Pete Wylie: Classic! 8 - The Zanzibar, Liverpool

August 26, 2007 · Filed Under Personal · 2 Comments 

Pete Wylie Classic 8

Pete Wylie Classic 8

Classic 8

Pete Wylie Classic 8

The Zanzibar Stage

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Space Giraffe Review (Proper)

August 24, 2007 · Filed Under Reviews · 5 Comments 

Space Giraffe XBLA

Ok, lets get the important bit out of the way first. Space Giraffe is good. Very good in fact. So good, that I’ve just whiled away most of two very chilled evenings in front of the television blasting away. Got that? Good. We can continue…

A lot has already been said about Space Giraffe before launch, and a fair bit not quite as unfounded as Minter’s protestations would have you believe. The OXM 2.0 review is perfectly understandable, even if the quite bizarre score is not.

Before you begin the game, you’re encouraged to undertake the tutorial (there’s even an achievement based on scoring over ten million inside the tutorial) but the tutorial, whilst fun, is seriously lacklustre in the actual tutoring stakes. What you’re presented with is a relative sandbox environment to learn the game, and certain parts of the game you surely will. But the vagaries of the information combined with some of the games subtleties being nowhere to be seen makes for a very odd design decision on Llamasofts behalf.

It’s left to the player to work out exactly what the bizarre floating label “power zone” actually is. On first play through I was left completely befuddled. You’ll come to the end of the tutorial still none the wiser as to what a sneeze bonus is, completely unknowing of the “get out of jail free” benefits of the superzapper or many of the other mechanics present in the game. Also, because the game exists in its own little world filled with “bulling”, “flowers” and so on and so forth - to the beginner player most of the descriptions may as well be in Aramaic for all it matters.

You soon come to realise that because of the immense amounts of visual interference presented to you with Neon (the lightsynth engine Space Giraffe is built within) blasting your senses that you’re not going to survive just by looking at the screen. Usefully, the game is filled with audio clues to help out - again, this is left to the player to work out for themselves and not mentioned within the tutorial. There’s also been a number of moments I’ve found whilst playing the game that I have collided with bullets or flowers that plainly weren’t visible thanks to either an effects overload or poor camera positioning and no amount of audio cues would have saved me.

Fundamentally, if unlike me, you can’t bring yourself to see past the quirks of the game - and it is the game design at fault here not someones inability to read the game, then the whole thing *will* look and feel broken at the core. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a case of me forcing myself to like it here - I truly believe the game is that good that the flaws that exist in it feel trivial.

Yes, at its heart - it is a seriously old school game but the subtleties and nuances of the game bely seriously modern sensibilities. I don’t believe for a second you can write off the flaws with the “it’s old school” defense. We didn’t know any better then. We do now. Time has moved on and shifted and whilst Space Giraffe takes 10 steps forward in some respects, it takes a few steps back in others. Some arrogant design decisions could have easily been sorted and the tutorial rendered reasonably useful. I can only hope that for the next Llamasoft title some of the criticisms of the game are addressed and they can elevate their next title from superb to absolutely essential.

More Giraffing

But lets move on, eh…

Now, I know so far, I’ve been quite negative. And thats fine, I wanted to get some of my concerns out of the way before I mentioned the bits that go beyond fantastic. (And would be even more fantastic if they were documented in game properly and not just tucked away on the internet somewhere)

Lets get the “Is it just Tempest?” thing out of the way first… in my ever so not very humble opinion, no. Not really. Sure, on first glance it seriously resembles Tempest but a quick play through soon reveals that the game is a lot more strategic with some cunning, and in certain cases ingenious, ways to gain higher scores. The “bulling” is inspired and providing you don’t succumb to greed, a fantastic way to really get both the pulse and the scores racing. Bullets technically never leave the web unless they shoot off the end your giraffe hovers over, you can spend an age (or at least the length of the stage) bouncing the bullets back and forth - once they’re off the web at the end of a stage you can collect them on the way out for impressive sneeze bonuses.

The save system is fantastic, it’s sort of an extended version of the “resume best” from Gridrunner++ but for every single level. This lets you nip back into the game at relevant points and go back and try and improve your score without penalising you too much for dying.

Have I mentioned the visuals yet? I’m sure the screenshots give you a slight clue as to what’s in store - but nothing could prepare you for the full on assault of Neon turned up to eleven. What looks eyefuckingly fine as a standalone lightsynth comes alive in all its throbbing, oily, glowing glory. Explosions sear across the screen, insane text messages fly around, there are times when everything seems to just meld into one massive fuckwad of trippiness and you’re left hanging by the seat of your pants.

If you’re thinking of making a tube shooter within a 3d tunnel because you think it’ll look great - here’s your benchmark, and the bar is set high.

How does it play? Sublimely. Ok, so it can be frustrating at times. There are times when I’ve gone beyond hating the game into some otherworldly realm of wishing Minter burn in a pit of burning shit somewhere but there’s something there, bubbling under the surface that drags and ropes you back in. It’s a rotten cliche but the game *is* addictive. More so with the XBLA leaderboards thrown in for good measure.
Space Giraffing Across The Universe etc...

There’s something far more important about Space Giraffe than I could do justice in the space I’m allowing myself for this review, something that is fundamentally important to the gaming spectrum today.

Space Giraffe exists. It’s out there and on a mainstream console in a lot of folks living rooms, bedrooms and Lord knows elsewhere - and you couldn’t find a game that distances itself more from the average gaming fodder if you tried. Sure, you can dismiss it as “just Tempest” if you like - but you’d be missing the bigger picture. As flawed as the game can be at times, this is someones personal vision, it’s a step into the world of Minter and there’s nothing else like it out there on any machine or at any other point in time that I can recall. Developed by two people in the middle of nowhere (Wales ;)) and true to their own vision, untouched by the usual rigmarole of game design by committee and publisher interference.

Sometimes, admittedly, this is also where some of the games problems stem from - but what Space Giraffe does right, it does it so fucking absolutely totally completely right that it should be celebrated, loved and enjoyed. It’s the embodiment of Indie Spirit and something quite special indeed.

And it’s 400 points. Shit all in real currency whatsoever. Fucking bargain.

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Space Giraffe Review

August 23, 2007 · Filed Under Reviews · 4 Comments 

[insert review here]

[insert good bits about the game here]

[insert bad bits about the game here]

[insert arbitrary score here]

[insert comments section filled with people calling you a blithering idiot for not getting it or informing you you're playing it wrong whilst ignoring any nice things you might say about the game or refusing to accept the game may not be perfect]

[kill self]

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