"I am Bread" Review

Sometimes you come across a game, and the title alone piques your curiosity. Typically, these games were founded on a great idea that never fully materialized, so you can understand my reservation when I get handed a game called “I am Bread.” Apparently the developer, Bossa, put together an epic story of bread’s journey to become toast. Now, let me be honest here, when I think of spending my hard earned money on video games, one of the last thing I think about is the struggle bread goes through to become toast. It just doesn't seem like a solid premise, so needless to say I was skeptical.

The idea is simple: you control a piece of bread by manipulating and gripping the world around you. You are in search of a heat source, not always a toaster, to toast yourself with. You must maintain your "bread-like" integrity and edibility. If you touch the ground, flip on an old bandage, or your bread sticks to the ants running around on the counter, you becomes less appetizing and risk failing the level all together.

It’s rage inducing and extremely challenging at first. The controls are unorthodox, but once you master the nuances you start to feel like you are in full control of the bread. You find yourself starting a lawn mower to travel across a garage, or revving a chainsaw to toss yourself across the map. You will find that knocking a bowling ball off a shelf will break the television below causing it to overheat so you can toast yourself. You begin to look at the world in a different ways. Something as simple as a hair dryers or electronic devices have potential to make your journey to “toasthood” complete.

 I found myself enjoying the challenge of the game, and laughing out loud at the story as it narrates Mr. Murrdock’s slow decent into insanity as he blames the bread for all the wrong in his life. There is a palpable payoff to “I am Bread”; after you are exhausted, frustrated, mesmerized and you feel a sense of accomplishment as you are perfectly toasted, and the meaning of life is fulfilled.

The Good

·         Challenging physics based game

·         Fosters a rewarding feeling of accomplishment

·         Multiple routes and ways to execute any given room/level

·         A minimalist story line that works perfectly

·         Options to use Xbox Controller or Keyboard

·         Other game modes beyond the story mode

The Bad

·         The camera mechanics can be an issue at times

·         The physics at times where glitchy and cause many frustrating restarts

·         Not enough levels in the story mode and I found the other game modes boring in comparison

·         I wish the story had voice acting to make it feel more alive

Opportunity

·         More levels in the story mode

4.5/5 "Good Ol' fashion gaming glory" 

Thanks to Bossa Studios for providing a code for review.