For the '90s Arcade Gamer Soul: Gunsport
Wandering the halls of PAX South, a pattern begins to emerge: the 8-bit style resurgence has well and truly ended. While '80s nostalgia still rumbles throughout the booths of small developers, '90s style is what's playing on the screens. For newer players exhausted of blocky pixels in every other cult hit of the past five years, the chunky, dense neon of this 16/32-bit inspired games will be as welcome and vibrant as they were to players 25 years ago. To players of that era, games like Gunsport feel like home.
Necrosoft Games' 2-on-2 volleyball shooter-yes, volleyball shooter-looks like a long lost Konami game from 1992. Futuristic punk rockers holding crazy laser blasters, wearing Zubaz pants, and rocking sweet quaffs straight out of a Toyah music video are arranged on either side of a net. Behind them are three goal openings arranged vertically with green on top, yellow in the middle, and red tucked right behind the goalie. The goalie stays crouched just in front of the red goal and can shoot only in limited directors with a fast spread shot that pushes around a neon green ball you're trying to get into the opposite side's goals for points. Each goalie has a partner that can freely move around, aim and shoot in a 90-degree arc, and even jump. First team to snag 60 points-green, yellow, and red are worth respectively ascending points-wins.
Gunsport is awesome with four players, nailing not just the look of past arcade games but also the camaraderie you get from playing them right next to a live human being. Few games of the era nailed both the cooperative and competitive experiences simultaneously, though. When Sam Prell and I actually beat our foes, the high fives were heartfelt and instinctive. This game will be good for the soul when it hits PS4, Xbox One, and PC this year.
[Images: Necrosoft Games]
