If you're unfamiliar with the independent work of Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya yet love classic action/exploration games like Super Metroid and Castlevania, stop reading now and get educated immediately. Amaya is something of a one-man show in the independent scene, and both of his previous games, Cave Story and Ikachan, can be played for free.
Amaya's latest game, revealed this past weekend at the BitSummit event in Kyoto, still leans on his familiar 8-bit visual style. Unsurprisingly, it features all of the quirk and charm that fans of his previous work should expect. In Gero Blaster, you play as a frog bound to rescue a kidnapped princess, and you use an upgradeable blaster to fend off enemies as you traverse through platform-based stages. Of course, Amaya's games never stick to a predictable formula, so even though the stages appear straightforward at first, I witnessed many opportunities to go back and explore specific areas after I discovered new equipment.
The individual stages themselves are broken up into different areas, and players can swap between stages by tapping the sections of a planet-inspired hub screen. Amaya told me that players can travel to any planet, but you'll need specific equipment to progress farther, so expect to travel back and forth to uncover all of the game's secrets.
I had some reservations before my iOS demo of Gero Blaster, mostly because of my wary feelings toward touchscreen based buttons in iPhone games. I don't mean to disparage iOS gaming, but I always prefer the tactile feel of a standard controller in my hands as opposed to sliding my fingers along a touchscreen -- this is especially true with action games.
Interestingly enough, the second I placed a finger on the iPhone 4 demo of Gero Blaster, Amaya asked me to play through the game's tutorial -- something not typically featured in his previous games. After a few screens, Amaya told me how much he dislikes tutorials, but he felt it was appropriate for the platform since so many new players could potentially experience the game. Naturally, the tutorial primarily used images to instructe me how to play, and even the first few stages of the main game followed Amaya's standard practice of building player skills through world design and experience.
As I learned how to jump and fire my blaster and move using the touch screen interface, I was surprised by the discovery of an auto-fire mechanic. While I held down the fire button, if I slid the same finger to right or up, my avatar would continuously fire so I could focus on traversal -- a welcome solution in situations with many oncoming enemies. Some fiends that looked like alligators popped out of the ground to snap at my avatar, so auto-fire allowed me to focus on avoiding their sudden attacks.
As I entered a shop to buy some upgrades and save my game, Amaya pointed out a purple cat at the counter with a cigarette in his mouth. I immediately asked why it was there and Amaya replied that he didn't know. Amaya said he has fond memories of the first time he played Metroid and how the world felt interesting and compelled him to continue exploring. It's something he tries to capture in all of the games he creates. As a result, he doesn't dwell too much on certain visual ideas as long as it just feels right in line with the game. Whenever players visit the quirky shop owner, they can purchase health items, extra lives, and blaster upgrades using in-game currency.
Gero Blaster's quirkiness and mechanics hold up to Amaya's previous work, and as I rescue the first princess I can't help but wonder what else the Cave Story creator has in store. Gero Blaster's might be the first iOS platformer I <em>want</em> to play, but if an iPhone/iPod Touch debut isn't enough to hold your interest -- or you just prefer buttons with your plaforming games -- a recent tweet from publisher Nicalis hints that Gero Blaster could appear on other handhelds in the near future.
Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com
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