JForce: Unstoppable: Come For The Guilt, Stay For The Epic
Admittedly, I was suckered into this one, but this indie title actually looks pretty impressive.
Let me tell you a story.
Last night, I was sitting here, no doubt doing something incredibly important, and I received an email from a group called JForce Games. Honestly, I'd never heard of them, but since I had a brain full of caffeine I was willing to peruse the message.
In short, it was an announcement for the trailer you see embedded at right, as well as a description of the game it depicts. According to the email, JForce: Unstoppable is a top-down shooter, scheduled for release on the Xbox 360, PC, Mac, iOS and Windows Phone platforms in late 2012. It features 40 weapons and online co-op and competitive play.
Those sorts of details are what I expect from an email coming from any gaming company. The last bit of the missive however, took me by surprise. And I quote:
Pre-order discounts and beta access available for next 30 days via our Kickstarter campaign: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jforce/jforce-unstoppable [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jforce/jforce-unstoppable]
The old version of Unstoppable: http://youtu.be/H91krotx38M [http://youtu.be/H91krotx38M] (the game was not good enough to get press, hence the major overhaul)
If this trailer doesn't get some press we're going to be pretty gutted...we've spent years on this (and we still have at least another year to go). This game is our life. Any help is much appreciated, thank you!
This would be where I sneer and roll my eyes. Do these guys really think they can guilt me into promoting their game? Don't they know how jaded and cynical I am?
And yet here I am writing them up. Why? Because I dropped the cynicism for a moment and actually watched the trailer. Granted, I was only mildly impressed for the first half -- and that was mostly due to the involvement of beloved internet cartoonist Egoraptor [http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/search/author/egoraptor] -- but then things took a turn for the awesome.
And by "awesome," I mean "borderline copyright infringing."
See, JForce: Unstoppable pays homage to a number of beloved media properties. Obviously there's the nod to Contra 3 in the gameplay, but if you watched that whole trailer, you'd notice that the game includes Star Wars-esque lightsabers, and a gun that shoots blue and orange portals.
I have to hand it to the development team though: The inclusion of both of those weapons fits the game's over-the-top atmosphere and actually seems to make for some interesting gameplay nuances. That said, I can't imagine the lawyer-types are going to be too happy with it.
Still, I've got my fingers crossed for this one. Propers to JForce Games for successfully playing me like a violin.
Permalink
Admittedly, I was suckered into this one, but this indie title actually looks pretty impressive.
Let me tell you a story.
Last night, I was sitting here, no doubt doing something incredibly important, and I received an email from a group called JForce Games. Honestly, I'd never heard of them, but since I had a brain full of caffeine I was willing to peruse the message.
In short, it was an announcement for the trailer you see embedded at right, as well as a description of the game it depicts. According to the email, JForce: Unstoppable is a top-down shooter, scheduled for release on the Xbox 360, PC, Mac, iOS and Windows Phone platforms in late 2012. It features 40 weapons and online co-op and competitive play.
Those sorts of details are what I expect from an email coming from any gaming company. The last bit of the missive however, took me by surprise. And I quote:
Pre-order discounts and beta access available for next 30 days via our Kickstarter campaign: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jforce/jforce-unstoppable [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jforce/jforce-unstoppable]
The old version of Unstoppable: http://youtu.be/H91krotx38M [http://youtu.be/H91krotx38M] (the game was not good enough to get press, hence the major overhaul)
If this trailer doesn't get some press we're going to be pretty gutted...we've spent years on this (and we still have at least another year to go). This game is our life. Any help is much appreciated, thank you!
This would be where I sneer and roll my eyes. Do these guys really think they can guilt me into promoting their game? Don't they know how jaded and cynical I am?
And yet here I am writing them up. Why? Because I dropped the cynicism for a moment and actually watched the trailer. Granted, I was only mildly impressed for the first half -- and that was mostly due to the involvement of beloved internet cartoonist Egoraptor [http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/search/author/egoraptor] -- but then things took a turn for the awesome.
And by "awesome," I mean "borderline copyright infringing."
See, JForce: Unstoppable pays homage to a number of beloved media properties. Obviously there's the nod to Contra 3 in the gameplay, but if you watched that whole trailer, you'd notice that the game includes Star Wars-esque lightsabers, and a gun that shoots blue and orange portals.
I have to hand it to the development team though: The inclusion of both of those weapons fits the game's over-the-top atmosphere and actually seems to make for some interesting gameplay nuances. That said, I can't imagine the lawyer-types are going to be too happy with it.
Still, I've got my fingers crossed for this one. Propers to JForce Games for successfully playing me like a violin.
Permalink
