LittleBear
says: The second mouse gets the cheese.
23.09.05
Games With Style: Part 10
One of the most unique shmups I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing is Platypus. Instead of 3D models rendered with fancy textures or sprites made up of pixels the objects in this game are actual captured images of claymation models. It must have been a ton of work. The payoff is incredible though… everything from explosions that are literally splatters of plasticene to damage shown as holes to several layers of parallax scrolling look amazing.
It’s also a pretty good game, though perhaps a little difficult after the first couple levels. As shmups go it’s been well thought out. There’s a decent power-up system with a variety of weapons, fruit that can be caught for points (in fact each fruit can be shot and split for extra points) and a good variety of enemy ships to shoot. Attention has been paid to the details as well. Things like ships on the ocean, volcanos spewing lava and enemy activity on the background layers add to the overall feel.
A game with this much work put into making it deserves to be rewarded with a purchase if for no other reason that to encourage games as art.
the2bears.com » Shmuptacular said,
October 6, 2006 at 1:57 pm
[...] A welcome to Shmuptacular, another blog about shmups. There’s a post up today on Platypus, including a link to a podcast of an interview with Anthony Flack, the developer of the game. [...]
the2bears.com » Platypus on PSP said,
November 29, 2006 at 12:59 pm
[...] I recently saw a press release from MumboJumbo indicating that Platypus has been released for the Sony PSP. The original version of the game was written by Anthony Flack, of Squashy Software. I’ve had the odd email with Anthony, he’s a nice guy, and I can’t help but think it would have been decent if MumboJumbo gave him credit as the original developer. Check out the Cletus Clay screenshots, very nice work. [...]
the2bears.com » Cletus Clay said,
November 16, 2008 at 8:39 pm
[...] See also: Platypus [...]