Biped is the surprising new release from NEXT Studios that has quickly taken over the various PS4 consoles in my house. Whether holed-up in the basement game room playing single-player or teamed up with another family member playing the fantastic co-op mode, my family cannot get enough of the challenging physics-based puzzles in Biped.
Biped’s visual aesthetic is the draw that first grabs ahold of bystanders’ attention – it is just so darn charming to look at. Blending the futuristic robot character design reminiscent of Astro Bot Rescue Mission with level designs that tip hats to the classic Nintendo platformers, one simply cannot look at Biped in action and not smile. But don’t let Biped’s cute presentation fool you as it is easily one of the most innovative and the most challenging platformers to hit the consoles in a long time.
Biped tells the story of two bipedal robots, Aku and Sila, who have been sent to Earth to activate a series of beacons to keep the planet from going dark. For those who don’t know, Bipedal by definition means that the robots walk on two feet – which considering the name of the game is Biped should come as no surprise that this bipedal walking plays a big part in this game. The big hook to Biped’s gameplay is that while Aku and Sila each have two legs, neither has any arms – so all actions must be performed only using their characters’ legs, which are mapped to the controller’s analog sticks.
With this unique control scheme, gamers will need to become accustomed to controlling even the simplest of movements using a rhythmic alternating and precise placement of the analog sticks. It is a bit disorienting at first – I cannot count how many times I realized my robot had been walking backward for most of the level – but once you get the hang of it, it all becomes second nature.
Biped is touted as a physics-based puzzler, and I admit I really didn’t understand why they had decided upon this description as I worked my way through the first training level. Everything up until that point seemed pretty much standard platformer fare – move from point A to point B, smashing boxes and collecting coins and stars along the way. It wasn’t until the second or third level when Biped introduced the first true physic-based puzzles that I realized what that all meant.
I believe in this case it was a large rotating cylinder that my character needed to cross along its length. It seemed simple enough: just lean into the direction of the spin, maintain the centerline and make it across. Then I realized that my robot’s feet were affecting the spin, slowing it down ever so slightly until suddenly it was at a stop – now my robot was over the centerline, his weight now rotating the cylinder in the opposite direction and just like that he plummeted off the edge. It was at that moment that I realized that all the handholding thus far was just to get me accustomed to the controls, and that Biped was preparing to throw some serious challenges my way. And it does. Throughout the course of the game, players will be tasked with any or all combinations of team-based balancing, color-coded path tracking, trapeze-like rope swinging, and even rafting down a raging river. It’s all as challenging as it is rewarding.
As I mentioned earlier, Biped offers both single-player and local co-op play modes. While the two modes use the same basic level design, the challenges are tailored to each of the modes making their individual experiences very much independent and unique. I had completed half of the levels in single-player, when my son asked to join. We stared a new game in co-op, and I was shocked to see entirely new team-based challenges appear where other challenges existed under the single-player mode. It was like a whole new – and frankly even better – game.
Biped is a relatively short game; all 8 levels can be completed in about 4 or 5 hours. However, considering that Biped’s experience is so different between the single-player and co-op modes, the game is well worth the $15 price of admission.
Give Biped a chance – I think you’ll like it. 
