JEFFFF!

Ah I love my Jeff. Bought my xbox almost solely for this title. So glad to see it is finally on its way to release. Went gold a week or so ago.

OXM gave it a 2/10.

"You'll frequently die because you couldn't pick out the pulsating assassin from the warped playfield floating over the throbbing LSD nightmare that is the background, which makes this game uniquely aggravating."

Perhaps they just didn't 'get' it.

Wheres Tempest 2000 Minter!?

@Irish.Exile: I usually don't put much stock in reviews, but that seems a pretty accurate description of the gameplay videos I've seen.

I'll try the trial out anyway, but I doubt it'll be a buyer.

I saw someone playing it a while back and I can definitely see where OXM is coming from. I watched the guy die over and over because he couldn't see the difference between all the flashy bullets that your character shoots, the flashy background, the flashy score counters (that move toward you from the point that the enemies get killed), the flashy enemies that are ok to run into and the flashy enemies and flashy bullets that kill you.

But I imagine with some practice you can overcome the confusion and it would be really fun. I'll be buying it just to see if it's as crazy as OXM made it out to be, maybe other people will have better luck.

After having played this game on PartnerNet, I'm surprised I didn't go to the hospital for a seizure. It's very hard to tell what is happening and the screen flashes constantly with the enemies, background and bullets. It's really annoying, in my opinion.

i thought i would like this game, but the video made me cry

Yak's games typically appeal to us old timers who enjoyed arcades and playing shooters (you know, the real "hardcore" gamers), rather than these whippersnapper kids who play 3d first person and world of warcraft 24.5/7.

I found myself enjoying these games when I realized I needed to start looking "through" the game, rather than "at" the game. You know what I mean?

Best game here nobody has played: Tempest 3000 for Nuon.

This game looks like Rez if it was on drugs.

And the fact that any game could look like Rez on drugs scares me.

I played it on Partnernet as well and the visual presentation really is seizure-inducing. It's annoying to the point where it is seriously detrimental to the gameplay. And the gameplay isn't even that deep or complicated - it's Tempest with a few new tricks. Something that shouldn't be so difficult to play.

I think the problem is that the visualization aspect of the background blurs too heavily with the actual game area. Unlike in visually comparable games like FreQuency and Amplitude, where there is an obvious contrast between the two, Space Giraffe blurs them all together.

I'll reserve final judgment for the released product, but the game I played is a victim of its own eccentricities.

The OXM guy played the game like a complete moron. We looked up his score on the Partnernet leaderboards and he hadn't managed to get even one achievement on SG. He'd bashed his way to level 31 by doing the equivalent of just using "Continue" all the time but without actually building up any decent score or bothering to actually learn *any* of the game's strategies. His level 31 score was 6.7 million. Everyone else on the leaderboard was getting that kind of score by level 10 or so. I can beat that score before the end of level 5. The guy is just a complete moron and he's going to look absolutely stupid when real, competent people start reviewing the game.

The "uh i can't see what's going on" argument is facile and blatantly untrue when you actually play the game. I've seen complete novices beat his best score on their first go.

I have Tempest 3000 and Tempest 2000! Yes, I was an Atarian... :-p

Tempest 2000 > Tempest 3000.

But the best gameplay was in a T2K clone called Typhoon 2001. It's a free download to boot! They tweaked the T2K gameplay a bit and it works better. Jumping is far more strategic and useful than Minter designed it.

the videos for space giraffe don't look so good, but T2k and T3k didn't look that great either until you play. and then you just sink into the action... like entering another plane... :)

Jeff Minter's games have always been a bit special, a bit unique - just look at the titles :

-Attack of the Mutant Camels
-Mama Lama
-Ancipital
-ColorSpace
-Psychedelia
-Hovver Bovver
-Iridis Alpha

And of course the crossover favorite, Tempest 2000.

Jeffs games may be unique, but they are always lovingly crafted and very solid. Personally I can't wait to get my hands on Space Giraffe. Its done so hopefully MS puts it on XBLA this coming Wednesday or next...

BTW for those interested in playing SG as its meant to be played (i.e. not at all like Tempest) I'd suggest reading this....

[en.wikipedia.org]

:)

@MooYork: Yeah, wish I could get my hands on a copy of Tempest 3000 for PSX.

minter doesnt own the tempest name, hence this is space giraffe

review...

I mean, fuck me twice, it's good.

Really, really good.

I did enjoy the frolics with Gamecube VLM, but was always gagging for Jeff to take the environment and build a playable game around it.

And that's exactly what he's done. It's as mentalist-psychedelic and pyrotechnic as you'd expect, but also beautifully refined in terms of difficulty balance/risk & reward.

The visual and technical audacity is breathtaking. It just feels beamed in from another planet. I've absolutely no idea where to start having an idea about how it's done, but if it looks like magic and feels like magic…

It's like a bench-test workout for yer high-def telly. After all those nice, placid, colourful games displayed very calmly and correctly, Space Giraffe is like a big fat can of spinach to a Plasma's Popeye.

Think of Geometry Wars as a 9.99 Standard Family Box sensibly rationed in the back garden, with the Firework Code rigidly observed, watched through the windows just in case the kiddies get scared. Space Giraffe is like strapping on a jet-pack and soaring and swooping around the Sydney New Year display while ripped to the living tits on mescalin.

Knee-jerkers might twitch about it being 'another Tempest'… And it sorta-kinda is. But more like Tempest 2000 Ultra-Deluxe with all the faintly annoying stuff taken out and some really, really ace progressive game mechanics weaved in.

