GamesRelay

Name: BRAINPIPE: A Plunge to Unhumanity

Without a doubt, BRAINPIPE: A Plunge to Unhumanity is one of the most bizarre games that's ever been created, the only way to describe it is that it must be like going a blood cell going through the brain of Hunter S. Thompson collecting what remains of his sanity. The game has you transcending your human consciousness, we're not really sure how all that works, but apparently we can find out if we play the game, so that's what we did...

You take control of what looks to the be the inside of the Millennium Falcon (but probably isn't – More likely an eye) and you fly down what can only be described as a psychedelic worm hole to collect glyphs which will allow you to expand your mind, you've to do this while avoiding the nasty things in there as well which take many forms, from floating eyeballs to electrical type fences.

You accrue a score as you go, it gets higher the further into the mind you get but this score is depleted as you hit the nasty objects, which are indicated by part of your display flashing red as they fly through you. Hitting a score of zero will end the game but you can start your game from the last level you unlocked should you so desire. Every so often Glyphs will appear that need to be collected, pick up enough of these and you move to the next level which brings with it a faster speed challenge.

Control is either with the D-Pad or the analogue stick, the analogue can be a bit twitchy when used so our advice is stick to the D-Pad, just simple up / down / left and right movement is required to avoid the objects. The speed can be slowed down by pressing the X button so you never really feel as though you're not in control should you reach any tricky sections to traverse.

The graphics are well presented for what they are, the colours are bright and vivid as you would expect from a game described as psychedelic, it's somehow reminiscent of the opening credits to Doctor Who. The eye, or object you control, is represented with a wire frame graphic which isn't that detailed but then again it doesn't need to be.

The music and sound effects are probably the most standout feature of the game, the music fits perfectly and adds to the whole ethereal experience of the game, it's very uplifting in parts and very sombre in others. The sound effects are well produced with the objects that approach you getting louder as they come into range and then disappearing as you make your way past them.

Overall it's hard to recommend this game even at the low price, I don't think it's one that's going to find itself played very often or if at all, some will no doubt find novelty value in it somewhere. But it's simple gameplay and psychedelic graphics could be too little and too much for some.