Proun Review

Best Game Featuring an Egg Since Dizzy!

Proun is a style of avant-garde art invented by Russian artist El Lissitzky. Ranging from two dimensional media such as paintings to three dimensional installations, Prounen are apparently an “exploration of the visual language of suprematism with spatial elements, utilizing [sic] shifting axes and multiple perspectives; both uncommon ideas in suprematism” according to Wikipedia. Not being very well versed in avant-garde Russian artistic theory I am afraid that sentence goes well over my head, but possessing two eyes I can say that Prounen come across as being a muted collection of different perspectives observing the nature of objects themselves resulting in something that is both totalitarian and welcoming as if acknowledging that while objects may be cold, lifeless and existentially meaningless they are also a physical part of us on a very intimate level.

Now that I’ve managed to disgrace myself to those versed in the visual arts and come across as unbearably pretentious to those who are not let’s talk about the other Proun; the Dutch video game that is the brain child of one Joost van Dongen who developed the game by himself and then on top of that released it a short while ago under a pay what you want scheme.

One may wonder conceptually how a racing game could be married to the concept of Proun, but when one thinks about it it makes perfect sense: given that Prounen are an exploration of objects in space what better way to express them than with movement? Albeit it on a very restricted plane. You see the races function like this: you are a ball stuck to a tube and forming the corners, or obstacles if you would prefer, are abstract geometry. You turn, or spin around the tube, to avoid these obstacles, all the while zipping along the tube at high speeds.

If you hit the obstacles you bounce off and slow down drastically or completely if you get stuck behind them. However on the fastest speed setting (Speed of Light) it can often be better to forget about the breaks and accept that crashing is inevitable and as long as you don’t crash badly enough to stop completely that you’ll probably save more time by being a little reckless. You see the more you turn the slower you go and for every 12 seconds that you can manage of constant acceleration without hitting anything you are rewarded a boost which is admittedly quite useless on Speed of Light as boosting halfway across the track in one second straight into a large obstacle is not advised.

Speed of Light is probably Proun’s crowning achievement: you do not really have enough time to make a correction to any mistake you’ve made in your line; if you stuff up you’re going to crash. It’s as simple as that. You need to learn the track off by heart, knowing exactly when to turn, when to pick up a little more speed on straighter sections of the track and where you should accept a minor crash and where to make sure you take the corners cleanly.

It might be strange to compare an abstract racing game with arcade aesthetics (it’s all about those rankings!) to a simulation racing game, but that was what I was constantly reminded of while playing. Okay, sure the controls are arcadey and without need of the added accuracy of a thumb stick or steering wheel (though you can use a controller if you wish), but there is nothing more important in Proun than learning the track.

Overtaking isn’t important—in fact your opponents do not physically affect you in anyway; you are effectively racing against AI controlled ghosts; or if you would prefer your own ghosts!—and even the boosts that you gain and are placed around the track in some clever spots that send you shooting down straights or straight into a slalom of challenging obstacles have a sim feel: it’s not really like you’re hitting boosts, you’re just heading onto the straight or into the fastest turn of the track.

And honestly if there was a faster speed after Speed of Light it would be close to unplayable. You barely see the track on Speed of Light so one can safely assume that anything faster would be just as easily be played blind than watching the screen and trying to follow the track. Not that I wouldn’t want to try it!

That’s not to say things are much worse off on the slower speeds. In fact apart from forming a perfect learning curve (Fast to Sonic to Supersonic to Speed of light) they each have a distinct feel. Indeed despite there being only five tracks in the game (four if you don’t pay $2 or more) there is a comfortable level of variety because the different speeds almost make each track feel like a new one all over again.