Instead of just constantly trying to keep everything away from the edge of the web and always being rammed into a defensive, siege-mentality corner (my gripe with Tempest all along) you're now rewarded for playing in a much more free, open, strategic and (best) aggressive way - harvesting points, boosting a bonus multiplyer, always always pushing the line between pure survival instinct and score maximisation.

In short, my idea of gaming heaven - pretty on the outside, wild at heart.

All the usual obsessions are there - but in a funny, light, lovable way. The character of text announcements is cute enough ("Top hole!") but the sound design is laugh-out-loud astonishing: a spasming cacophony of bleats, yelps, barks, shrieks, Jarvis game steals, music and film samples…

And the pacing is perfect. Not just in terms of gameplay/difficulty curve; there's a constant slideshow of spooky, mind-warping background images and textures and zapping, synapse-like white flares. It's fucking cinematic - like a hallucinogenic, inner-space odyssey into the designers' minds and pop-culture cues.

But the really great thing about Space Giraffe is that it feels like Jeff loosening up and getting back to all the things that made us love his stuff in the first place - an unadulterated love of old-school arcadey gaming filtered through his unique, idiosyncratic goggles.

I give it six-and-three-quarter stars. Out of five.

Red, shiny ones, with a sort of fucked-up, glowing, pulsing, transcluscent, reptilian, mind-clearing quality about 'em.

Wow! A new Jeff Minter game for only 5 bucks?! BUY or DIE!

Yak. *sigh* Your XBox love annoys me. You're still my hero, but, you know, *sigh*.

(sulks in corner playing Llamatron:2112 on dilapidated Atari ST)

I've played it. It kicks ass once you comprehend the new tactics and learn to read the playfield (via visuals and sound). If you can't do that you just need to give it some time. It really isn't unfair, though it looks it at first glance.

Level 64 is gonna make some people swear though. :)

If you like a challenge, it's awesome. If you prefer the modern style of games where you're just taken on a ride without having to master anything, then it's probably not for you.

I don't have a significant other :'(...

Am I the only one disappointed that there are no actual Giraffe in the game?

What!? No giraffes??? Fuhgeddaboudit!

Maggie Greene = new Kotaku writer?

If so, then welcome. :)

This game looks no good to me.

I want a game where I'm a giraffe in a spacesuit flying to Mars and zapping aliens. Then, in the end, I find out that the alien race is what created existence on Earth in the first place so I go with them to their home planet to find out more about my existence while Jerry O'Connell and Don Cheadle have to fly back to earth alone.

My Space Giraffe would be loosely based on the 2000 film Mission to Mars. Except more alien zapping.

I will follow the creator of Tempest 2000 to the ends of the earth and I will buy all of his games.

@Scrapple: "Space Giraffe is like strapping on a jet-pack and soaring and swooping around the Sydney New Year display while ripped to the living tits on mescalin."

SOLD! Post of the week. And it's only Sunday night!

@stinky_ox (aka Jeff Minter or Giles) (and the rest of the llama crew i.e Scrapple - nice review btw):

I dont see why you have to be so insecure about one review, come on it's just one guys opinion. If your game is good then: a) the overall balance of reviews will bear this out, and b) people are easily able to demo the game before they buy, so reviews are not as important in this market as for full price games. Also, it is only 400 points so not really a game to make agonising purchasing decisions over.

If your game is as good as you obviously think then chill and let the game speak for itself. I certainly will be checking it out when it is released.

@ZombieAlmeida:

Actually I think "Scrapple" is a writer for Edge magazine that assisted with testing, not a Llamasoftie.

Checked into it - yes those comments were from Andy Lowe, a UK journalist that writes for the Edge.

All I'm gonna say, is that from what I've checked it, I did fear for the health of my eyes with all the retina burning stuff going on, and that I did die quite a bit and wonder what the shit hit me.

I will also say that, after watching other videos and keeping at it, I am dieing alot less, and am leaning to play the game better now.

If what Stinky Goat says about the OXM reviewer is true (and Im sure it is), all I can say is that is fucking pathetic. This does not reflect well on gaming journalists as a whole to test something so poorly, and so ignorantly, that you can't even look beyond the very first layer of the surface.

Space Girrafe (and VLM) is one of the main reasons I picked up a 360, and T2000 is one of my all time favorite games. I'll be picking it up come launch. I hope I enjoy it as much as I hope I will once I peel back the layers.

@axel000: Sorry just to put the record straight, if it is whom you say, then you have proved me right as he is apparently one of Jeff's best mates (aka SickBoy on his forums) so not entirely unbiased. And doesn't he write for Total Film?

Anyway, I can't wait to play it.

@ZombieAlmeida:

Yes he writes for both Total Film and Edge.

What can I say, I like this game. Regardless of the negative reviews it's received, I knew I was going to buy it, especially for a measly 400 Microsoft points ($5). Heck, I still play Tempest 2000 and Tempest 3000 on the Jag and NUON respectively from time to time (not to mention Defender 2000, which I still think is an underrated gem). Enough about the past though...

Space Giraffe looks a lot like Tempest, but it plays a good bit differently. The strategy for scoring is completely different, as you actually want to let the standard enemies get to the rim of the pipe so you can "Bull" them off to "Rinse" the pipe. It changes the strategy completely, and I think really makes for something more than another Tempest sequel. I can kind of see how some people might think the visuals are too much, but all I can say is that those complaining about it being "too difficult" obviously haven't spent too many quarters in the old-school arcades of the world. This game is bliss for those of us who have.