Game Reviews

Size Does Matter

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Size Does Matter

Every now and then, you load up a game and instantly know you're in good hands.

You can quickly see that the team responsible not only 'gets it', having devised something pretty special, but has also executed their superb ideas nearly flawlessly. Size DOES Matter is one of these rare gems.

A fast-paced music-based action game with looks that evoke a heady blend of Lumines, Super Hexagon, and the original Tron movie, Size DOES Matter is a neon-tinged block-tastic vector-art beauty that offers an audiovisual experience that is as elegant as the game's concept.

Neon artsy

Your task is to guide a moveable and resizable block through a series of gates, each placed to reflect the music track associated with the level. You use simple swipe controls to snap your block into position and shrink or grow it as needed.

Pass a gate with your block correctly positioned and sized and you'll increase your multiplier. Failing to pass the gate perfectly sees you lose one of three strikes granted at the start of each level, whilst crashing into a wall also resets your multiplier.

Complete a full playthrough of the level's song with any of your three strikes intact and you begin the next sequence - the exact same song repeats, but with a far more tricky arrangement of gates. Lose all three strikes and your run finishes once the music ends.

With 14 levels on offer, and each track offering multiple sequences, there's a lot of game here for the asking price of 99p / 99c and, so long as you can access the zen-like level of concentration the game calls for, there's a lot of fun to be had - but there's the rub.

Cruel ain't cool

Size DOES Matter demands utter perfection and, unless you're playing in an environment with literally zero distractions, your chances of scoring enough points to challenge the leaderboards (let alone unlock later songs) are pretty slim.

Make a single mistake on any level and it's incredibly easy to lose all three strikes within seconds, your flustered swipes effectively forcing you to restart the level.

With later sequences introducing gates that slot in vertically, repeated practice becomes unfairly essential.

Adding to these high and unforgiving stakes is the slightly awkward placement of visual feedback which, whilst looking genuinely fantastic, frequently obscures your view as it busily pops all over the screen.

Mercifully, this can be switched off via a quick poke around the settings menu.

Gate expectations

However, despite all this, once you have mastered a track, the feeling you get after delivering a flawless performance is hard to beat - a genuinely compelling carrot dangling from a stick covered in bloody spikes and barbed wire, if you will.

Indeed, since gate placement remains the same on each playthrough, such mastery is possible and immensely satisfying, but each track's later sequences can only be accessed by playing the sequences that precede it, becoming an annoying hurdle should you want to practice a particular part that repeatedly trips you up.

Size DOES Matter is a few updates short of possible perfection. Immensely playable, its simple concept is delivered almost flawlessly.

If you can handle the steep challenge and remain calm under significant pressure, you'll find a game that's easy to love, but utterly fiendish to truly master.

Size Does Matter

Elegant and challenging in equal measure, Size DOES Matter offers a gorgeous audiovisual experience that's great fun, but will challenge your patience just as much as your reflexes
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Giles Armstrong
Giles Armstrong
Having worked in the games industry since 2007, Giles knows a thing or two about how good video games are made, why bad games happen, and that great games matter. A Game & Narrative Designer by day, story-based games are quite literally his bread and butter.