The latest title from publisher Adult Swim Games is Small Radios Big Televisions. While the name may seem like utter nonsense, the actual premise is actually really rad. Players explore different factories searching for cassette tapes that don’t contain Billy Idol records (although that would probably be even more cool), but entire virtual worlds.
As someone who thoroughly enjoyed exploring trippy worlds in Proteus and Hohokum, it seemed like Small Radios Big Televisions would be right up my alley. After all, I’m always down for something experimental and fresh in a medium that can feel like it’s treading water at times. Sadly, developer Fire Face Corporation have wrapped a cool idea in a tedious, boring package.
The gameplay in Small Radios Big Televisions is best described as an adventure game, albeit a rather poorly made one. I used the analog stick to click on objects in the environments, which are all various factories, such as doors and switches. That sounds fine, but for whatever reason the developer has the world move with the analog stick, so you’re basically moving a cursor against a constantly moving environment. I got used to it after a few minutes, but it underlines the game’s entire problem: it’d rather prioritize a cool graphical effect over the game playing well.
At first it seemed like I was walking around randomly in these rather dull settings, but then I found my first cassette tape. I was excited, as surely t...