Sometime last week I was blathering on about a particular set of indie games, how they boil genres down to their essential cores,blah blah blah. One of the games I cited was Daisuke Amaya’s (Pixel to theladies) immortalCave Story, an independently-developed platformer that doesMetroidbetter thanMetroidoften does. Now thatCave Storyis in the hands ofother talented individuals bringing it to the handheld market, Pixel’s free to work on other projects: namely, his new minimalistic PC shmup,Guxt.
What I said about getting down to the nuts and bolts of gaming couldn’t be more true in a game likeGuxt. The game is, utterly and essentially, a vert shmup. It doesn’t get crazy likeIkaruga, or insane with powerups like — well, most every shmup since the mid-90s. The player is given two lives, no bombs, and five keys with which to play: four cardinal directions and a fire button. Powerups are limited to a small amount of weapon swaps. Life has never been so simple — come to think of it, neither has gaming for the last 15 years or so.
Where Pixel’s craft really shines is in the realms of art and level design, two key components thatGuxthas in spades. Though the monochromatic graphics leave those of us aching for more of Pixel’s colorful world ofCave Storyhanging, his sprite designs are absolutely extraordinary, and the music is just as compelling as fans have come to expect from Pixel’s games. WhatGuxtlacks in innovative gameplay it makes up for with creative level design and interesting enemy drops, keeping you on your toes throughout five levels.
It’s noGears of War, but if you’re a shmup fan looking for a cheap (read: free) fix or just a fan of solid design, downloadGuxtv.8 and keep your eyes onPixel’s sitefor more updates.
[Via theSA Forums]
