We live in an era where modern videogames often resemble moving paintings — each frame contains a unique mise-en-scene, which is directed by the player. If 140 was a painting, it would be a simple minimalistic painting. Audiences would ask questions, such as, “how can something so simple be considered art?” and, “why does this picture make me want to smash the canvas into tiny little pieces?”
Although 140’s level design is simple in its aesthetic — filled with squares, circles, triangles and other geometric shapes — it is far from simple in terms of its level design. Straight away the most important rule is taught to you the hard way: do not touch the static! This can be a very difficult task considering that springs, anti-gravity, and disappearing platforms are all trying to be the cause of your demise.
When first playing 140, you can be forgiven for mistaking it to be a simple 2D platformer. However, once you persevere through the initial level, you’ll see that 140 is much, much more. The game rapidly evolves into a rhythm game; you’ll have to move in (sometimes frame-perfect) time to its high-octane soundtrack.
As you begin to learn the basics of jumping (and not jumping) to the beat, the level will visually and aurally adapt. New obstacles and mechanics come into play, creating an intuitive level that guides the player. These same obstacles are then immediately subverted in an attempt to throw the player off balance; such obstacles force you to jump off-beat and reverse patterns that you have already memorized.
Instinctive movement is an imperative element of 140 because there is a complete absence of instructions explaining what to do, or where to go. In fact, there is no text in the game at all — not even a title screen. This became extremely problematic for me. When I was near the end of the second level — after dying over and over again — I decided to pause the game in order to take notes. Then something terrible happened… the game simply exited to the desktop. No pause menu; no “are you sure you want to quit?” screen; no saved checkpoints. Although it can be noted that this adds to the overall philosophy of the game, it only seems to function as a way to discourage the player from continuing.
Despite the fact that the game doesn't save your progress mid-level, the checkpoints throughout the game tend to be fairly reliable and allow a safe buffer zone to repeat obstacles when you die — which you will be doing again and again.
The bosses in particular can be incredibly frustrating, with each one introducing a new theme and new mechanics. These bosses are all rhythm based but will require you to do more than simply listen out for the beat.
After you finish the main game, an ironman/mirror mode of all 3 levels will open up. If you die in one of these levels, you will be warped directly back to the start. This is a mode that offers a great amount of replay value, and is for the hardcore gamer that really wants to test their skill.
On the surface, 140 appears to be a blatantly simplistic videogame. Look closer, and you will notice a level excellence that is absent from a lot of modern videogames. In an age where games are so obtusely complicated and grandiose, it can be extremely refreshing when a game like 140 comes along.