61 Frames Per Second : space invaders extreme

The New Graphics Whores: Bit.Trip Beat is Gorgeous, But Retro Style Does Not Equate Quality

John Constantine — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 22:30:00 GMT

A strange thing happened to me between downloading Bit.Trip Beat and beating its first boss. While delighting in its vivid color, laughing at its signature character leaving rainbows in his wake across digital space, and letting its infectious chiptune beats colonize my brain, I realized that I wasn’t having any fun. That’s fine — I’m a firm believer in the fact that a game doesn’t need to be fun to be good — but I was expecting to have fun. I wanted to have fun. I was engaged by it, but not in a good way. I found the game to be overbearing and stressful. Then it hit me: Bit.Trip Beat is a bad game.

Its presentation is immaculate and the idea behind its play is sound; a horizontal shooter that has you deflecting objects instead of projecting them, making ammunition and enemy one and the same — Pong + Arkanoid + Gradius = Bit.Trip Beat — is a great foundation. The game is broken though. The motion controls are adequate but far too sensitive, and the game doesn’t allow you to adjust the sensitivity. It also doesn’t offer d-pad control, so you’re stuck. As you chain together hits in rhythm to the music, your combo meter rises and the visual effects start to intensify. They intensify so much that the color and flashes of light make it impossible to follow the action. It should be challenging to play at a high level, of course, but it should come from the speed and layout of the game’s obstacles, not because it’s hard to see. Most problematic though is that there is no respite throughout Bit.Trip’s long levels. Scrolling shooters necessitate moments of peace that allow you to refocus and rest before the next series of challenges. You need chances to blink. Without them, the game becomes exhausting. Bit.Trip is oppressive, necessitating that you pay attention constantly, or fail as a result. In spite of these game breaking problems, Bit.Trip’s scoring very well in reviews. Why?

I worry that Bit.Trip Beat’s critical success is a case of the Emperor getting a new wardrobe. Game critics, fans, and casual players are all enamored with the retro-styled games trend. Games with chic visual and aural designs that recall gaming’s NES, Atari, and early-arcade heyday are in high demand right now and I think that some people might be willing to praise a game based solely on its aesthetics. They're new graphics whores for a nostalgia-obsessed age, drunk on the promise of limited technology instead of high-end graphical feats. I’m one of them. I laud Mega Man 9, Space Invaders Extreme, and Edge for their old school looks and sounds. Those are three very well made games underneath their attractive façades though. I expect great things out of Bit.Trip Beat's creators, Gaijin. They’re clearly a very talented team of developers. Before they make Bit.Trip Volume 2, I hope they learn from their first game’s mistakes, no matter how well their first game was received.

Related links:

BIT.TRIP BEAT is Hella Sweet
Chiptune Friday: Trip to the Beat
Design Resurrection: How Capcom Finally Proved That It’s Game and Not Graphics That Matters
The Commander's Out Of The Bag, And I Couldn't Be More Excited

Derrick's Top 13 Games of 2008 - Part 2

Derrick Sanskrit — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Missed part 1? Click here!

9 - Space Invaders Extreme (DS/PSP):
One of the most iconic arcade games of all time crossed its 30th anniversary this year, and to celebrate they reinvented the whole damn thing. We've seen this before, but Space Invaders Extreme was different. How? It was flippin' awesome this time. Bright colors and flashing lights, sound effects that sync with the club-ready music, new power-ups and new aggressive enemies, Space Invaders Extreme turned the arcade classic into an underground rave of interplanetary destruction. And, as I already said, its flippin' awesome. I prefer the DS version, but both are great, and for the bargain price of $19.99 there's really no reason not to pick up this addictive portable reimagining.

8 - newtonica (iPhone/iPod Touch):
Kenichi Nishi's debut game for Apple's "gaming device" multi-touch widescreen iPod is sheer casual bliss. There is a ball and you can spin it with a flick of your finger. Cubes fall toward the ball and you get points by lining up the ball so the blocks fall in the appropriately colored areas. Don't strain your brain too hard, there's only two colors. The first ten minutes of play are stress-free and easy, but soon enough the speed and frequency of falling blocks increases to the point of insanity and the slow relaxing game has turned vicious and intense. Charming. Addictive. Very easy to lose track of time and surroundings when played. Oh, and a soundtrack by Kenji Eno. That's an awesome game.

7 - Professor Layton & The Curious Village (DS):
Level 5's logic-puzzle festival was a truly unique gaming experience. It marked the first time ever that both my little sister and I completed the same game from start to finish within a week. This is not to say that the game is short, rather that the game is engrossing for players of all ages and paths. Solve one quaint puzzle after another, every now and then coming across one that truly adjusts the way you're thinking and fills you with a sense of wonder and excitement upon completion and eager to find the next puzzle. Couple that with a surprisingly deep narrative and absolutely gorgeous animated cutscenes and you have one of the shining gems of an already very impressive DS library. Now what's it gonna take to release the two sequels outside of Japan?

6 - Boom Blox (Wii):
Who would have thought that the debut game from Stephen Spielberg's development deal with Electronic Arts would turn out to be my go-to party game? Got a bunch of friends over? Pop Boom Blox in your Wii and fire up a few Wiimotes. Gamers and nongamers alike will pick up the controls in a matter of minutes and everyone in the room becomes captivated, watching blox fall and explode and crazy little critters jump and shout. Arms will be made sore and remotes will be passed to other people who were watching but not playing and the whole thing keeps going until everyone is worn out and needs a nap. This is what happened on my birthday, this is what happened at a friend's housewarming, this is what happened at Thanksgiving, and this is probably what will happen again at Christmas. Boom Blox, while fun enough as a single player game, is THE killer multi-player title for the Wii.

Part 1
Part 3

Related Articles:
Bob's Top Ten Games of 2008: Audiosurf, Braid
Time Magazine's Top 10 Games of 2008
Action Button's Top 25 Games Ever

Yeah, But Is It Art?: Pac-Man Championship Edition

John Constantine — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:00:00 GMT

There’s no time like the present to revitalize fundamental game types. Like abstractionist painters finding new creative horizons in crafting a pristine still life, designers are going back to the well, throwing off the shackles of complex narrative and detail rich presentations to create more immediate, visceral experiences. Once June rolls around, we here in the United States will get our greedy little hands on Space Invaders Extreme and Arkanoid DS, stylized modernizations of Taito classics with gameplay rooted in thirty year-old tradition. The trend, however, kicked off one year ago when Toru Iwatani released Pac-Man Championship Edition. Iwatani’s swansong, Championship outwardly looks like little more than a gussied up version of the 1980 original. Get your hands on it, though, and Championship shows its true colors as a very different work. Championship and the original Pac-Man have the same fundamental goal: get the highest score. But Championship is a fluid, timed experience as opposed to a series of contained, linear challenges. Pac-man, the ghosts, the light house-techno music, the pulsing of the screen all increase in tempo as the clock winds down and the score rises, creating a hypnotic effect. When you make a mistake and it’s all momentarily halted, it’s jarring and drives you to keep the experience uninterrupted.

I claimed to Pete earlier this year that Pac-Man Championship was the best game I played in 2007. I still think that’s true. It is gaming at its purest: simple, elegant, and beautifully affecting.

Have you played it, FPSers? Do you agree? Am I mad?

Editor's note: Pete finally played it about a month back and told me, "It's just Pac-man." What an ass.