Space Giraffe Review (Proper)

Posted by oddbob on August 24, 2007 · Lovingly Filed Under Reviews 
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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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5 Responses to “Space Giraffe Review (Proper)”

  1. Richard Phipps on August 25th, 2007 6:32 pm

    Well, I have to disagree with you on this one. True, I’ve not played the game, but fundamental design flaws have seen you talk about these errors and dismiss many games in your reviews.

    However, you seem to be making an exception here, but if it is a flaw which kills you *unavoidably* then that to me should not be a reason for an exception.

    This kind of issue renders the game broken to me, and thus not to be recommended.

    But, it’s just my opinion.. :)

  2. oddbob on August 26th, 2007 6:59 am

    :D

    I’m certainly not in the slightest forgiving of the flaws of the game. There are certain levels, 16 (I think, might be 15) and 31 spring immediately to mind that are just plain ridiculous - neither big nor clever - I’ll try and post some photo’s of them tomorrow and you’ll see what I mean.

    As I kinda imply with the dual reviews, it’s not perfect and it shouldn’t ever be considered so - and some of the defenses of the broken bits I’m biting my lip over quite seriously, so much so I may draw blood if I read anymore bilge about it being a “hardcore” game or “you need to learn to read it properly” or “you’re just shit at it” or worst of all “it’s old school, durrrh!”. Because frankly, they’re bullshit excuses for poor design and they don’t wash. I covered this bit briefly in the review though - perhaps I should have dwelled on it more but it was already getting overly wordy.

    There are some terrible things about it, made more terrible when you consider that they’re deliberate design decisions - angling the camera up your arse on some levels is a common one and 99% of the time entirely responsible for the random deaths.

    In an ideal world, the game would be more accessible, the tutorial better and the shitty camera angles removed.

    I would have preferred less levels if it meant that the broken ones were cast aside.

    You get the gist, I’m sure.

    Yet conversely the save system is something that I’d like to see featured in a lot more games, it’s not quite perfect but it’s as good as I’ve seen yet short of not killing the player at all. I could write an entire post alone on the reasons for that one.

    Because of the way the game is structured, every level is different so if you do hit upon a shit one, you’re usually only one level away from an unbroken one. So far, the unbroken ones have thankfully outweighed the broken ones by a massive amount. I’m 1/3 of the way through the game at the moment and there’s 4 levels that I’d class as seriously fucked up to now. Not bad odds. Providing the game can keep up this ratio to the end, then I find that acceptable.

    *If* Llamasoft can use the criticism of the game (and I’m really not saying anything against it that hasn’t been said elsewhere, repeatedly) and make their next title stronger - then there’s a good chance that they *can* hit perfection. Space Giraffe does more good than bad, and there’s something curiously compulsive about it, but it is so desperately in need of someone like Barrie Ellis to come along and help it go that extra few steps.

    There’s a lot of thought put into the game, a lot of mechanics and y’know - when you’re stepping this far out of the comfort zone and throwing so much at something, there will be things that don’t stick. If the game had played it safer and followed much more generic design rules, then the mistakes it makes would have killed it stone dead because they’d render it unsalvageable and irredeemable. But it doesn’t and thats where the real difference lies and also a great part of what makes it actually work.

    And that’s it in a nutshell really - it’s so very nearly there and in many cases, it’s already there. Just needs the kinks ironing out. I don’t think attempting to fudge a v2.0 or v1.x version is the way to do this properly though. Best chalked up to experience and move along the bus now and learn for the next game, letting Space Giraffe be - for better or for worse, because it’s an important title in a bland and generic market and one that can be held up as something to learn from for everyone.

    Hope that explains my stance a bit further :-)

  3. Richard Phipps on August 26th, 2007 9:48 am

    Yes, that helps. :)

  4. oddbob on August 27th, 2007 8:16 am

    Phew, that’s lucky. I wrote that whilst very drunk ;)

  5. Juris Purins on August 29th, 2007 11:12 pm

    It’s an important title, as it brings Minter back with a finished product on a system that is not a failed orphan. Next we need Space Llamas on the Wii before the Wii is Geometreed Out!

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