1996 was a good year. I was five (give or take), and my biggest concerns in life were videogames, cartoons, and whether or not there was still a Dunkaroo pack sitting in the cupboard.
Happy times. Simple times.
Things only got more and more complicated going forward; both in life, and in the world of gaming. While I barely now watch TV in general, and I doubt you'd even be able to force-feed me a pack of those generic cookies and icing, I still love videogames.
We all have that bit of man-child in us in some form, eh?
Today, though the same held true even when I was young, I am a fan of the FPS genre. Titles such as Quake II and Unreal were the ones you'd normally see me blowing my free time away at. Whereas today you're more likely to see me trying my hand at Red Orchestra or Insurgency.
The twitch stylings of the old school shooters of yesteryear were put to the side for leveling systems and a strange affinity for “realism”, all the while giving players the ability to Rambo through just about every experience looking to achieve such “realism”. It's kind of cute when you think about it.
Those games are fun, but they can never replace the sporadic shooter experiences of years past. Those hundreds of wasted hours of youth ingrained into my mind, probably for good.
What we have now are modern releases that often prove more flash than substance, and even games that sell themselves as a more old-school sort of experience, though tend to still fall into many of the trappings of today's offerings.
There's someone out there thinking about me, however. Seemingly from a time capsule itself, STRAFE, from the developers Pixel Titans, appears on the scene, 90's cheese in tow. Literally selling itself as a blast from the past, the marketing, and even the visuals themselves, all scream mid-90's, 3-D accelerated goodness.
It's an entertaining market strategy, and it worked, apparently, because you have me here covering the rare Kickstarter piece.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHbpdKiInn8
This is the second Kickstarter campaign I've chosen to cover so, yeah. This one has me excited. Having had the chance to try out the demo available just a little bit before writing, even more so.
While certainly limited, the demo provides players with three genre staples (assault rifle, rail gun, and the ever-loved shotgun). All the weapons had a nice sense of weight behind them, used to dispatch the numerous enemies the developers so graciously dropped into the arena for the player to enjoy.
The demo has one simple goal, and that is to defeat the one-hundred unique enemies confronted within the level, all serving as a time trial of sort for those interested. It's short, fairly challenging, and thoroughly addicting overall. I played through the demo probably a good ten times before putting it to rest.
Overall I really enjoyed the feel of the game. The shotgun and assault rifle were both a blast to use; even if I didn't quite take to the rail gun itself. And the movement was nice and fluid, allowing for a good sense of player control.
It was great to play, is what I am trying to say.
This article was originally meant as a plead to you dear readers to make this writer's dreams come true and see the Kickstarter Project a successful one. Now that the game is already funded, I really have no need for you and, really, all this can be treated as one well written ad for the game.
I am okay with that because, even in it's current state, the game kicks ass. It's only going to get more kickass from here.
You can check out the demo at their Kickstarter where you will also find any other information you may be looking for on STRAFE. There you can also continue to support the title if you search under the "donate" tab. They are still pushing the tiered structure of their Kickstarter, so no sweat if you missed out on the campaign itself.
The game is slated for an early 2016 release date, so we still have a ways to go for the final product, sadly.
Until that day comes, however, you will find me sitting, waiting . . . bring on 1996!
