Playing Every Game in the Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality
PEGBRJE: ‘MULTIPUCK’ and ‘SPACEBEEF’
SPACE AESTHETICS AHOY.
MULTIPUCK is a multiplayer sports arcade game created by Martin Nayeri, an indie dev and technologist based in the USA. Grabbing one other person, players will duke it out on the retro air hockey table with all of the scanlines of a supposed social connections assistant for astronauts.
Theme and aesthetics aside, players will control one of two coloured balls as they attempt to score points on this strange table. While my air-hockey table comparison makes sense as players will grab a white puck and shoot it when they can, this is more akin to a fusion with pinball than anything else.
The goal is not to ‘score in the net’ but to keep the ball bouncing off of the eight bouncy parts on the board. Four of them, the glowing circles, will change colour to whomever hit them last, which increases the amount of points gained per bounce. If the ball goes out through the ends, the player is punished with the inability to move — but this can be stopped by the glorious pinball paddles.
If managing the ball (or balls as the game goes on) was not enough, players much also manage the paddles with the bumpers of their controller to ensure that no balls that bounce out of control make their way out of the stadium. This split focus can be dangerous and annoying, but it works quite well here as a way of ensuring that even those winning still need to pay attention to more than just keeping the ball away from their opponent, especially as more balls are added.
What makes MULTIPUCK stand out is its flavour, its aesthetic and attention to detail as you play a strange fusion of airhockey pinball. Everything feels like it is coming to life, moving with you as you keep up the pace and ensure the most points can be gained. Retro aesthetics can be finnicky, but it works wonders here to keep things simple yet succulent.
If you want a game to play against another for an afternoon, these fast paced games can keep you entertained. Just be aware that you must be local, and you must have controllers, else the game does not work.
SPACEBEEF is a competitive twin-stick space shooter created by aeonofdiscord, an indie dev in the UK. The player will select their fighter and dive in to a massive space arena in the hopes of blowing everyone that isn’t themselves up.
In traditional twin-stick formatting, players will use the left set of inputs to maneuver and the right set to shoot their bullets. Since the entire region is a massive ring, players will need to be constantly rotating themselves to avoid crashing in to the walls — even if that doesn’t necessarily do damage to the ship, the bounce can cause unexpected directional changes.
What players do need to dodge are the meteors that litter the map, as they will take chunks of HP out of a ship. Bullets from other players still do a considerable amount of damage, but are much harder to dodge due to their smaller size.
There are also the lasers, the bombs, and so much more to keep the head on a swivel for that it becomes almost a game of ‘which would one rather get hit by’, especially when all players are still alive.
Death in SPACEBEEF is not the end, thanks to the numerous lives, but you’ll still be more careful for every death taken if you want to win. The map is so big you’ll be constantly seeing the camera zoom in and out to allow for better vision and control, but this can also throw you off your game depending on how much you may have been focusing.
No matter what, they who win get the spoils; good luck out there.
