Chopsticks Posted August 22, 2007 Share Posted August 22, 2007 This was released onto XBLA today, it's a trippy shooter with a kind of Tempest look about it, but entirely different gameplay. Fantastic light show and gorgeous music, but underneath the chilled out hippy exterior is a seriously hardcore shooter. By none other than Jeff Minter, of Llamatron fame, all those years ago on the C64. The demo is pretty extensive, the full game is only 400 points, I'm loving it to pieces. At the very least I commend the demo to you, but make sure you play the tutorial first, or you'll become very confused, very quickly. Some videos of the game in action - here - http://llamasoft.co.uk/blog/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ai_Droid Posted August 22, 2007 Share Posted August 22, 2007 Finally! A minter game on a platform we can actually play! No more of this nuon bullshit! Woohoo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slim Posted August 22, 2007 Share Posted August 22, 2007 Loving it, having your high score too Choppo, you're the highest on my friends list! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slim Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Wahay, beat you chopley, and for a bit I was 100th in the world! I've knocked up a quick review: http://www.electricdeath.com/blog/1171 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopsticks Posted August 23, 2007 Author Share Posted August 23, 2007 Some amusing thoughts on the game from dear old Stuart Campbell over at the WoS forums: But as the game gets harder, it's like being a heroin addict - it gets tougher and tougher to get that fix again, and eventually you're out mugging toddlers for their sweetie money and sticking dirty hypodermic needles in your cock. --------------------------- Well, I had another go and bumped my high score up to 33m or so, but I'm still losing 90% of my lives to stuff I didn't see, and it just wears you down after a bit, especially since it takes nine fucking button presses to restart if you get yourself killed two seconds into a level. Christ, even Burnout 3 has a zippier interface. Diagonal firing (which I've now spotted) is just a colossal misjudgement. It goes contrary to the entire point of Tempestish games - what's the point of all the webs being constructed of channels if you and the enemies can just ignore them? The thing about the game is that when it works - when you've got a web where you can see the enemies, that isn't full of near-indestructible shit (like the flowers you can sit stationary right on top of, firing constantly, without even shrinking them a bit), and in which it's possible to actually employ some conscious strategy rather than just zooming around and hoping for the best - it's absolutely amazing. The sense of reward when you pull off a massive bull run in a maelstrom of pyrotechnics through application of deliberate skill is huge, and that's what tempts you to keep playing through the next 10 miserable minutes of being killed over and over again by stuff you never saw. But as the game gets harder, it's like being a heroin addict - it gets tougher and tougher to get that fix again, and eventually you're out mugging toddlers for their sweetie money and sticking dirty hypodermic needles in your cock. It's also prone to incredibly disjointed play, because of the way the "start bonus" works. If you reach a new level with fewer than three lives, your chances of coming out of it with more than that are pretty tiny, and diminish with each further level. Which means that if you battle through the starting level and lose just one life, then heroically claw your way through the next five stages without ever making it back to three lives, when you finally die all your hard work is effectively worthless, because you've still got to go all the way back to that starting level again if you want to score anything. As a reward mechanic that's just stupendously bad. A far better idea would have been if you started on (say) level 20 with a 10m bonus and got to level 25 without earning a new start point, you could at least continue from level 25 with level 20's bonus. To get through five of these bastard-hard levels and be told that what you've just sweated blood to achieve was a total waste of time doesn't make for a compelling experience. The game's built to be played two levels at a time, because after the opening stages that's about as many as you can realistically hope to beat in a row while hanging onto at least three lives. I really, really want to love Space Giraffe. But it's like that totally mental girlfriend we've all had who's incredibly hot in bed, but exhaustingly crazy the rest of the time, and will eventually set your house on fire and kill your dog because she thinks you're having an affair with the checkout girl in Tesco who smiled at you when you were buying some vodka. In the end, the good bits just aren't worth all the grief. