All night shopping was something of a muted revolution when it debuted in these parts. Few people discovered the delights of wandering into their local supermarket at 2am, and even fewer decided to make their regular supermarket visits late-night affairs. But then, if it hadn't been such a muted revolution, the specific benefits that I find so appealing would never have arisen.

Imagine wandering the aisles of your local store when all is quiet and subdued, only a few silent staff attending to shelves and stock, or more likely stood around chatting quietly to each other about last night's episode of their favourite soap. Finding another customer roaming the store at this time feels almost like finding a unicorn grazing in your back garden and sharing a knowing glance with it, as if to say "Yes, this is the best thing ever". An entire shopping expedition can be undertaken while avoiding the usual crowds, congested aisles, and senseless trolley rage that would accompany such a task during the daytime. It's like having your own personal supermarket, except that you don't get to set the prices yourself.

Yet, something feels lacking in the midst of this retail revolution. I can go to my supermarket, sure, but what if I need more than mere food, drink and miscellaneous consumables? What if I had the desperate urge to buy a cut-price sofa at 2am? Or what if I urgently needed to purchase Scandanavian-style shelving before the sun rose? Well, in the real world, there is no answer to these uncatered needs, but in the gaming world IBUSoft is coming to the rescue with their latest release, a survival-horror puzzle-based adventure through the sprawling corridors of Ikoa.

Ikoa: The New Thing In Homeware Shopping

Ikoa is a 24-hour homewares superstore. Everything anyone could ever need to furnish their home, from flowerpots to free-standing shelving units, can be found within its maze-like interior. But Ikoa had to make some compromises in order to create such a wonder of the homeware retailing world. To pay their staff enough salary to entice them into the late night shifts required of them, the management had to choose very cheap land on which to build their store.

It transpires during the opening sequence that the only area large enough that fell into their price range was the site of an old, rickety mansion, falling apart at the seams. Local folklore told that evil spirits and other such unsavoury surpernatural forces haunted the building and its grounds but, of course, the management of Ikoa ignored all such warnings as superstitious nonsense and demolished the mansion to make way for their new store. But the evil spirits were very real, and as their dark and gloomy home was ruined around them, they hid in the earth and the foundations of the new building that was built around them, plotting their terrible revenge.

Cut to six months later, after the completion of the store, a few days after the grand opening of the new Ikoa store, complete with brass band and ribbon-cutting. Local newcomer Vincent Vestry, the hero of our story, visits Ikoa for the first time. Having recently moved into the area, he needs to furnish his new home, and Ikoa seems to be the perfect place to fulfil his furnishing needs. After working very late one evening, he drives past the store and decides to take advantage of its always-open policy. But as he enters through the large automatically sliding glass doors, Vincent has no idea of the nightmare he is about to encounter.

Shopping for Shelving: The Ikoa Way

Ikoa is played from a third person perspective, as Vincent wanders the store with his trolley, followed by an 'on-rails' camera. The camera can sometimes cause problems as Vincent tries to interact in some way with an object at the edge of its field of vision, with it steadfastly refusing to move to a better perspective, but for the most part it offers little trouble.

The first part of the game follows Vincent as he ventures around the aisles of Ikoa, picking up some items for his house. First a few pot plants, some wall-mounted shelves, a bedside lamp, and so on. This first part of the game enables the player to become acquainted with the basic controls of the game. The layout of the store is truly maze-like, but for now the corridors and such remain open and clear, so progress to any part of the store is relatively simple. However, this will not remain the case for long.

At the end of the 'tutorial' period of the game, the final item Vincent has to collect is a medium-length lamp stand. This becomes Vincent's armament for the rest of the game, as when it is collected, a thunderous rumble echoes through the store, toppling displays and bringing shelves crashing down, causing them to spill their contents across the aisles. Some of the lights flicker and die out, casting the environment into a much darker, more atmospheric tone, perfect for the survival horror aspect of the game, which is about to become apparent.

Black, smoky figures rise from the floor and surround Vincent, the ghostly apparitions that have risen again to take over the store and make it their new home, and the lone store patron has no option but to fight. He grasps the newly collected lamp stand with both hands and begins to swing it around threateningly, signalling the beginning of the combat tutorial.

No Fighting in the Aisles!

Combat in the game is fairly basic; one button on the joypad controls all the offensive moves, which basically consist of a number of threatening looking swings of Vincent's lamp stand. It won't win any awards for its complexity, but the game does not focus on combat so specifically, and uses the intermittent fights more as a break to the puzzle solving than as a focal element of the gameplay.

The combat tutorial completed, Vincent grabs the nearest armour he can find, which happens to be a metallic lampshade, sets it on his head, and heads off into the darkened homewares store, dragging his trolley behind him. Vincent is a determined man, and refuses to leave the store without the products he visited for in the first place. The aim of the game thus becomes one simple task: Escape Ikoa with Vincent's shopping trolley intact!

Of course, this task is by no means simple. It seems that the spooky goings on in Ikoa have not only toppled shelves, blocking some routes and opening others. Whole new areas are opened up that could not have been there before, and strange gothic architecture begins to take over the shelf lined aisles. Something greater is at work here, and if Vincent is to escape with his shopping, it seems he will have to face whatever is behind the spooky changes.

For Justice, and Shopping!

To progress through the homewares store, Vincent must complete a series of puzzles, ranging in complexity from simple switch-activating fare, to the much more complex arrays of dials, bridges, switches, ropes, and pulleys that are faced later on in the game. Some of these would be even easier, if not for the fact that Vincent insists on taking his trolley with him. Sometimes he must part with it briefly to complete a puzzle, but he must always return to push it ever onwards through the store.

The combat system reappears at random intervals, when the shadowy figures Vincent fought in his first battle return to try and steal his shopping. They must think, if it's worth dragging through the store, it must be important enough that he can't be allowed to leave with it. In any case, they will try to fight Vincent back, while others run away with the trolley and try to take it through a dark portal, presumably back to their masters. Should they succeed in spiriting the trolley away, it results in a 'game over' and forces a restart from the last save point, which take the form of restrooms dotted around the store.

Cash, Cheque, or Credit Card?

Should Vincent make it to the exit of the store with his trolley intact, the game reaches its weakest point - the ending. Normally I would not comment on this, but in this case, given the quality that the game oozes, I feel compelled to mention that after ten to twelve hours of hard spent effort, the ending merely consists of (spoiler alert!) Vincent driving off into the sunset with his shopping (end spoiler alert). It is, all in all, a disappointing end, and one that does not quite feel worth the time, skill, and emotion that will have been invested in the game by that point. Obviously the creators are hoping that the experience of playing the game will sate potential players enough that the weak ending is overlooked.

All things considered, Ikoa is a spectacular looking game, dripping quality and polish from every pore, and filled with gameplay moments that will make even the most seasoned gamer shed a tear or two. A must buy, but don't expect too much from the ending.

Back to Games Reviews