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March 29, 2024, 01:44:46 AM

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APE OUT - This Grilla is a Killa

Started by Kelvin, March 07, 2019, 10:53:22 PM

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Kelvin



Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH6hCAK24Ok

Anyone else bought this new game from Devolver Digital? It's great, basically. An interesting hybrid of Mr Shifty, Hotline Miami and a rhythm game, where you run through short top down levels trying to evade or kill an increasingly elaborate variety of enemies on your quest to escape. All the while accompanied by an improvised jazz soundtrack that reacts to your gameplay. 

At it's core it's very simple - run, push, and grab - but there's real imagination in how they keep things interesting. A pushed enemy explodes on impact with a wall or other enemy, so by directing a target towards a group of enemies, you can chain kills together and clear out more of them at once. Grabbing an enemy both turns them into a shield, but also causes them to fire off their weapon killing enemies you point them towards.

The pacing is perfect. Each level is short, but adds 1-2 new elements to complicate matters. First you face grunts, then armoured guards with shotguns, then guards with bomb vests, then snipers, etc, etc, etc, each altering how you interact with them, how you move through the levels, and how you turn their weapons against the others. It's a very fast paced, kinetic, and improvisational game that has me constantly shifting between a big fucking grin, at how brilliant the latest idea is, to shitting myself as I narrowly avoid death for the fifth time in a row.

On top of all that, it's a visual and auditory delight. I've never seen or heard a game quite like it. The jazz soundtrack is particularly brilliant as it reacts to how you play; increasing tempo as you chain enemies, clashing cymbals as you score a kill, then suddenly reaching a delirious crescendo as sirens go off, enemies swarm out of lifts, or the environment changes. Even title cards play into the soundtrack.   

Must buy, imo. Switch and PC. £15 quid on the Switch, which seems absolutely right.       

Consignia

Looks ace; I saw a trailer the other day and I thought it'd be good. Will give it a go at some point.

Thursday

Really enjoyed this, not usually a Devolver fan, Hotline Miami didn't really click with me, but this was fun. Might be the Jazz soundtrack and the control you have over it that appeals more to me.

Twed

This looks like absolute game. Instabuy. Trailer isn't even finished playing.

kittens

this looks great! will buy. cheers kelv.

madhair60

Feels like every other fucking game on Switch is about monkeys. Donkey Kong and now this. Get a new idea, Nintendo!

hedgehog90

Amazing trailer, love the style, but I can imagine the gameplay getting boring very quickly.

Kelvin

Quote from: hedgehog90 on March 08, 2019, 11:05:50 AM
Amazing trailer, love the style, but I can imagine the gameplay getting boring very quickly.

Well, the game is fairly short; with four distinct environments to escape from, each broken into 8 stages. Ive not finished it yet, but its probably about 3 hours long, start to finish - and not an ounce of flab or filler.Then a bunch of harder versions with different enemy configs, and an arcade mode to time attack.

More importantly, though, and as I said in my opening post, the game is just very, very good at constantly adding new elements to mix up how you play and move through the levels. Think how the best 2D Mario games are still basically just jumping, but keep it fresh by constantly adding in new enviromental mechanics that change how you use those simple core abilities.

In Ape Out, it's not just the constant escalation and combining of enemy types, but also ingenious environmental elements that they drop in for a level or two, then throw away just as quickly. I just don't want to give too many away, as the game is short, and those surprises were a big part of the appeal.

It's a game that constantly builds and chucks new stuff at you, though. That's literally my favourite thing about the game. It's never repetitive. It's a roller coaster ride.

madhair60

God, this looks ugly. Is it really good? It looks bad.

Kelvin

It looks good in motion. The deep perspective on the walls and the way the lighting etc responds to the music all works very well.

Gameplay wise, I reckon it's right up your street. Short, fast moving, dense with ideas and no filler.

Twed

Quote from: Kelvin on March 08, 2019, 05:41:48 PMShort, fast moving, dense with ideas and no filler.
Leave his mum out of it.

Thursday

Quote from: madhair60 on March 08, 2019, 01:04:31 PM
God, this looks ugly. Is it really good? It looks bad.

Well in your case, I'd say don't bother if you don't like the aesthetic.

Twed

I think he's being aggressively dismissive for comedic effect, which isn't very good.

Mister Six


madhair60

Is this the same as that Ape Day that just got pulled from Steam?

Twed

It is a bit similar to racist anti-Obama bumper stickers I've seen.

madhair60

Just had a go of this. Very good. Worth mentioning the use of force-feedback in the gamepad, in tandem with the score. Nice kind of trance-out game. Also very funny - the way you move, in addition to being convincingly animalistic, is inherently amusing. I enjoy the running gag of each stage beginning with your annihilation of a hapless guard stood behind a window.

Does quite a lot with a little and I'll definitely pick it up sometime.

Looks like a fun game, way more interesting than Mr Shifty but I'm trying not to drop fifteen quid on the eShop every time I fancy playing something for twenty minutes before shelving it forever. Six months ago I would have been all over this but I've finally realised that 95% of what I enjoy and want to play is shmups, fighting games, Souls games and top tier Nintendo. The odd exception exists but indie games lack depth, in all but the best of the best cases.

Kelvin

Quote from: The Boston Crab on March 09, 2019, 07:06:09 AM
Looks like a fun game, way more interesting than Mr Shifty but I'm trying not to drop fifteen quid on the eShop every time I fancy playing something for twenty minutes before shelving it forever. Six months ago I would have been all over this but I've finally realised that 95% of what I enjoy and want to play is shmups, fighting games, Souls games and top tier Nintendo. The odd exception exists but indie games lack depth, in all but the best of the best cases.

It has a lot in common with Shifty. That same escalation with each level or two. In fact, it's basically a more polished, smoother running, better looking, better sounding version of that game.

The core idea and level design is basically the same though. It feels like a spiritual sequel.

Consignia

Just been playing this. Absolutely love it. The gameplay is just great in small chunks, so it's been a great little thing to play in between things. I think the best thing though is the sound design. It just compels you to move forward.