Looney Landers

I'm particular fond of these "Class of '83" arcade blasters from pixel games: Donut Dodo, Cash Cow DX & now Looney Landers! Looney Landers is clearly meant as a multiplayer arcade game but also works well in single player against a computer opponent. After a few hours, the AI becomes somewhat predictable but it still makes for a satisfying single player experience. Once you come up with some basic strategies, the AI opponent is not particularly challenging to beat score-wise. I have not yet been able to try multiplayer against a human (local PvP only) but assume it's insane and would cause friends to curse at each other. True to the description, the game is indeed fast-paced - each round is over in only 3 minutes! As usual for these kinds of games, you can also quickly restart by holding down a button on your controller. The scoring system is straight-forward, unlike many arcade games of the past, although there are a few mysteries and surprises that can be figured out after after playing and observing a few rounds. Pixel games, as usual, nails the aesthetic and the soundtrack is great, making for an enjoyable overall experience even through endless replays. It plays great on the Steam Deck, too!

At the time of this review, I've only put in about twenty minutes. I won't complain about the arcade loop being too short. No one complains about Donkey Kong only being four stages. I think the issue here is that it felt like a 30/70 split between actually playing the game and then waiting for your score to finish racking up. If there was some strategy involved on the level of other turn-based games, that might have worked, but this is primarily an action game. There is some strategy involved in the timing of releasing your player from the plane and when to deploy, but can it really factor into strategy when your opponent might take two spaces in the time it takes you to finish landing on the one with the most points? Combined with waiting for items that help to give a combo to your score, landing on the biggest reward platform almost doesn't seem worth it. I'm trying to think of any suggestions that could make the experience more enjoyable, but the time spent not playing is an issue embedded in the core of the game design. I'm at a loss, other than to suggest a single-player mode that could push the gimmicks further and demand more precision in drifting down to land, but that's a big ask. Sorry, barring any major future changes, I can't recommend this title. EDIT: Now that I've taken time to mull it over, I think what could be done to improve the game's pacing is to give both of the players (or the player and the CPU) ten seconds to drop out from the plane. That way it can still be a race to the highest scoring platform. But instead of having another player go while one is waiting for the score to be tallied, it's done in rounds. Both players are only given four jumps per stage, anyway. So round 1, ten seconds to drop, whoever scored the best wins that round, the round ends when both players finish having their scores tallied. Then round 2, and so on. 3-20: Four new stages makes a difference, and they don't feel out of place with the originals, so that's encouraging. The pinball one's great because I think if the main mode ever had a time limit for players to do their jumps, it could take advantage of player greed. You could land on a scoring platform, or you could milk racking up points on the bumpers only to lose it if you fail to land or if the opponent takes the last remaining scoring platform rendering your combo null. That adds another dimension the gameplay. Looking forward to the upcoming game mode(s) in a future update.

すごく良いゲームなのにイマイチ盛り上がっていないようで寂しい… 『Donut Dodo』開発者の新作ですよ！ 今作はスコアアタックが目玉です。 可愛いらしい見た目からは想像も出来ないほど骨太なスコアシステム。 カジュアルにも楽しめる反面、ガチるとかなり奥の深いゲームです。 1プレイ3分ほどですが、リーダーボード1位目指してたら4時間経ってた。 何度もプレイし研究を進めていく感覚がまさにアーケードゲームと言った感じで最高。 当時を生きたアケ勢の方も、80年代に憧れる自分のようなゲーマーもプレイするべき一作です。 オススメ　サントラも買え