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ai_Droid Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Well, I had another go and bumped my high score up to 33m or so, but I'm still losing 90% of my lives to stuff I didn't see, and it just wears you down after a bit, especially since it takes nine fucking button presses to restart if you get yourself killed two seconds into a level. Christ, even Burnout 3 has a zippier interface. Burnout 3 isn't £3.50! Diagonal firing (which I've now spotted) is just a colossal misjudgement. It goes contrary to the entire point of Tempestish games - what's the point of all the webs being constructed of channels if you and the enemies can just ignore them? It isn't tempest! You're clearly playing it wrong, you're doing what a lot of people are doing (including the guy who gave it 2/10 in oxm), you're playing it like tempest. You're assuming you have to shoot everything, when the best scores are achieved when you shoot as little as possible. That's the sneaky thing about it firing all the time, you have to be careful where you go if you dont want to hit stuff. You can't soley use diagonal fire either, you can't easily hit anything with it, it's a bonusie thing that you can bump your score up with but not much else. The thing about the game is that when it works - when you've got a web where you can see the enemies, that isn't full of near-indestructible shit (like the flowers you can sit stationary right on top of, firing constantly, without even shrinking them a bit), and in which it's possible to actually employ some conscious strategy rather than just zooming around and hoping for the best - it's absolutely amazing. The sense of reward when you pull off a massive bull run in a maelstrom of pyrotechnics through application of deliberate skill is huge, and that's what tempts you to keep playing through the next 10 miserable minutes of being killed over and over again by stuff you never saw. But as the game gets harder, it's like being a heroin addict - it gets tougher and tougher to get that fix again, and eventually you're out mugging toddlers for their sweetie money and sticking dirty hypodermic needles in your cock. You need to open your mind to it, and spend some time learning the mechanics. There's more to it than what you're seeing. It's also prone to incredibly disjointed play, because of the way the "start bonus" works. If you reach a new level with fewer than three lives, your chances of coming out of it with more than that are pretty tiny, and diminish with each further level. Which means that if you battle through the starting level and lose just one life, then heroically claw your way through the next five stages without ever making it back to three lives, when you finally die all your hard work is effectively worthless, because you've still got to go all the way back to that starting level again if you want to score anything. Again, it's more of the risk/reward mechanism. Extra lives are quite easy to rack up, but it's at the expense of score. I really, really want to love Space Giraffe. But it's like that totally mental girlfriend we've all had who's incredibly hot in bed, but exhaustingly crazy the rest of the time, and will eventually set your house on fire and kill your dog because she thinks you're having an affair with the checkout girl in Tesco who smiled at you when you were buying some vodka. In the end, the good bits just aren't worth all the grief. This is a real shame, because it seems to be a prevailing view, when really it's about people not playing the game as it's intended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopsticks Posted August 23, 2007 Author Share Posted August 23, 2007 I didn't write that you know? I made it clear I was quoting from another forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ai_Droid Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 I didn't write that you know? I made it clear I was quoting from another forum. Ah, thought you were just quoting the top bit. Stuart Cambell has always been a clueless dickwad, no change there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K.os Theory Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 it looks just too damn mental for my brain to comprehend...like geometry - too many flashing lights Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopsticks Posted August 23, 2007 Author Share Posted August 23, 2007 Wahay, beat you chopley, and for a bit I was 100th in the world! I've knocked up a quick review: http://www.electricdeath.com/blog/1171 I still have a higher score than you, according to my Friends Leaderboard - you infernal cad! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slim Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Wahay, beat you chopley, and for a bit I was 100th in the world! I've knocked up a quick review: http://www.electricdeath.com/blog/1171 I still have a higher score than you, according to my Friends Leaderboard - you infernal cad! You didn't last night, have you bettered your score? I'll get you later! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modey Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Just got this but i'm not very good at the moment, great visuals and sound though, especially with the 5.1 on. What's everyones gamertags? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopsticks Posted August 23, 2007 Author Share Posted August 23, 2007 Just got this but i'm not very good at the moment, great visuals and sound though, especially with the 5.1 on. What's everyones gamertags? There's a cunning clue in my sig What's yours modey? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modey Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Just got this but i'm not very good at the moment, great visuals and sound though, especially with the 5.1 on. What's everyones gamertags? There's a cunning clue in my sig What's yours modey? ah yes didn't notice that. I'm souljacker eel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slim Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 I still have a higher score than you, according to my Friends Leaderboard - you infernal cad! Hmm, in game I'm higher than you, but your higher than me on the arcade leaderboard. I think the in game thing is best score from level 1? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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