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Against the day or against daylight. That’s the English translation for Contre Jour, pardon
my butchering of such a beautiful language. It’s also a photography technique in which
the camera is pointed at a source of light, creating a high-contrast image in which the
subject appears as a dark silhouette.
Pair those meanings with gorgeous artwork and music inspired by a French novella, and
you get another meaning for Contre Jour...that being one of the coolest iPhone games to date.
Created by a small independent developer called Mokus and brought to the App Store by Chillingo,
Contre Jour is one of the most intoxicating video games I’ve ever played. And I don’t
just mean “on a phone.” I mean on any system. This is as complete and beautiful
an aesthetic experience as I’ve ever seen in a game, the kind of release that really
tests the durability of the old argument, “video games can’t be art.”
Contre Jour uses the very camera technique eluded to by its title. Its graphics are absolutely
striking in the way they contrast the backgrounds. We’ve seen this before in games, but it’s
rare to see it paired with such an elegant flair. Elaborating on the same Edward Scissorhands
meets Fisher Price look that defines games like World of Goo, Contre Jour has a hypnotic
style you just can’t look away from.
Of course, much of its almost magnetic allure comes from its sound. The music is comprised
almost solely of piano melodies, each piece providing a gorgeous, often solemn, always
emotive soundtrack to the stunning pieces of art you happen to be playing through. Contre
Jour is one of those rare games that has the complete package artistically, and if only
for that, it’s well worth the experience.
But obviously, this is also a game. In addition to graphics and sound, a third pillar is required
within the art of video games—that being interaction. And that’s where Contre Jour
makes it leap from good to great, because for all its artistic magnificence, this is
also a fantastic puzzle game.
Initially, the concept is very familiar. You have to collect as many light orbs as you
can before entering the end-of-level portal. Again, this is something we’ve seen before.
The difference is in the process. Since your character is immobile, Contre Jour forces
you to manipulate its environment. You can shape the very ground beneath what would be
its feet like Play-Doh, pulling and prying the Earth to create ramps, drops and even
bridges with which your rolling protagonist can gather that which it desires.
Like any great puzzle game, the idea is simple, but it’s been implemented into some truly
ingenious level designs. For all its video game DNA, Contre Jour is simply the most beautiful
and inexplicably emotional physics test you’ve ever taken.
Currently, the game has 80 levels across four unique worlds with more promised to come.
The real challenge is to collect all three light orbs in each level, but given how challenging
simply reaching the goal can be, the pursuit of perfection in this game is almost maddening.
But fortunately, it’s also one of the most beautiful pursuits you can make. Contre Jour
stands out not only because of its beauty, not only because it’s on a cell phone...but
because it proves that in an industry obsessed with big budgets and bloated stories, the
smallest games can still make the biggest impression.