aking a breather from the hustle and bustle that GDC 2014 has proved to be this week, I decided to go and enjoy some casual time at the Ouya booth to check out what was being showcased and to get a handle on the redesigned controller myself. Surprisingly, there were a lot of games being demoed through Ouya’s “fund the fun” campaign, and despite some reservations concerning the new splintered direction the brand is going in from proprietary to third-party and the end of all of them being free to play, the games being exclusively signed prove that the Ouya remains relevant after all.
The beauty of Ouya’s open attitude for self-publishing is appreciated from the wacky borderline nonsensical bat-shit design developers can apply to a console setting instead of the PC, and the Duck Game is one of the finest examples to the form. Up to four players can play as, well, ducks (or ducks in hats) that appear in randomly generated arenas with nothing else to do but kill each other to a similar tune of Towerfall. The only catch is that you have to arm yourself to do it, which presents infinitely outrageous results.
What could only be a love letter to the euphemism “tragedy is pricking your finger on a needle, and comedy is falling through an open man-hole on the street and dying,” the Duck Game is an unintentionally dark yet goofy venture the instant you begin. At the start of a round I grabbed what turned out to be a shrink-wrapping gun and “bagged” one of the players in the air, comically trapping them within plastic prison of a bag, and watched as they then plummeted into the water of the level below, suggestively dying in a really brutal way. Be it a dilapidated building that’s floating in space or a lush tropical island covered abstractedly with girders and rafters, the stages are littered with a plethora of objects players will need to grab in order off the others, and even the most unassuming of these weapons can, and will brutally end your foe, and most likely to a humorous effect. Those who need a fast couch-friendly party game to play on their Ouya with Towerfall fatigue should check out this out, and speaking of couch games…
Laza Knitez!! juxtaposes the worlds of space combat and jousting into a neon bloodbath of velocity and inevitable swearing. Through a top-down perspective, players choose between four colors of knight and armed with the tactics of shooting at their peers or just ramming their space javelin through them to while swirling and swerving your opposition’s counter attack to victory—simple in concept, but the tactics and systems in play is what transcends the pickup ‘n play formula into a sport of skill between your friends.
For starters, remember those laser shots I mentioned earlier? They’re aren’t one hit kill shots, you’ll have to wittle the competition down with three hits before they bite the space dust, which can leave you open to a joust in the heart if you stick with the distance game; the same can be said for the opposite tactic as your opponents can simply lob the needed firepower to bring you down if you’re sticking to thrusting game. These elements and the manners in which they can be mixed allow for the finer points of warfare like analyzing your enemies while still keeping the action frantic. The random power-up drops are also great, because they possess a unique quality of randomly being applied to every knight instead of only the one who grabbed it, which humorously plays up that risk-reward factor to discourage strategies that heavily rely on perks and boosters for these sort of environments.
When I first approached it, I made a remark that the game reminded me of Starwhal, and the team were then to quickly boast their bravado of their superiority to my contrast in a light-hearted ribbing, and well, I was able to see why; every Ouya owner owes it to themselves to look out for Laza Knitez!! when it releases.
To my surprise, I was able to reunite with some friends at the Ouya display, Matt and Jake of Team2Bit were there demoing their newest project on the heels of their First Puncher port to the consoles—Reagan Gorbachev; and yeah, the game is way more ridiculous than what that title may initially suggest, and it’s in all the best ways too.
To its namesake, I took control of both former Presidents of their respective nation, Ronald Reagan, and Mikhail Gorbachev in a top-down perspective in where the team states that they wanted to liberally marry the different dynamics of challenge from that of Hotline Miami and Super Meat Boy into their gameplay; the results so far are pretty solid. The political duo can be switched upon at and each have a specific skill set that’s be demanded from the various elements of the stage, like Reagan’s ability to pick locks or Gorbachev hacking talent for any terminal encountered, and the list is continues to a surprisingly in-depth effect.
Simply knowing when to use these talents isn’t enough to advance to the next level as the game’s difficulty will force your hand into determining how you use them in order to overcome the continually stacking odds that the levels will dish out. One mistake, however so slightly can mean quick and spirit crushing death by the evil forces at work in Reagan Gorbachev and familiarizing which man will be right for the job all depends on the skill that’s brought to the table when using them. There was one moment where I was in a hall that was segmented into rooms, and behind a door was bad dude keeping guard; since the door needed picking by the famous Jelly Bean Man (along with convenient access to his character specific katana), it only seemed logical that he would be the right man for the job as opposed to Gorbachev’s long-distance poison dart. I was right—but then I let myself get seen and because I didn’t switch to Gorbachev quick enough for the save with his specialty, the ex-leaders laid slain in a pool of their own pixelated blood.
Regan Gorbachev is slated for a summer release, and with mechanics that are already this polished so early, the title’s set to be follow the Team2Bit trademark of turning familiar tropes on their side to a gratifying end with a shit-ton of comedy to string it together.