***Today we are going to take a look at Ministry of Broadcast. This self-described narrative driven cinematic platformer promises gameplay similar to the old school classic Prince of Persia (the one from 1989) with a strange sense of humor and an awesome story. Whether it can deliver on these promises is the question we will try to answer today. Ministry of Broadcast is available on Steam for 12 Euros and 49 Cents.***
***With this review you have a choice of either reading it here in text form or listening to the video review. They both contain the same content.***
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#### <center>[Buy the game on Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/874040/Ministry_of_Broadcast/)</center>
# Video Review
<center>https://youtu.be/90UB2YkiHEg</center>
# Text Review
Ministry of Broadcast. Isn't that on itself a name you just want to figure out more about? Especially if you ever read 1984 by George Orwell? It certainly was a name that enticed me to go, buy, play, and make a review of it.
### Gameplay
As we do always – we will start the review by looking at the gameplay.
Ministry of Broadcast presents itself as a platformer that was inspired by old-school classics like the original Prince of Persia. And I gotta say – that is quite the apt comparison. This is certainly not a modern platformer as those focus on either extremely fast platforming or on extremely precise platforming or even a combination of both. The way I would categorize Ministry of Broadcast is more of a puzzle platformer. Most of the time it is not about quickly passing an area – though there are a few moments when speed is of the essence – it is about figuring out how to even pass the area.
https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/874040/ss_a373e0a8d5e7486654c4e36e5aa25ddcb0f6c9a6.1920x1080.jpg?t=1581629067
The thing that surprised me probably the most about the gameplay once I figured out that this was mostly a puzzle platformer is the fact that the game just isn't really hard. By which I mean the puzzles arent hard. The game has amazing contextual clues to help you figure out what you need to do – you just need to watch the environment around the area that you are trying to pass through. And Ministry of Broadcast is not a hard game it also isn't easy at the same time. You will die plenty but I will say, the amount of “quick-saves” the game offers is truly incredible. Never have I felt that the game overly punished me for dying. It just put me at the start of the small puzzle section I was trying to solve. Great work by the devs when creating checkpoints.
Otherwise, there really isn't much to the gameplay of Ministry of Broadcast. Combat really isn't much of an option (except for one section where you can suddenly shoot guards using a finger-gun) so it is all about the puzzles and a bit of platforming.
### Story
Man… that was a short gameplay section compared to what we usually have. But that is because the gameplay just isn't that complex. What is complex on the other hand is the story.
Inspired by classics like 1984 by George Orwell and likely even other dystopian novels as Brave New World, 451 Degree Fahrenheit, The Raven, or even the Czech dystopian play Memorandum by Václav Havel the story itself does take a place in a dystopian universe where the world is separated by The Wall. To get to the other side of the wall you have to participate and win in a reality TV show produced by the in-universe Ministry of Broadcast.
https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/874040/ss_929bfa34f115edc7c09beea3ea50265cee9a0e99.1920x1080.jpg?t=1581629067
So that is exactly what you as your character do – participate in the show. You do not get that much information about the goals of the individual “episodes” or anything like that. It's mostly all about being extremely surreal and often even breaking the fourth wall. Tons of jokes – most of them being very dark, sometimes even bordering on morbid are placed everywhere so be sure to prepare yourself for those.
The story was definitely the best thing about Ministry of Broadcast but it is really hard to talk about it more without doing any big spoilers. I guess I should lastly mention that I did love the way the story was presented in combination through the gameplay and through in-game dialogues.
### Graphics
Okay, now – the graphics. And here I have nothing but praise. Just great pixel art all over the place. The stuff that is stylized fits a dystopian universe very well and the stuff that needs to seem “realistic” looks as realistic as it can in a pixel art style. But mostly, just look at the video and you will see how great the game looks.
https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/874040/ss_231ce07132d956a2071af357b546d7bf4286cbfa.1920x1080.jpg?t=1581629067
### Music
One more thing that serves to build a dystopian atmosphere in Ministry of Broadcast is the music. The music fulfills its job well enough but at the same time, this isn't much I would consider to be better than the average. It just doesn't really stand out in any capacity – sadly.
### Performance
And lastly, before we finish with a conclusion – the performance. Here I have no issues. The game worked flawlessly, no crashes, no bugs… just no problems. Ideal situation.
https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/874040/ss_cc10ca9e882ef06a858006f4d49b3a185ab8622c.1920x1080.jpg?t=1581629067
### Conclusion
So… in conclusion: Ministry of Broadcast is a highly interesting game for anyone who likes old-school games, dystopian settings and loves black humor. It is not a game I would recommend to everyone but for those who check at least one of the three boxes, I would recommend it. Though if you check only one of the boxes it might be worth it to wait for the game to go on sale. But if you do like two or even all three of the criteria the game succeeds in then this is a game you will have lots of fun with.
So, that’s it for today guys. Hope you like the review and if you did, please consider upvoting the review and following my blog. And comment, if you have something you would like to add. See you guys later with more gaming content.
*Disclaimer: All the images have been taken directly from the Steam game page*