By Kieron Gillen on November 3rd, 2009 at 1:01 pm.
The_B flagged up this IGF entry immediately, and you can see why. Attack of the 50ft Robot! from Digipen is the sort of thing which just begs for posting. It’s a retro-50s B-movie Rampage-esque homage with lots of physics malarkies. Its most obviously striking element is the Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow-esque black-and-white footage, shot through with the vivid-laser reds. The secondary striking element is the ability to throw your own head as a striking element. A little twitchy – it crashed a couple of times when I played it – but it’s splendidly silly stuff. You can download from here (EDIT: NEW LINK WITH NEW BUILD) and see footage below…
I also like its use of music, but I won’t spoil that for you.
03/11/2009 at 13:10 Mike says:
Really captures the feel well, I like that.
It’s a good list this year. Reads like a highlights reel from the last 12 months, as it should do.
03/11/2009 at 13:11 Psychopomp says:
Off the bat, it reminds me of Blast Corps.
03/11/2009 at 14:05 Psychopomp says:
Actually paying attention, it’s absolutely zero percent like Blast Corps.
03/11/2009 at 13:16 Dominic White says:
They’ve obviously been inspired by Earth Defence Force. That final boss goes beyond homage and into the realms of outright copying.
Not that I mind, because EDF is amazing and more games need to be like it.
03/11/2009 at 13:18 Kieron Gillen says:
I forgot to mention EDF.
EDF! EDF!
KG
03/11/2009 at 13:39 TotalBiscuit says:
Go back home Keiron… TO SPACE!
03/11/2009 at 13:41 TotalBiscuit says:
Putting the healthbar as a ring on the robot’s back is a wonderful stylistic choice.
03/11/2009 at 14:06 Psychopomp says:
Fact:The original EDF was the only game I’ve ever imported.
I REGRET NOTHING
03/11/2009 at 14:19 Dominic White says:
The second EDF is even better (and a much better game than the later 360 release, mainly because it has waaaay more level, enemy and weapon variety), and worth importing as well, because the UK version not only has a mid-90s PAL conversion (massive speed loss and huge black borders), but they ‘translated’ all the background chatter by COMPLETELY REMOVING IT.
Yep, deathly silence reigns, rather than Godzilla-movie freakouts.
03/11/2009 at 13:21 Garg says:
Reminds me of Psychonauts.
03/11/2009 at 13:33 Supraliminal says:
Splendid.
It’s once again a 50th feet monster of a robot that shoots lazer from its eyes wrecking buildings.
This kind of things just have to be done.
03/11/2009 at 14:13 the wiseass says:
Holy jeebus this is brilliant. I love the music, it’s just perfect!
03/11/2009 at 14:16 Kieron Gillen says:
EDF is so good I’ve been tempted to declare it an honoury PC Game so we can write about it.
KG
03/11/2009 at 14:23 Psychopomp says:
You could be sneaky, blog about it, and then put a link in The Sunday Papers
04/11/2009 at 03:19 Wooly says:
I long for that game. To me, EDF looks like the main reason to buy a 360. As for the earlier ones, is there any way to obtain them? I do have a PS2, but I doubt it would run an imported game…
03/11/2009 at 14:22 Psychopomp says:
Oh man, when the huge UFO comes in, it gets rather epic.
03/11/2009 at 14:28 Dominic White says:
Intentional or not, that’s almost a direct copy of how things go down about a third of the way through the second EDF game. After a long and tough boss battle against a giant UFO that launches smaller UFOs, the sky darkens and shit hits the fan.
03/11/2009 at 14:33 Kua says:
Well this looks like a very good thing. Just when one was asking, where next for indy games after Machinarium?
03/11/2009 at 14:36 Dominic White says:
Slave Zero? It wasn’t very good, sadly – oddly enough, this seems to nail everything that Slave Zero did wrong.
03/11/2009 at 14:38 TauQuebb says:
That does look like a good start..
03/11/2009 at 14:50 KindredPhantom says:
Wow this looks great. Reminds me of Fallout 3′s Liberty Prime.
03/11/2009 at 15:07 Psychopomp says:
I slowly facepalmed
03/11/2009 at 15:54 KindredPhantom says:
Cool, thanks for sharing.
03/11/2009 at 15:36 Kenny says:
Poor robot has the red ring of death
03/11/2009 at 15:58 Urthman says:
Yeah, looks like it has the same problem as Slave Zero that for some reason it feels more like a man-sized robot stomping around a toy city than a giant robot stomping around a real city.
03/11/2009 at 16:34 Dave says:
I like the visual style and the music is great, but the Lego-ish physics makes me think I’d rather play RFG. I’m probably not being fair comparing an indie project to an engine created by a big well-funded team over the course of several years, but there it is.
Also, is the Sin City color scheme getting overused? What about monochrome with a splash of neon green? Sepia with purple blotches? Coarse halftone dots?
03/11/2009 at 16:42 Smee says:
This makes me want to play Blast Corps on the N64.
03/11/2009 at 16:51 Heliocentric says:
If you have a n64 be my guest, its a classic. If not? I would certainly never suggest that you download an emulator, its probably illegal. Hint yes but never suggest.
03/11/2009 at 17:01 twb says:
Off the bat, it reminds me of Sensible Soccer.
03/11/2009 at 17:31 SirKicksalot says:
I love Sky Captain. That’s reason enough for me to pick up the game.
03/11/2009 at 17:55 Dante says:
Sky Captain is awesome. That is all.
03/11/2009 at 18:03 Lagmint says:
Fucking Digipen – they kick everyones ass every year (including when I went up against them.)
03/11/2009 at 18:07 cheeba says:
Aww, the “robo crazy” bit from gamer.tv isn’t on youtube :(
I still remember being gobsmacked seeing Kieron on tv. And Jim in that other episode!
03/11/2009 at 18:53 Harlander says:
Man, this won’t even start on my creaky old rig. *shakes a fist in futile rage*
03/11/2009 at 23:13 Mister Yuck says:
Same here. Wanna cry together?
03/11/2009 at 23:52 Nick says:
Can I get a reupload? Megaupload is for women and flowers.
04/11/2009 at 06:52 Corey Abel says:
http://www.attackofthe50ftrobot.com/installers/AttackOfThe50ftRobot!_Setup_Final.exe
Here’s a new link. The Megaupload link posted has our build from September.
04/11/2009 at 06:54 Corey Abel says:
http://www.attackofthe50ftrobot.com/installers/AttackOfThe50ftRobot!_Setup_Final.exe
Here’s a new download link. The one posted in the article is from out build in September.
04/11/2009 at 11:19 Ansem says:
This brings back fond memories of War of the Monsters back on the PS2. Great game to sit down with some friends and trash a city together.