Within a Deep Forest is an excellent platform style windows game. The gameplay is a little different from most games, here you control a bouncing ball throughout the adventure. The F1 switches from a window to full screen. Arrow keys move right and left (and up and down in wind columns), while the s or shift makes the ball bounce higher and the a reduces the bounce.
You control a blue ball at the start of the game, but by the end there are 10 different balls to choose from. Each ball has different properties that are strengths and weaknesses in different situations. This creates many of the puzzle elements you will find in the game. Properties such as bounce height, how they are affected by wind and lasers, and how heavy they are will determine whuch ball is appropriate at each point in the game. Sometimes the choice is obvious, sometimes it is not.
There is more to the puzzle solving than just which ball to choose and it is sometimes not clear which area to attack next. So always look at all of your options when you get stuck... there will be some way to move on, you may just have to finish some other area first. This game also has the action/timing element so common to (and sometimes frustrating in) platform games. In this case your ball can fall into lava or hit spikes and die, or just have trouble landing on a thin area without bouncing right back down to where you started. The difficulty factor can certainly cause it to border on frustrating at times, but with a little patience and practice you will succeed and feel a well desevered sense of accomplishment.
The graphics and sound are extremely well done. From the sounds the balls make when bouncing to the music that plays in the background, all are top rate. There is also a story in which you are saving the world. But what makes this game great is the diversity of puzzles, mix of puzzles and action and simplicity of gameplay along with the good graphics and sound. All elements fit well together to make Within a Deep Forest a fun game to play.
Reviewed by TheTopPop