Unlike a book or movie, video games have the unique ability to place the gamer into an interactive universe vastly different from the norm. From the farthest reaches of outer space, to the crushing depths of the ocean floor, nothing is off-limits for developers. Characters, languages, histories and religions are all discovered and realized through the inputs of a controller. Sometimes, the player even gets to try on the skin of a new species.
I recently got to take on the role of a mother sea creature in Into the Belly of the Beast. I was with her as she watched her babies being eaten by a giant sea beast. The mother then swims into the mouth of the monstrosity in order to free her babies from certain death. The mother then finds herself in the beast’s heart, and that is where I took over.
Controlling the mother creature was quite standard for a 2D, underwater game. I interacted with the left joystick to move the mother around the full 2D plane, unencumbered by trivial things such as gravity. My main mission was to destroy the other tiny monsters that resided inside of the huge monster’s organs in order to find and rescue my children. I did this by entering portals in the valves of the heart. Each valve lead to an organ, and each portal lead to a room that had to be cleared of smaller monsters.
The puzzle and gimmick portion came into play while trying to clear the rooms. Some required me to place a rock on top of a spawning point in order to stop small monsters from continuing their assault. Other times I had to attack the monsters myself with my jaws, and eventually with blasts and projectiles. Killing the smaller monsters released tiny, colored, orb-like bugs into the water. When consumed, these small orbs caused my character to alter her DNA to align with either the green or the purple monsters.
Aligning with one side meant that monsters of that DNA color would no longer target me and would begin defending me against monsters of the other color. Each color also gave a super-powered benefit as well. The green DNA allowed me to use a speed burst while the purple DNA allowed me to put up a defensive shield.
Overall, I found these mechanics very easy to figure out and I was easily able to implement them. Consuming the orbs, attacking monsters and solving puzzles all worked very well and gave me very little cause for concern over the first two organs. It wasn’t until the third organ that the difficulty began to really spike and it caused me to reevaluate how to attack the levels in order to progress. The quick rise in difficulty was a little jarring and definitely unexpected. Steady pacing and a regular incline of difficulty are sometimes forgotten in games that lack a story like Into the Belly of the Beast. I would have preferred if the difficulty had risen steadily throughout the median levels in order to prepare me for the third organ.
I would like to point out that this game runs quite well. During my time playing Into the Belly of the Beast for this review, I experienced no input lag, frame rate drops or crashes. The performance stayed top notch at a locked frame rate. Controlling my character was smooth as silk, and I felt all actions I intended to happen were reproduced on the screen.
The levels were beautifully crafted using vibrant, opposing colors that really made the environments pop. There were a few cases where enemies blended in with foreground flora, but not by using camouflage. It was more about some specific areas just having too much on the screen at one time that hid the enemies from view. A reoccurring theme was being hit by something that I could not see, only to move a few paces forward and catch a glimpse of a bad guy from a new angle. It was slightly frustrating, but in no way game breaking.
Into the Belly of the Beast has a long run time. After about six hours of play, I was only just beginning the third organ. I am not sure exactly how many levels there are in total, but I could see the valve to at least one more organ still locked and waiting for my progression. It was nice to play a 2D game with both substance and length.
Summary
I found Into the Belly of the Beast to be quite an enjoyable experience on Xbox One. The first sign was the surreal, underwater environments that make up the inside of the titular beast’s body. This was followed by the engaging music and sound design, the stellar performance and the overall length and variety of gameplay. I believe Into the Belly of the Beast is a great offering for fans of the 2D, action and adventure genre.
Joshua was a regular ICXM contributor between 2016–2017, publishing 42 articles across game reviews, and Xbox news. Their work focused on hands-on reviews, platform commentary, and breaking-news reporting during the Xbox One X launch year and Microsoft’s wider Play Anywhere / UWP gaming initiative.