Space Giraffe

Tags: Casual - Twitch & Arcade Additional Tags: Delete Local Content & Remove from Library TLDR: Blurry, flashy, poor quality on-rail popamole with odd aesthetics suggestive of deviantart at times. Controls poorly on all input formats. Repetitive. This is a rather strange game in which you move a small 3D shape on a small pre-defined path, which is as thin as a wire, and usually shaped into a letter or a symbol. You spam direction inputs and try to wave left and right to catch incoming stars of some description. So in a sense it also ressembles a tube runner, but without a free ability to rotate around the tube. The game is probably best ... appreciated... for its odd announcer text messages, purple color palette and trippy-on purpose very in your face presentation. But in terms of game design, mechanics, controls, progression, engine, entertainment value or any other metric it falls rather flat. Removing permanently for declutter. If you still want to play some sort of eccentric tube runner-like try Luxuria Superbia perhaps. https://store.steampowered.com/app/269150/Luxuria_Superbia/

I do not know what the hell space giraffe was trying to "do" but I appreciate it for what it is, however I found the game incredibly difficult and very strange. The gameplay feels tight but disjointed, everything by itself makes sense, jumping, pods, powerups, enemy types, movement, shooting, all of it works fine on its own, but when experienced all together during a level nothing seems to work well, or at least work how I expect it to after having experienced everything by itself. I did not finish it. I feel like this game is mocking me, trying to get me back to it like it has something to show me but I'm too small brained to see it, maybe in another life I will be a better gamer.

Oh right, I also played this before the Gridrunner game.. This is a bit more confusing and the bullets disposed by the enemy spike...triangle...things... are not that easy to spot inbetween all the nonsense happening on screen.. Then again I could just be bad at games, but that's only a rumor going around without any substance to it. It's probably worth it, if...yeah...if...honestly I am not really sure what you are looking for when you end up on this game's store page..By that time you're probably already committed and who am I to tell you that this is a bad game ? So let's just assume it's good.

Great port of an XBLA classic. However, what's more noticeable these days is that the overall resolution of the vectors and backdrops is low, and it's even more obvious if you turn on the high res sprites. I wish this game had an 'HD' version with the internal resolution cranked. The enemy ramming mechanic is a neat tweak on the... T formula. Aesthetically this is Minter to the max and it will be too much for many players. For eye-melting neon and strobe fans only. I think this is Jeff Minter's best tube shooter.

Space geemarsh. Warning: not actually geemarsh. Does not resemble. 🦒

probably the best game on earth

Minter's masterpiece..... "It's not Tempest" says Minter! No, it's better in every way - and I say that as a Tempest 'head' who has loved that game on arcade, MAME and T2K on the Jaguar and emulation. But this is so much more... Deeper game play, astonishing graphics that could only be done by Jeff Minter, and incredible personal, classic gaming and British culture 'mementos' litter the game (although these may pass by millennials and young un's). The trouble with Tempest as it has evolved over the years is that it has just been added to - but too much. Where as SG is built from the ground up to be busy (especially Acid version...). I downloaded the demo twice over the years and gave up on it before finally buying the full game. My advice is to ignore the demo as it is not a full representation of the final game. It's 100% true what everyone says: don't play the game like Tempest or else you will die, quickly. Read the playing guide on the LLamasoft website, and read the in-depth 2 x FAQ's that you can find on the internet @ Gamespot website,,, To love: -Value for money - the amount of game play for the price of a takeaway pizza is astonishing. Two hundred plus levels, plus more randomised when those are done, and each one is lovingly created different by Minter. -Graphic design is other worldly brilliance... -Game play is deep and keeps you dialled in -Bonus round is classic Minter -The way the game play develops - Minter's design gives you a chance to settle in and not get killed every time. There are levels that are deliberately designed to be a bit easier to allow you some breathing space. He is the master of great game play design and implementation, -Looks stunning even on low end GPU and monitor! To be sad about (because nothing is perfect!): - The music is not as good as on T2k (but then what is?). Although you can apparently turn off the music volume in the game and allow music playing on your PC to be responded to in the game graphics - so you could play the T2K soundtrack in the background...). - The controls on a keyboard feel slightly less sharp than they should with no way to adjust that. The giraffe can sometime keep going in a way that forces you to hit a flower enemy or bullet even though you have changed direction already by a millisecond. Maybe with a controller it would be different... - The game score breakdown screens are a bit OTT and unnecessarily complex. But other than that it's an astounding piece of coding, a true digital work of art that happens to be a brilliant game too. Minter says that Space Giraffe is his best ever game, and having played a few of his I can agree. It really is that good. It nearly broke him the two plus years he spent developing it, and the stupid ignorant reviews were a tragedy that put too many people off buying it. Hopefully the game over the years gets a totally deserved classic tag with hindsight... I honestly think if you don't 'get' SG or see it's brilliance then it's you, not the game. Me, I may never play T2K again after Space Giraffe. Treat yourself and buy it (but read the game walk through first!).