Recent reviews by Kraig Walker

To the untrained eye, the sheer minimalism and bold colours in 140 communicate an idea of simplicity and frugalism. A simple indie game for simple indie people.

This couldn't be further from the truth...

I've just spent an hour getting passed what I thought to be the "last" level. Turns out, I'm only half way there. But my first playthrough was an enriching experience. The feedback loop the player recieves in the form of a changing soundtrack serves as an indicator of progression, and encourages you to keep going. This background mechanism combined with levels that layer on their complexity with each checkpoint the player completes, demonstrates a subtle mastery of game design and player psycology. 140 could have gone down the route of asking the player to hunt down the next check point, hiding them in places that require a good quarter of an hour to forage for - or a couple of minutes looking at youtube videos - but teh developer's focus on "here and now" gameplay, where reflexes matter more than cunning, make the game instantly accessible and addictive.

140 is neither music game nor platformer: it surfs a gorgeous in-between. It doesn't require an instantanious on-tap supply of rythmic ability like titles such as Bit Trip: Beat or guitar hero. Essentially: you can play 140, and everyone will find it wonderfully challenging and fulfilling.

The game has a great premise: A trucking simulator with a Rock 'n Roll edge to it. Unlike Euro Truck Simulator, there is visible, physics based damage. Driving into traffic will result in the cops being called, guns drawn. The game's story mode however is archaic. The spoken dialogue slightly differs from what appears in the forced-on closed captions.

There's blatant sexual tokenization of women as well from the outset with your "footloose and fancy-free" secretary - your character even asks "is she married?"

From playing it on Windows 8.1, the mouse cursor doesn't move with where your mouse is on screen, which led to half an hour trying to visualize where to hover my mouse to program my non-existent game controller settings.

The game needs an update to fix this rather dire issue.

This game probably actually has a lot to offer, but it's not aged gracefully in both on a cultural, and technical level.

What was once a mod is now a triple-A Indie. Go get it.