Review: Square Off | XBLIG
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then developer Gnomic Studios really enjoyed 2008′s Castle Crashers. Don’t construe this as an insult though, unless you’re ready to throw daggers at your favorite band for being inspired by the Beatles.
When Adam from Gnomic shot me an email describing Square Off as “a 2.5D survival shooter with a graphic style similar to Castle Crashers” it made for a pretty compelling reason to at least give it a spin.
Which I did, for about 3 hours straight.
Backgrounds are simple and beautifully rendered
Smile for my pistola!
One look at the screenshots or the trailer (bottom) and the comparisons to Castle Crashers become obvious. The hand drawn characters, the energetic and irreverent attitude, the comical facial expressions, the quirky voiceovers, the techno’ish soundtrack catchy enough to reside in your cranium for days. It’s all here, and yet Gnomic Studios has carefully crafted Square Off’s unique personality, while still paying homage to The Behemoth.
Here’s the verdict if you’re impatient: The game costs 240MS points (about $3 bucks), it has six levels, 4 player coop, and deathmatch modes. It plays a little like Everyday Shooter (twin stick mechanics) and looks charming like Castle Crashers. Yes, you should buy it.
But why? The 5 person team at Gnomic really focused on creating a fun, quality experience. It plays very much like a true addicting arcade game. Square Off doesn’t stick around longer than it should, and it gives you just enough weaponry and items to even influence a bit of strategic gameplay. It doesn’t hold your hand, nor is it impossibly challenging.
It takes true grit. and bombs.
The game progression is simple: Survive 4 waves of the alien horde without dying, then fight a boss. You’ll always have a pistol with unlimited ammo, but destroying what I call “spawn ships” (kill these quickly!) gives you random weapons like a shotgun, bombs, Rocket Launcher, or a spread gun (yep, just Contra!). Since the special weapons have limited ammo, you’ll start to tailor your use of them based on the enemies you’re trying to splatter, because they’re not all a walk in the park! Don’t worry though, the occasional crate can also equip you with a helmet, a rocket pack, or some much needed health.
Where Square Off really excels is the intense, points-driven, survive by the skin of your teeth gameplay. Hearing “DEVASTATION” when you kill a ton of baddies with one perfectly timed bomb is a thrill. The biggest compliment I can pay to Gnomic Studios is that I’d gladly play it again.
While I wholeheartedly recommend Square Off, I’m not without a gripe. The enemy mentality is to swarm you, and sometimes it’s impossible to avoid being sandwiched by 20 alien critters. When that happens, your character can’t move quick enough to maneuver its’ way out, and the result is a frustrating death. That said, you can learn to avoid this completely with the right mix of weapons and strategy, so I can’t necessarily call it out as a design flaw.
So, if you like the intensity of Everyday shooter, the charm of Castle Crashers, and a wonderful soundtrack pulsing in your ears while you rack up points, Square Off is for you. We’re looking forward to seeing what Gnomic churns out next.
7 Responses to “Review: Square Off | XBLIG”
Leave a Reply
Who Wrote This?
Ever since owning the original Pong console, Jason Evangelho has been captivated by the art and immersion of video games. As the industry we love continues to create avenues and visibility for indie developers across all platforms, Jason is thrilled to be highlighting the best games you've never played.
You can also find Jason pimping the best indie music on the planet at www.insomniaradio.net
Hope I win.
This sounds like a lot of fun. I’m also providing competition for Doug…may the luckiest one win.
I’ve been watching the development of this title through Gnomic’s blog for a while now. I loved Castle Crashers and the graphics style of Square Off is a great tribute to it. I had hoped to get to play test Square Off but I didn’t renew my XNA Premium membership in time; the demo is great though. And yes, may the luckiest one win.
Thanks for the competition David. Same to you Coder
[...] Read the original here: Square Off Review: Xbox Live Indie Games | Indie Arcade [...]
Thanks Doug, David, and CoderDawson for entering! Random.org has chosen CoderDawson as the winner!
[...] Our review of the new 2.5D Survival Shooter, Square Off, is published so go check it out. [...]