With May and a
change in season approaching, it’s time to give an update on my video game
playing habits. Unfortunately, the only title of note recently has been Bravely
Default, so I need to pull some information from months past. The first article
on this blog dealt with a demo I saw at a convention back in 2012. While I have
not traveled far for a games expo, I did attend the Game Developers Conference
this March and checked out an independent developers section separated from the
main expo floor. I backed this project this Kickstarter, and it’s about time I
talk about my impressions of a build of Barkley 2.
The sequel to the
hit edutainment title Barkley Shut Up and Jam Gaiden, Barkley 2, also known as
“The Magical Realms of Tír na nÓg: Escape from Necron 7 – Revenge of
Cuchulainn: The Official Game of the Movie – Chapter 2 of the Hoopz Barkley
SaGa,” takes the RPG to a new level. Tales of Game’s Studio puts you in a
cyberpunk real in which you control an amnesiac as you seek out answers on who
you are and what you can accomplish. While the previous game was a turn-based
RPG, Barkley 2 is a solid action RPG. With a twin stick configuration you can
run around switching your guns as you face oncoming hordes of enemies and destroy
environmental objects. Random drops allow you to gain weapons with unique names
and properties, and you can switch up your weapons to see their different
effects. Controls are smooth, and combat can be frenetic as you circle strafe
foes to rack up kills for experience and money.
The key reason to
pay attention to this game is the environment and the characters within it. In
the demo, I got to walk around town talking to characters and was surprised how
deep the conversations went. In one case I came across some folks agitated over
some apparently arcane issue, but I smiled as the conversation revealed they
needed four letters to finish a crossword puzzle, though they did not call it
that. This storytelling approach is familiar to those that played the last Barkley
game. Everyone in the world takes their problems dead seriously, and the player
character is a straight man to all the quirks and madness. Thus when you
stumble into a dance club and hear talk about bootymancing and applebottoms,
your quest for identity becomes a challenge to comprehend how exactly the world
works. I knew I was enjoying the demo when I decided that I could not continue
the conversation with a straight face and handed off the controller to another
convention attendee to witness the excellent game writing. I should also
mention that the pixel art makes the game stand out extremely well, and the
music immerses you with auditory cues based on people in the world like a
musician that fades in and out based on your character’s distance to him.
Barkley 2 is
scheduled to be released sometime soon. Tales of Game’s Studios promised me
that they would use their Kickstarter-derived funding well to deliver a quality
product, and I think it will be worth the wait. As much fun as I had walking
around and crashing the build they brought to the conference, I know I will
have much more excitement when I cam download the full release. Until then I
should probably play its predecessor so that I can understand any references
made in the sequel. The developers promise the sequel will stand alone, but it
can’t help to delve deeper into their previous work.
No comments:
Post a Comment