description (yes, Gift got an animated series in France in 2005!), and other various more or less official sites. (And if I may add from myself, the ending felt a bit disappointing. Don't get me wrong, it ends alright. Just with all the buildup and crazy intro, I expected to see more of this. I don't want to spoil too much, though.)

Concluding thoughts

And here I am, many years after playing Gift on GBC with its dreaded curse defeated, and finally beating the 3D original! In a way, the 8-bit port is responsible for my discovery of this hidden PS2 gem, which I probably wouldn't play otherwise! And what can I say? With no surprises here, the 3D game is vastly better than its GBC iteration. The hardware does make a difference😉 However, it was definitely an interesting, and learning, experience to compare both, and to realize how the port was crushingly watered down. With all the mechanics and power-ups the original Gift has to offer, the GameBoy game could have had so much potential!

Overall, I can wholeheartedly recommend Gift on PS2 (and I guess PC, too!), if you love challenging gameplay and difficult - even unforgiving - mechanics, and don't mind lack of polish in some parts.

100%-ed! The curse has been lifted!