Not every indie game is a unique snowflake of game design. Many developers choose to take the safe route and create casual games similar to what’s already on the market. Devilish Games is obviously not interested in following the crowd, and its new platform action game, Sonoro TV, really shows this independent attitude.

The story of Sonoro TV is just as colorful and whimsical as the game itself: Two winsome youngsters, Jin and Nina, have been selected to take part in a reality show called “Sonoro TV” in which they must defeat the villainous DJ Sonoro in a series of game levels. You take control of either of the two characters, Jin or Nina (and it doesn’t seem to make any difference), and you must save the music from DJ Sonoro in each platform-based level.

When we say “save the music,” we really mean it. In the world of Sonoro TV, music is made by little cartoonish creatures who are “living music samples.” And DJ Sonoro wants to capture them. While they’re onscreen, each one contributes to the particular musical theme of that level. When one of them leaves the level or is captured by DJ Sonoro, that part of the music stops playing. It doesn’t add any complexity to the gameplay itself, but it’s a great touch when it comes to the aesthetics of the game.

Like the ancient and classic game Lemmings, which it resembles in several ways, Sonoro TV is all about guiding your charges (the music samples) in a death march through a dangerous series of platform levels. The music samples aren’t too bright, and will constantly wander off into trouble without you to help them. You use the arrow keys to move your character around across platforms, jumping over walls and so forth. At the same time, you have a limited supply of spray paint, which in this world, can create solid structures to walk or jump upon. Simply point your mouse at an area near your character and left-click to apply paint, and right-click to erase paint, putting it back into your limited supply. You can either use your mouse to click upon the different colors in your palette or you can use hotkeys to select colors. It’s not a chore to play in this fashion but it takes a lot of getting used to.

There are six different colors of paint, each with its own special properties, like making characters bounce into the air, sticking them in place, and so on. With the right combination of paints, you can control where the music samples can go on the screen, and hopefully you’ll be able to lead them to the exit. But you have to cunningly move your character into position all over the level to apply the paint in the right place. Fall off a platform and you won’t be able to draw an escape route for the music samples.

As for the opposition, DJ Sonoro doesn’t chase after you, but he’s there on the ground below, shooting records to erase your paint blots at every opportunity, hoping to make the music samples plunge into his grasp – lose half of the music samples and you lose the level. You really have to move quickly whenever he’s got you in the line of fire, which is almost all the time. At least he doesn’t have the ability to harm you directly. All in all, the game contains 30 levels of platform-hopping insanity, and some levels can take a lot of patience and planning to get through.

The look and sound of this game are really striking. The music is an upbeat and slightly mad mix of techno beats, while the cartoon characters are starkly contrasted against gorgeous backdrops of abstract art photography. The droplets of spray paint also “drip” after being applied, and this has no gameplay effect, although it adds to the unique look of the game. The overall game really has a delightful sense of design despite all these disparate elements, and you can be sure it’s one game that you won’t ever forget playing.

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(2 votes, average: 3 out of 5)

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