Created by Anna “Auntie Pixelante” Anthropy (Mighty Jill Off) and artist Saelee Oh, Octopounce was one of four indie PC games that debuted at the ARTXGAME portion of Giant Robot’s Game Over/Continue? show last April.
As Offworld’s Brandon Boyer mentions in his preview of the ARTXGAME titles, Octopounce was the only piece with an actual name. It was also the only game of the bunch that I tried out, as the other developers worked on their games up until the last minute before the show kicked off, as artists tend to do. Not that I should talk, considering I’ve put off this review for a month!
Octopounce allows up to four players to work with or against each other to catch the fish (and other sealife or birds) around them. Gulping a fish rewards you with “a blossom of sparkles” and makes your octopus brighter.
Four details that are fab:
- The octopodes doze and drift in the sea, waiting for you to pick up a controller and rouse them. Even if only two players are around, they can bounce off the snoozing cephalopods’ heads to grab the fish.
- Oh’s serene, cerulean backdrop and Anthropy’s pale squiggling sprites make a for a terrific scene to leave displayed on your monitor. It’s artwork (and a digital aquarium) that awakens as a game with a button tap.
- Dozens of messages scroll at the bottom, some with instructions (“Hi, Green! Jump and catch fish!”), others inviting more players or describing the action (“Caught one!”, “Green is the brightest right now!”).
- The ghostly swimmer that floats across the screen.
Two details that are butt:
- I might recall this incorrectly, but the bouncing sound effects are reminiscent of Sonic the Hedgehog vaulting from a spring, which isn’t an issue itself, but hearing it so many times became annoying.
- As with the other ARTXGAME pieces, Octopounce was available to the public for only one night! Organizer Adam Robezzoli, however, said a month ago, “It is possible that the games will be playable sometime in the future.”
Score:
- The most fun multiplayer game I’ve played all year (the only other multiplayer games I’ve played in 2009 are Resistance 2 and Jason Rohrer’s Between). My wife really enjoyed it, too!
See also: Tombed, Tiny Review: Calamity Annie
