Harold might be the most difficult-to-define game I have played in a while. If you have ever fantasized about being omniscient and having an unthinkable influence on someone’s life, you may get your wish with Harold. It is a wacky infinite-runner platformer where you try your best to help an awkward athlete to win the race. Developed by Moon Spider Studios, Harold is an indie action game that runs on Microsoft Windows.

Complex Gameplay That Quickly Gets Annoying

The game begins with an introduction that reveals your true identity. You are an angel named Gabe living in the heavenlies looking to get promoted to the position of Arcangel. This position is highly contested, and you are all given specific tasks to qualify. As weird as that sounds, there is nothing religious about the game because this is where the cosmic setting ends. Your job as an angel is to help an athlete win his race. The only problem is that this athlete is kind of a loser who cannot help but get in his way. Although he has an unwavering determination and enduring spirit, he finds himself in ridiculous situations, like getting stuck in frozen dog pee or high-fiving a cactus. One look at Harold, and you know your work is cut out for you. 

The game begins relatively easily but gets increasingly hazardous as you can run into deadly traps. Your job as Angel is not to control Harold but to manipulate environmental objects, mess with competitors, slow them down, and strike your slow-running character with occasional speed boosts. The hardest part of the game is that you have no direct power over him, so clearing out obstacles is the most important aspect of the game. He must proceed in at least third place through all these races and win the final one before qualifying to become an archangel.

Harold is a complex game, and I believe it was intentionally designed. It probably would be a great challenge for hardcore completionists and seasoned speed runners. This is a big probability because the hardest part of Harold is poor control. Your player encounters the expected platforming elements and obstacles, but you can only play the game with an analogue stick. Specific strokes of genius at different points in the game add uniqueness. 

Poor Game Controls Thwart an Otherwise Great Idea

Harold, by design, is the most incompetent runner you have ever seen. He barely looks fit enough to embark on the marathons he takes on, but that is not the only problem. Harold would run straight into other runners and die without intervention. You need to constantly prompt him to take actions like jumping or running faster. As his guardian angel, you get to battle poor game controls in managing his life. Harold would run straight into other runners and die without intervention.

The game requires quick thinking, quicker thumbs, and an opportunistic eye to even manage to keep Harold alive. The tricky part of the game is that you need to manage both Harold and the environment simultaneously. Although each of the twelve games always begins with a tutorial, it does not always save you from the perils of the race itself. There is considerable variation in the hurdles in the environment, which require different applications of the analogue stick. Some platforms can be pushed and pulled, quick flicks, bash barriers with battering rams, and gears that turn with rotation. You also encounter wooden bridges and snare traps, and sometimes they come up simultaneously. You must decide how to use them to propel Harold and hinder other racers.

While rewarding Harold, you can manipulate these objects to disrupt or slow down other players. However, if you get too distracted by sabotage, you lose sight of saving Harold, and he dies. Harold has 3 lives for every race, and he can quickly waste them because there is barely time to recognize what actions need to be taken before you get there. The courses become more difficult and introduce more complex configurations of objects, and you can sometimes pan ahead through a race segment to escape the traps in the course. Again, moving ahead means leaving Harold to his decisions, leaving him vulnerable.

Grab As Many Stars As Possible

After finishing a practice mode and the real game, an even more difficult challenge mode becomes available where you must navigate the course to collect stars while running at top speed. 

Superb Disney Quality Graphics

The graphic style for Harold is as wacky as the gameplay. It follows this cartoonish hand-drawn style that looks like a 90s Disney animation. The graphics pop off the screen and have a pleasing depth to them. Crisp and well-rendered environments make the gameplay interesting. The characters come on with great details, and static backgrounds and other elements in the world come together nicely. You can take a few seconds from the gameplay to appreciate the detail that went into building the world. It is aesthetically pleasing and would have been an ideal child without the difficult gameplay. 

Interesting And Thorough Sound Design

A charming and wonky soundtrack plays as you wade through the difficult racetracks. It keeps you reminded of how out of depths the character is and mirrors his mind frame. It ties seamlessly with the graphics to give an interesting experience.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Harold shines best at the combination of careful gameplay and luck. Your guide to the character should propel him to victory if done well, but the gameplay is so inherently difficult that you lose the moral to embark past the first few levels. This makes Harold a game for the most dedicated and enthusiastic players who love the genre beyond description. Even then, poor controls and input would let such players down.

There are endless renditions of this genre, but Harold manages to create inspired and imaginative mechanics, eye-popping graphics, endless charm, and a steep challenge. This gives it a uniqueness that makes it memorable aside from the difficulty.