By John Walker on July 19th, 2012 at 6:00 pm.
Whenever I see the phrase “twin-stick shooter” I can be sure of two things. One – I want to play it. Two – I will suck so badly at it that if anyone I knew saw me playing I’d throw the controller in their face and then just run and run until I was in a different country where I’d hide in a hole with a bin lid on top. That’s why I work alone. In my underpants. And so it was that seeing BatCat Games’ P-3 Biotic has come from consoles to PC, via IndieCity and IndieVania for $4/£2.50, I once again demonstrated my own trouserless uselessness to myself and no one else.
It’s a game about defending a nucleus of a cell, from all sorts of invading, er, bacteria? Aliens? Light beings from the future? It’s not important – what’s important is that you shoot at it, without running into it, and without letting too much of it reach your nucleus friend. See:
And it’s exactly as you’d hope it would be. Slick, fast, and very pretty. While it’s primarily designed for the 360 pad, there’s mouse/keyboard support in there too, and as the game says, “That’s the way dad did it, and it’s good enough for me too dammit.”
Also, this game clearly proves my so-called research biologist wife wrong when she claims cells don’t have twin-stick based combat taking place inside them. So THERE, darling.
19/07/2012 at 18:04 briktal says:
Why do all these kinds of games have that same stupid art style/color scheme/etc
19/07/2012 at 18:17 TsunamiWombat says:
You mean bright neon colors and simplistic but stylized graphics on an infinity backround?
…I dunno, just to piss you off?
19/07/2012 at 18:24 BraveSirAndrew says:
I’m not sure. When we removed all the other pixels, that’s what was left, so we went with it:)
19/07/2012 at 19:00 briktal says:
I find it hard to play these games because I can’t see what’s happening.
19/07/2012 at 18:26 MarkN says:
Often because coders can make it look good without needing artists, because they can do it with maths.
If you’d seen what coders come up with when they resort to using MS Paint you wouldn’t complain.
19/07/2012 at 18:29 RobF says:
And also to piss people off. Although to be fair, that might just be me.
19/07/2012 at 19:19 trjp says:
That comment (about not needing artists) is both insulting and moronic in equal measure…
Instead of criticising something, come up with something better? I mean what do you want from a twin-stick shooter – Robocod ‘candy’ look?? :)
19/07/2012 at 22:18 MarkN says:
Eh? I think (hope) you misunderstood me. I didn’t criticise anything for starters, apart from most coders ability to create art with MS Paint. I personally love glowy neon graphics – the more games that use it (well) the better as far as I’m concerned.
My point was that the reason many games use a neon-glowy style is because they can do it with fancy shader effects and mathematically created geometry, rather than employing expensive artists. Introversion for example have stated this is precisely why their games look like they do. Geometry Wars is made out of geometrical shapes because a coder can do that with their eyes shut…
20/07/2012 at 00:25 trjp says:
Absolute utter and total cobblers – you’re actually suggesting that no artistic skill went into this (and loads of other games with a “neon” look at all and it’s “just programming and shaders and stuff”??
There are some expectionally talented people working in gaming – some are artists, some are programmers, some would be offended to be mislabelled but MOST are happy to do both because that’s how all this shit works.
20/07/2012 at 01:54 MarkN says:
Where did I say no artistic skill went into it? I absolutely didn’t. Please learn to read.
19/07/2012 at 18:50 Askeladd says:
Ignorance is a bliss
19/07/2012 at 18:38 BraveSirAndrew says:
To anyone pissed off by our artwork or color scheme, we’re sorry. On a positive note, the special edition of the game will come with optional color-tinting glasses to remove 90% of the color while leaving all of the fun. Or you could just close your eyes:) That might work.
20/07/2012 at 01:08 Caiman says:
Please don’t apologise. So far only two out of the potentially 7 billion or so people who could have commented on it have done so negatively. You can’t please everyone. Me, I am in love with neon glowing things so I approve.
19/07/2012 at 18:59 barelyhomosapien says:
Well then, let’s see if it matches up to waves!
19/07/2012 at 19:03 The First Door says:
I hope it’s better to be honest! I was never a fan of Waves because they enemy design was much too similar, made it really difficult to tell enemy behaviour at a glance. Shame too because it was lovely looking.
19/07/2012 at 19:11 BraveSirAndrew says:
One way to find out…:)
Actually while I totally agree with your point about waves, I think that’s a game that deserves more love. Rob really mastered the whole easy to pick up/difficult to master thing.
19/07/2012 at 19:17 The First Door says:
Indeed! It is more my preference than anything else. Anyway, I do agree with you, it is a game which deserves lots of love. I adored the virus enemy for example which you could harvest for points.
I guess it is a difficult type of game to make, though, because you are always going to be compared to GW which did it so well!
19/07/2012 at 19:29 barelyhomosapien says:
I actually never struggled with enemy differentiation, I mean there’s the green following and running away bastards, the white blobby hard to kill bastards and the red speedy bastards for a start!
I’m downloading the game as we speak, but instantly regretted purchasing from indiecity as I have a 3kbs download speed :(
19/07/2012 at 20:31 tyrsius says:
I also never had an issue with enemy differentiation. Waves is easily better than GW in my book, and I have played both extensively.
Waves keeps combat more hectic with timer based combos, and bombs based on combos. It makes you frantic, and gives you a strategy to planning combo’s out by utilizing the virus.
GW was too static, and ramped up SOO SLOWLY. Starting over was so painfully boring for like 5 minutes.
19/07/2012 at 19:19 Gnoupi says:
This one seems less clear than Waves, from what I see in the trailer. Too much blur/blinding light, for me.
19/07/2012 at 19:23 BraveSirAndrew says:
See my comment about color blocking glasses:)
In all seriousness, the brightness/bloominess isn’t for everyone so we included an option to turn it off. Just for you:)
19/07/2012 at 20:04 tyrsius says:
– I once again demonstrated my own trouserless uselessness to myself and no one else.–
I totally lost it at this line. I love the writing style on this site, you guys are fantastic.
19/07/2012 at 22:48 hamburger_cheesedoodle says:
I just want you to know that your use of Neuropolitical hurts me a teensy bit. I mean, yeah, it fits the theme and all, but it’s just so… overused.
20/07/2012 at 02:33 BraveSirAndrew says:
You win the most awesome comment of the night prize:) there is no real prize though. Just our respect.
20/07/2012 at 08:44 hamburger_cheesedoodle says:
That’s more than enough! \o/
20/07/2012 at 14:13 Malibu Stacey says:
Do want! I love me a bit of twin stick shootery does I!
I’m going to be ‘that guy’ & ask if there’s any possibility of a Steam release?
20/07/2012 at 21:44 BraveSirAndrew says:
We’d love to be on Steam. Unfortunately they said no…on our first attempt. We’ll go back with your comments and some reviews and see if that’ll change their minds:) It’s happened before.