Proun

There’s a fine line between art, concept and racing games. In this case, that tendon holding it all together is a rail on which Proun is built. By rolling a ball down a 360 degrees tube, players must gain as much speed as possible whilst avoiding bright, linear objects.

Swirl on down to the world of Proun. Not to be mistaken with Prawn.

Taking notes from modern art, such as Picasso’s cubism, the art style in Proun is beautiful, with its use of simple, strong colors and smooth, linear shapes. Less is more and thus with a limited scope, the race can still seem grand by changing heavily obstructed sections by long, dropping chasms.  The perspective can sometimes be troublesome to adjust to in the 360 degrees view though. When the heat is on and precision is key, having that split second of doubt what object lies ahead can be decisive between a win and a loss. Luckily, there are also some slight aides, such as huge structures covered in lines to help locate the direction of the track. The presentation gets completed with the same upbeat, jazzy tunes recognizable from another Dutch game called Greed Corp. Those Dutch sure like their jazz.

Multiplayer action in Proun.

But perhaps the best part about the simple display is how effective it transitions into racing. By using a rail for races and combining it with simplicity, the focus can remain on the track and the flow. Additionally, slight blurring and lighting effects amplify the sense of speed, beyond its original state, which results in a fluid surge of motion unlike any traditional racer. This might perhaps be the best thing about this small game. Because, while Proun only contains 5 tracks in total, the 4 difficulties that ramp up speed will require quite some exercise to conquer. At first, races are just fast, but once Supersonic mode is unlocked, each stage will become absurdly speedy. This is sort of like the WipeOut series, where speed levels can go up to ridiculous heights.

But that is also a slight problem; it’s just too fast. Due to the extreme amount of precision needed and low amount of tracks, it will quickly become too much to handle. One little slip up is enough to lose and most tracks have some very precise cutting sections in them. Secondly, but this might not occur to everyone, there is a chance that the speed in combination with rotating on an axis might cause some motion sickness. There are no mulligans either, so a bad run can kill your chance at the championship title. If anything, this game will test your reflexes to the degree only Japanese space shooters can, but practice makes perfect. And once the five tracks hold no more secrets, the game states that tracks can be built or downloaded from the mod community.

Proun is a race game, unlike any other. Its ability to turn less material into more unique content is astounding. This proves that games don’t have to be big to be impressive or worth playing. There is no shame in using a few basics and executing them so well, that the small scope turns out larger than life. And while its required precision can become inflexible, its vision of plain but effective art makes the bumps in the road more than worthwhile.

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Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed. (@Daavpuke)