Biped Rapid Review

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Fast Facts

Title: Biped
Developer: NExT Studios
Publisher: Postmeta Games Limited
Website: https://www.nextstudios.com/biped/index_en.html
Genre: Adventure Puzzle
Platform: PS4
Age Rating: PEGI 3
Release Date: 08/04/2020
Price: £11.99 – Rapid Reviews was very kindly provided with a review code for this title.

NExT Studios brings us Biped, a cute little top-down physics puzzler that can be enjoyed in co-op or solo mode. Take control of Aku and Sila as you try and restore light beacons that have been extinguished across different locations.

The cartoonish art design with its bright colour level design is fitting for the game and makes venturing across different landscapes such as desert and jungle fun and enjoyable. The simple design of our heroes makes them cute enough to help reduce the impact of their lack of character.

The control scheme is Biped’s secret weapon in doing something different. Your little robot friends only have a body and 2 legs. An analogue stick controls each leg, and it takes a little while to get used to. A pretty decent length tutorial takes you through the different movements available. Luckily there is a glide option to speed up traversing some terrains. As you progress through the levels, you do start to get the hang of the movement scheme.

Each level will bring new puzzles that you need to figure out. Balance on one foot to activate a gate or drag a depleted biped to give you extra feet to get a ramp moving. In solo mode, you need to work with AI bipeds to complete some puzzles. Not the easiest thing to do but at least gives solo players an option to play through. Having played through the game in both solo and co-op, it is certainly a different experience for each mode. I had far greater frustrations in solo where some puzzles just didn’t seem to want to work.

Therefore, the game is best enjoyed in co-op mode. It is a shame then that the PS4 version is limited to local co-op with the online co-op currently only on PC. Couch co-op does offer the benefit of clearing communication though and having your partner close enough to nudge if they aren’t helpful enough. Playing in co-op has allowed the developers to create some fine challenging puzzles. As you progress the game with throw new challenges at you, such as connecting you together.

The puzzles themselves are not too challenging, and you will quickly see what you need to do. Bipeds’ control scheme and co-op set up is what makes them difficult. I could certainly see a brother & sister team having a few full outs in this game. Timing of when a player moves and remembering which leg you have down become vital in surviving some puzzles. Biped could undoubtedly be enjoyed by our younger gamers or a parent-child team.

Just as you think you have mastered the left-right shuffle the game comes to an end. With 8 co-op levels to get through, you will have this game done in a few hours. You will need to go through the solo ones if you are looking to 100% the game. There are also 16 bonus challenge levels that you can attempt to put your co-op relationship to the test. 

Biped offers a fun night of couch co-op, and that is where this game should be enjoyed. It is a short experience, but that means it doesn’t overstay its welcome. The game never pushes its control scheme too far that it becomes a forced gimmick. Yes, you could have added more levels and repeated puzzles, but I think Biped hits a good balance. This is defiantly one to keep in the library for a chilled gaming session filled with fun and laughs. Sorry solo players but you are going to need to find someone to play this with to get the best experience.

Rapid Review Rating

You can purchase Biped from the PlayStation Store.