Fast is perfect for a relaxing race during which you can sit back and take in the scenery; well, once you’re used to things at least because the title “Fast” is far from an overstatement. And you will want to take in the scenery. Each of the five tracks have a very distinctive style. The aptly named Composition #1 is the simplest: a collection of black and white dominos, coloured triangles, and black lines form the basis of the track, where as Composition #2 is a more colourful collection of spheres, primary coloured Pac-Men and has a very spacey feel to it. Finally Composition #3 is the most complex of the compositions and is a constant barrage of coloured, jagged obstacles that is perhaps best described by gameplay mechanics rather than aesthetics: it’s composed of slalom after slalom, sharp corners, and boosts through smooth, but quite complex corners and is biggest test of your skills. When it comes to the first three tracks at least!

These three compositions make up the championship which consists of the three compositions in a row. You gain more points the higher you place and if you win enough points then you unlock the next speed and when you have won the supersonic championship you unlock the first Improvisation track. The second you have to buy.

While a big part of Proun is online ranking and you trying to beat your own time the championship forms a separate challenge. On the faster speeds the races can be quite draining, requiring a high level of concentration to do well at all so having to play three in a row is something of an ultimate test. It might not result in your best times, but when you manage to get a perfect score of 30 (you get 10 points for winning each race, and need 21 to win the championship overall) you’ll be one proud prawn indeed. Let’s just say that my fists were well and truly pumped. Be careful as over inflation may result in one’s fists bursting.

The other two tracks, the improvisations, are different kettle of fish entirely, or at least one of them is. Improvisation #1: Dynamism’s obstacles are not static as they are on other tracks, but in fact move, and move quickly if you’re playing on the faster speeds. This changes things quite drastically; no longer is it simply a matter of learning a line across the whole track. Now, you can expect something different at every corner. This does make me feel a little sad that there are only five tracks even though in themselves they are satisfying; there is clearly potential for many more concepts to be explored.

On the bright side already a couple of user made tracks have been released and if Proun garners a cult following which is the very least it deserves then there will surely be plenty more to come, but the flow and aesthetic style of Joost’s tracks really stand out and improvisation #1 is a look at perhaps what could have been if he had had more time and money to try out more things. Improvisation #2: Colourism is a far simpler affair, but it is also one of the tracks with a wonderful flow and utilises aesthetic elements from all 3 compositions.

Backing all of this is a lovely, though small jazz soundtrack that somehow manages to fit the tempo of all speeds perfectly. The Über-chic music is joined by pod racer sound effects that are fitting enough, but personally I found them to take a little away from the music; the Prounen inspired visuals and the jazz mix so well that the perfectly adequate pod racer noises can be a tad distracting, though they do provide some contextual grounding in terms of what is driving the race.

In fact playing the game with only the sound effects on results in a slightly more surreal, and far less organic experience; indeed the feeling of the races can be changed drastically by playing around with which sounds to have on and which off—or all of them off together! I even managed to sneak a little psychedelica from my own collection in and while playing some of the more colourful levels I challenge you not to have acid flashbacks to that lovely weekend where you had experienced synaesthesia in person—either that or when you first played Rez.

Another bit of missed potential that is no doubt a necessity given the nature of the game’s development is that there is no online multiplayer; the leaderboards are the next best thing, but it would have been nice to play against some of the best fluff balls from around the world, or at the very least their ghosts. Of course you can still partake in local multiplayer of up to four people in a variety of controller set ups including multiple people playing on the one device! As awkward as that sounds given Proun’s minimal controls (five buttons in total: accelerate, break, turn left; right, and boost) it actually works—to a certain extent at least anyway.

These missed opportunities only hurt because what is there is so good; would I really be hungry to see more crazy concepts like moving obstacles explored more completely if the rest of the game was not so good? Would I want online racing against people or their ghosts if taking part in the leaderboards itself was not addictive? Probably not.

Proun is a fantastic achievement not just for one person to have developed but a whole team, even if it is small in scope. What is there is wonderful, and just because there is not a great deal of it makes it no worse, especially when it manages to be so satisfying and engaging even after you’ve unlocked all the speeds and tracks. And the fact that it has been released in what could well be the way of the future means you have absolutely nothing to lose by giving it a try, and who knows you may just want to send a healthy cash donation in Joost’s direction when you’ve experienced it for yourself!