23 preview: No Quarter

Exclusive Preview: No Quarter

This is the title screen, sorry about the lazy crop, for some reason NQ doesn't like full screen screen captures

You may or may not have heard about Edmund McMillen and Alex Austin's newest project; No Quarter. No Quarter is going to be a game compilation that will play with 6 different games, or "tracks," much like a music CD. The game is still in fairly early beta, so I'm just telling you of what it's like so far, which may be very different than the final version. So, I managed to get my hands on a copy of the indiecade beta, with my awesome indie games press skills, and here's what I think of it so far.

Sliding on a platform while shooting zombies out from the air... yeah, this game is pretty awesome

The first track, Hitler Must Die!, is a 2D action/shooter/platformer. In this game you play as a Russian agent assigned with the awesome task of killing hundreds of invading Hitler clones. After the opening scene (done in stills) explaining this, you start right in the middle of an open, rocky terrain in the middle of the night. The art style is completely black and white, except for the blood. The moon shines in the background, occasionally getting blocked by the foreground. Light shines from the moon and from lightbulbs and windows inside, the lighting engine is as good (if not better) than that of Gish's. The game play is kind of slide-y and squishy, but that makes it perfect for sliding through halls filled with retarded Hitler clones while mowing them down with your Uzi. You get 4 guns (so far), your pistol, the Uzi, the shotgun, and grenades, all if which have infinite ammo (for now). Expect there to also be a flamethrower and to get these items randomly from enemies in the final version. One of the main features that makes this game really stand out is the physics system. When you kill an enemy, they don't just die, they fall (or if hit by a grenade, fly) backwards. This is very rewarding, especially with enemies that fall off ledges or get shot midair. So far, this is the high point of NQ, fun, addicting, and unique. Also, it has a good sound track.

GOOD COMBO!!! woohoo! ...these are common when you try to play as fast as you can...

The second track is Trivium. (20cc says: That's a band!) Trivium plays like Tetris with physics. The point is the connect 3 of the same type blocks and they will disappear, with new types of blocks appearing each level. So far it's fun, but a little slow. The bouncy physics make for a semi chaotic experience, controlling with the arrow keys gives you enough control to put the blocks where you want them, but still is inexact enough to always keep them moving. And, once again, this game also has a nice sound track, sort of a techno version of the Tetris theme. If you want to play it's already in a released beta version of NQ, and there's a very similar game Alex made a while back named Triptych. Oh, there's also a high score board to keep track of your scores.

THWOMP! The red center is a explosive, but hard to get to, also for some reason this one covered the toolbar

The third track is Epic Flail. EF is pretty early in development, but the concept is still established. You play as a small spaceship which has a huge bolder attached to it by an extending cable. You use the bolder to smash the one huge piece of space debris, eventually reaching the exploding core. The goal is to smash the falling debris into small enough pieces that it will burn up in the atmosphere, and not destroy the city below (or move the falling pieces far enough away from the city). In my opinion, this is the second best game of the track, and after it gets multiple levels, ships, and debris, it's sure to shine.

So... I filled in the outside... even playing on the small board can be tough

Track number four is Hext. Hext is very similar to Scrabble; it's a word game where you use your given letters in spaces on the board to make words. There is one very big exception though; all the pieces are 6 (hex) sided. The end objective is to fill the whole board with letters that combine to make as many words as possible and have the highest score (based on which letters you used). There is a handy in-game dictionary in case you want to check to see which words the game recognizes (almost all words are accepted), or to plug in some letters and see if it's a word. This game has a small and large board size, and also features a high score board.

My very unimpressive tree... atleast it didn't tip over

Track five is Seedling. So far Seedling is just a toy in which you build and grow a tree. It does it pretty well, although it's hard to make a sturdy tree that actually looks like a tree. The mechanics work fairly well, although you are able to make severely messed up trees. It's surprising how well a bunch of triangles can represent the growing of a tree. Anyway there isn't much else to say about this, because there isn't much there; build a tree, triangle by triangle, make it grow, and give it leaves and roots to catch sun and water. Hopefully this game will eventually emulate the life and hardships of a growing tree, full with competing wild life and environmental effects.

