Archive for March 1st, 2010
4 items.
Eskil Steenberg, the ambitiously ambitious independent developer behind LOVE, has announced a March 25th launch date for the online game. The game will be subscription based, available initially on PC only but their are plans for an OSX and Linux version.
LOVE operates at the interesting intersection of several genres. From the descriptions on the site and the available videos it is a procedurally generated word in which you cooperatively build a community that you must defend from five other artificial intelligence driven tribes. So we have elements of MMOs, tower defenders, adventures element, and who knows what else. I am particularly curious to see how the procedurally generated world compares to things like Dwarf Fortress who’s procedural nature has lead to some of the most unique play experiences I’ve ever heard of.
Below is a teaser trailer along with a few screenshots of the game selected out of a much larger set on the official website.
Source: Kotaku
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Some screenshots just went up on the recently launched official The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile website. My favorite is above, but the rest are in the gallery. Be sure and visit their site and check out the HD trailer.
PixelKiller is a challenging little shooter platformer developed by mystery person “buddrick” and is new on Xbox LIVE Indie Games this weekend. You find yourself alone on an alien world, your only possession a gun, oh and when I say the game is challenging, what I really mean is that PixelKiller’s job is to kill you and it really loves its job.
Gameplay
This ones a straight up 2D platformer with a traditional forward shooting mechanic. Within it you will find that there are coins to collect, bad guys to shoot, and turrets that fire projectiles at you that warrant evading. The game breaks no new ground and really doesn’t seem that it had any intention to, which in my opinion is better than breaking no new ground and pretending to.
The coins are scattered throughout the game but seem to serve no real purpose other than to fulfill the hopes and dreams of completionists. They’re often hidden in areas that, to obtain, require you to go through secret walls, some of which you just stumble onto blindly and others you’ll need to do a little hunting for. This secret wall mechanic is used pretty extensively in the game and while it can surprise you when the ground suddenly gives way, you fairly quickly become accustom to the idea of it.
Posing the greatest challenge in the game, the canons operate in three unique ways; some fire simple projectiles in one direction at a regular interval, others will track and fire directly at you, while others yet fire heat seeking missiles that will chase you down until they collide with something or are shot. The canons are all over the place, easily outnumbering the creatures who largely provide limited opposition.
The game is pretty difficult, fortunately the death mechanic isn’t overly punishing with a built in checkpoint system that drops you relatively close to where you just died. This really saves PixelKiller from being an easily written off game as many situations would have constituted jettisoning the control at dangerously high velocity.
Audio Video
WYSIWYG, and the audio is just as simple. PixelKiller picks up no style points. Oh and it’s not full screen, wtf.
Summary
Good little platforming shooter it’s challenging in difficulty but isn’t going to keep you from progressing through the game thanks to its forgiving death mechanics. It is an indie game, and thats an easy cause to get behind, but this one doesn’t offer up anything particularly imaginative visually or mechanically. Fortunately, it clocks in at 80 Microsoft Points and that’s really where it should be. This all said, I can’t put a strong buy recommendation on this game. Fans of the genre will appriciate its gameplay, but there are better options at the one and three dollar price points. However, if you have played all those and are looking for something new, PixelKiller is worth checking out.
Okay, you know who this one is. It’s Scrooge McDuck or, as his grandnephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie refer to him, Uncle Scrooge. This was one of my favorite characters growing up from the show DuckTales, but he has a whole lot more history than that.
While Uncle Scrooge is unlikely to be a character in Epic Mickey, since they are aiming for more obscure long forgotten characters from the depths of Disney’s vault, but I really can’t help but think about the game when I see old characters like this. To be honest I am somewhat concerned about that project. Don’t get me wrong, I really think they have the opportunity to create something so brilliant with those assets, but with it currently relegated to Wii exclusivity and the difficulties 3rd parties face on that system, my concerns are more than likely warranted. Here’s hoping we see it shed that exclusivity before it’s show time.
Late night ramblings aside, this fig was featured in a pre-order roundup on Tomopop and they have a few more items that you may fancy. So go give it a look over.
