Feel like your medulla oblongata’s in need of an overhaul? Is your grey matter about to splatter? If that’s true, you may need a good mental flossing to clear your brain of its accumulated gunk. Yes, you read that right — a mental flossing!
That’s the premise of gamelab’s Out of Your Mind, a frenetic action puzzler that takes a “dental approach” to restoring mental harmony. It’s a wacky and addictive lampoon at spa culture, and a game that’s sure to engage your mind.
Feel like your medulla oblongata’s in need of an overhaul? Is your grey matter about to splatter? If that’s true, you may need a good mental flossing to clear your brain of its accumulated gunk. Yes, you read that right — a mental flossing!
That’s the premise of gamelab’s Out of Your Mind, a frenetic action puzzler that takes a “dental approach” to restoring mental harmony. It’s a wacky and addictive lampoon at spa culture, and a game that’s sure to engage your mind.
Your foray into mental health begins with guest registration at Belinda Blissful’s Blissful Brain Holistic Luxury Spa, a one-stop-shop for neurological wellbeing and a good cerebral cleaning. Across 74 frenzied levels your task, as one of Belinda’s assistants, is to floss your patients’ brains to rid them of all the nasty Nega-Tic creatures clouding their psyches. You know, those little buggers that make us do bad things. That’s right. It’s your job to clear them out — without going “out of your mind” in the process.
But, is everything really as it seems? Or, does your boss, the mystifying Belinda Blissful, have something sinister in store? Well, you’ll have to play Out of Your Mind to find out!
Brain degunking is served up via two game modes: Out of Your Mind and Neverending Nega-Tics, story-based and unending play respectively. Six luxury spa guests provide varied brains to clean. And, a total of 18 species of distressingly adorable Nega-Tics (examined later) keep you frantically flailing that floss.
Mental flossing is quite simple in concept. You’re presented with a cross-sectional view of your client’s noggin that’s filled with Tics and gunk. Simply draw a line of floss from a Tic Trap (a spool of mental floss) to matching-color Nega-Tics, making a loop in the process. As you do, encircle as much brain gunk as possible while making sure there are no Tics or obstacles within your loop. Both the Tics and gunk will be removed. Otherwise, you’ll have to try again.
When you’ve cleared out a client’s gunk, Tics will stop appearing. Remove those that remain to wrap things up. But, you’ll need to act fast as the clock is Tic-ing. Run out of time and the session must be repeated. Moreover, as you advance in your treatments, the number of different color Tics increases, too, escalating the difficulty of clearing a level. Add to this the addition of “mental blocks” (obstructions) and Mega Nega-Tics, that spread additional gunk around, and you’re in for some truly hyper moments.
So, what kind of Tics will you encounter in the course of a spa treatment? Quite a few, actually, so we’ll highlight just a few. Neuro-Tics are basic critters that lurk in the dark recesses of the brain creating negativity and bad vibes. Fran-Tics trigger panic-attacks. They’re the fastest Tics and need to be flossed with haste. Conversely, Caus-Tics are slow, but highly noxious. They create large amounts of gunk when they explode. So, don’t let them linger. Then, there’s the Chao-Tic. This high-speed bugger is hard to catch, running willy-nilly all over the place. Other Nega-Tics include the Masochis-Tic, An-Tic, Eclec-Tic, Spas-Tic, Pessimis-Tic and Erra-Tic.
Three Mega Nega-Tics also make an appearance. The Nihilis-Tic explodes leaving extra gunk behind, the Antagonis-Tic smears added goo wherever it goes and the Apocalyp-Tic blows up and pollutes an extremely large area with the vilest grade of brain slime imaginable.
It’s not simply a matter of lassoing Tics with your mental floss either. Take too long to remove them and you’re in trouble. Eventually, they expand and explode, leaving more gunk to clear — mental goo of the same color. Thus, if a blue Tic detonates, you’ll need to string blue mental floss through other blue Tics and loop them around the gunk in question to remove it. Nasty!
Fortunately, Posi-Tics assist in your efforts. As the name indicates, these Tics have a positive impact, shrinking Nega-Tics in size, freezing them in place or changing them all to the same color. They appear whenever you string together five Tics or more and consist of the Sta-Tic, Diete-Tic, Sympathe-Tic, Therapeu-Tic and Ballis-Tic.
Retro in look and feel, Out of Your Mind is a unique and original game, rather than just another offering in a long line of clones. Design is stellar with clean, attractive graphics and catchy tunes. Difficulty ramps up gradually as you learn the game’s ins and outs, and play is both addictive and challenging.
Accumulated gunk, from a gameplay standpoint, is minimal. Mostly, it’s limited to the game’s harried action that just won’t appeal to those who prefer a more relaxed form of mental gymnastics. So, if you’re frazzled by feverish intensity, look elsewhere. Out of Your Mind will simply disturb you.
Nevertheless, casual gamers with a bent for action-based puzzlers will find Out of Your Mind a refreshing treat. But, it requires a clear mind to clean brains of the neurological goo life throws at us all. If you join the staff of the Blissful Brain Holistic Luxury Spa, keep your mental floss handy. You’ll need it!
