Small Radios Big Televisions

Despite its brisk pace and sparse storytelling, Small Radios Big Televisions manages to feel like a complete handcrafted package. The game shines when you’re weaving between corridors and virtual worlds hunting for keys to a mystery among forgotten places and glitchy spaces. Like any great mixtape, Small Radios is packed with moments worth remembering, even if feels like it should be just one song longer.

Everybody's gone to some kind of rapture in Small Radios Big Televisions. It's a rapture devoid of physical labor or mental exertion, but one of technological transcendence. It's a game of sensible puzzles, though a few still stumped me. It's a game owning its simple art style, but assembles itself in broad strokes with bold geometry. And it's a game of meditative musicality, though willing to occasionally strip down my senses or hit rewind on my complacent ears. Small Radios Big Televisions is short, but it takes you deeper, once you stop working so hard for it.

It's hard to understand what goes on in some indie game developers' heads. Small Radios Big Televisions is a psychedelic journey where you uncover cassette tapes and solve puzzles so hit "play" and let's see what it's all about.

Despite this review's subheading, Small Radios Big Televisions is not a VR game – at least, not in regular terms. Indeed, it's your in-game self that dons a headset in Adult Swim's exploration puzzler as you make your way through the empty halls of abandoned facilities. Quite why this is the case is very much a mystery, and while the story is rather thin on the ground, part of the game's pull is its intriguing premise.

Small Radios Big Televisions has trippy visuals and an interesting premise but fails to accomplish anything meaningful as an interactive experience. Add that to its ephemeral nature, and it's unfortunate just how forgettable this adventure can be.

In summary, Small Radios Big Televisions is a game that I wanted to enjoy, yet the entertainment never materialised. For every instance of elation, there are three, if not more, occurrences of frustration, annoyance and downright anger. Whilst the story may indeed be interesting, the fact that it is difficult to experience as a whole means that I cannot recommend the game on this merit alone. This is especially true when gameplay is as vexing and as unenjoyable as it is here. I hate to use the phrase, but Small Radios Big Televisions is the embodiment of style over substance, providing a beaut...

The game leans heavily on its visuals and sound but can't sell its simplistic gameplay.

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