Membrane is an unusual platform puzzle game, where your controls are jump, shoot blocks, and shoot triangles. You can use the blocks, which stick together, to build bridges, act as conduit between electrical pads, become walls, barriers, ladders and so on. The triangles “break” these blocks and revert them to non-sticky blocks that you can collect back up – useful, since you’ve a limited amount.
The plot, such that it is, is you’re a sort of synapse in a body. A message from the eye, which has seen a fly land on you, along each level through the chest, arm and to the hand which you ultimately trigger to swat it. Of course, this has little relevance to the actual gameplay aside from body goo which appears in some levels.
Although it’s a pretty short game, Membrane is pretty taxing, especially if you’re aiming to collect the two orange ball things in each level. Invariably they’re placed in such a way as to vastly complicate the solution, or are dangerously close to a hazard. I haven’t managed to obtain all of them, but I’m just over 90% there. It seems they’re unnecessary to complete the game but I suspect there’s a different ending or some sort of bonus for nabbing the lot.
Speaking of bonuses, there are a couple of extra game modes. One requires you to set up a sort of slingshot with which to launch a ball as far as possible, and the other is a target practice type game where you have to carefully plan your shot rebounds in order to hit an increasingly hard to reach object.
Membrane is cheap, interesting, varied and different enough to most other games to definitely warrant a purchase. I certainly enjoyed it, but perhaps a few more levels would have been nice.