Oof. I'm a huge fan of Donut Dodo and Cash Cow DX. Both of those are easy to pick up and play, have immediately legible gameplay that unfolds its layers over time. Loony Landers is not successful. It feels like the dev-team never "found the game" in what feels like a pile of ideas. It does not come together. I think they know that, too. One of the first posts to the community-zone is a JPG that says "you have more control than you think!" That's a band-aid to a big gameplay problem. Because the gameplay... oh my. The screen is crowded with wall-to-wall wacky-trash. There's a clown, and teeth, and goofy shoes. And spikes, which are not wacky by plenty deadly. Your button opens the parachute, unless you are tumbling, and then it's a shield (???) of baffling purpose. And there are always two parachuters... because in addition to all of the hazards, you are completing with the CPU. The CPU is blue. You are green. I'm not colorblind, but oops, I'm looking at the wrong guy... and since the control you have is so limited, it even sometimes feels like you are controlling the other guy, when in fact, you're being dumped out of the plane and what the heck is all of this? And once I figured out the gameplay loop... which seems to be "land on a bunch of arbitary platforms before the CPU player." I can't interact with the CPU player, and there is so much chaos, you don't really feel like you're competing. And the more points you score, the LONGER you must wait to play again - you are frozen as your score tallies (meanwhile the CPU claims another few platforms). I'm going to keep plugging away... there are moments of fun, maybe I haven't grokked it yet. But again, it's an arcade game, things should be clear from the jump. This is not the level of craft I expected from the team who made the other two games.

A letdown. The game only has 4 levels and can be completed in about 5 minutes. There’s very little to do - just hit Space, wait, watch your character bounce around. I managed to win 4 times in just 15 minutes of gameplay. There’s no solo mode, as you're always competing either against a CPU or another player. The premise is simple: you jump out of an airplane and try to land somewhere on a small map. The levels don’t offer much variety, and I don’t think it's worth $7.99 ($6.39 on sale). [u] [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/43342176-Why-Not-Games/#browse] My curator page[/url][/u]

Sweet arcade game with unique mechanics and tight gameplay. Looking forward to playing this with a friend, but I can already tell from the computer-controlled player 2 that there's going to be some interesting versus play with lots of laughs! It takes a few games to understand wtf is going on, but that's the case with pretty much any game worth playing - you can't have unique mechanics without at least a little learning curve. I'll see you on the leaderboard! Super fun and a good price!

Looney Landers is a fun two player arcade party game by pixel games. Play with a friend or against the cpu. Playing against the cpu allows you to score chase for a top spot on the online leaderboards. Time your jumps and glide or spin your way to pick ups and platforms. Clearing the game only takes five minutes however getting a good score takes quite a bit of practice and routing.

At first I thought this game was a short experience that could not quite compare with replayability like cashcow dx and donut dodo, however if you dive into that high score chase you will realise how wrong you were. The multiplayer aspect is good quick fun for a few rounds, but the solo is where the charm shines when trying to manipulate what the AI enemy player is doing. For any avid fan of arcade score chasing, it is a strong recommendation from me. Edit: Having played for 10h+ now, it is clear I am hooked. Things to mention: Control is not erratic - Movement after crashing is very controllable, so do experiment. AI - Can be manipulated depending on drop timings and routes.

対戦型で最終面クリア時のスコアを競うゲーム。 ここで注意したいのはプレイヤーは歩いたりジャンプしたりはせず、ただ落下するだけということ。 わずかに左右へコース変更できるが、上昇手段は持っていない。 ミスするか着地台に着地することで再び飛行機からの落下になり、その繰り返し。 残機が尽きてもその面から退場させられるだけで次の面で復活する。必ず最終面までプレイできる仕組み。 主要な得点源は着地台に着地することで、すべてに着地するとその面は終了する。 ミスせずに連続して着地すると得点が伸びるが、重要なのは面に１つだけある★。 ★を取るとコンボ数のリセットを阻止できる。 コンボ数のリセットはミスor面クリア時なので、取り続けるとコンボ数を次の面に持ち越せるので点数が飛躍的に上昇する。 これを狙い続けるのが主な攻略だが、プレイヤーは基本的に上昇できないのでかなり難しい。 自由に操作できないもどかしさはあるが、思い通りのコースを狙えた時は快感。 CPUはあまり強くないので対戦というよりスコアアタックがメインの作風。 ドーナツドドよりランダム性の強いゲーム性で、ほどほどの難易度で遊びたい方におすすめ。

fun game but very short for the msrp out the gate. not long enough for a single play, maybe the 2 player is more fun but i wouldn't know since it's local only. If you love arcade games, get it but under the caveat that it ends post stage 5.