This is after the shuttle has split up in to three parts... believe it or not, this is what NASA uses...

The sixth, and last track of NQ is a work solely created by Alex. It is called Odyssey. Do you remember that game from way back when, the one where you had to land the spaceship on the moon? Well, this game is a lot like that, only that it feels like a bigger scale, and it's been updated with better physics and the idea isn't just to land, but to also drop off the rover and return to the base (i think). It's a lot more forgiving then the original (or the dozens of versions made with the same mechanic), and I think with the right music it could turn in to a very atmospheric, space-y, and somewhat lonely game.

So that's No Quarter. For all the beta testers, expect to see this version in about a week, and for everyone else, well, lets hope they release it by, idk, before the end of the year? Anyway, this game looks like it could be a real winner, hopefully it will get the attention it deserves when it comes out. Expect to see more footage up once all the testers get it!

P.S. Here are some more Hitler Must Die! screens for being a good reader and getting all the way to the end of the article!

23 updates: A New Zero

Yesterday Cryptic Sea released a new version of A New Zero, version 0.74. The main features of this version are no towers, option for player control of turrets, and added support for penalties and removing team killing. Lack of towers is a bit annoying cause now people can just run in and bomb your base. They definitely are on there way to making a great multiplayer game, and I suggest you try it out, even if your computer isn't the best, you can turn off the fancy graphics, and the installer is less then 1mb. Be careful though, I have noticed a glitch in some computers where when you try to run the game it just restarts your computer, but try it out, and if it does, oh well, see if you can play it on a different PC.

23 reviews: A New Zero

Name: A New Zero
Author: Cryptic Sea (Alex Austin)
Version: 0.71
Platform: Windows
Price: Free!
Players: 1-16
Website: A New Zero homepage
Video: Official trailer

A New Zero is Cryptic Sea's “bomb the other base” game. You play on either the gold “Condor” team, or the blue/grey “Eagle” team. You choose from 3 vehicles; a jet, a missile boat, and a gunboat. The objective is to destroy the other team’s base before they destroy yours.
The gameplay, controls, and concept is simple enough for a beginner to get the hang of, but the content, LAN play, and strategy keeps the game new and fun for hundreds of hours. Each team has a spawn base, and 5 destructible buildings; two towers (right now, only used to protect the capital), two factories (which generate money at a certain rate, needed to buy/spawn more vehicles) and a capital (also generates money, and if destroyed the other team wins the game), as well as some destructible turrets to guard each structure. Each building (besides the base, which is invincible, and the two towers) has a green core, which if hit (with either a bomb or a missile) will explode and destroy the whole structure with a huge explosion. Each vehicle is designed with a cube on the top which represents the player/camera. While in first person view the camera will be shown from there, but a third person view is also available for a wider view. The camera does act as a tangible object, so if it is hit (and struck from your vehicle) not only does your vehicle get destroyed in a small explosion, but your camera flies off, taking the first and third person view with it, while your vehicle just keeps on moving in the same direction with none of your control.
The games’ design is a very simple and sleek geometric/cubic design, with destructible environments (all structures, beside the base, are destructible, including wings and tail fins of the planes), the colors stay in a kind of golden/yellow sepia feel, which the haunting and unnatural music accents nicely. Not only is the game beautiful but it also has a very nice physics engine. This game does have very nice graphics, so a higher end machine is suggested to fully enjoy it, although the download itself is slightly under 1mb.
A New Zero is still in beta, so it lacks any form of true online play (other than LAN), campaign, and only has 3 vehicles, also the settings (such as full screen on) don't save over game plays, and it crashes my other computer, but it already is a very fun game, and I highly anticipate the final release and hopefully they will add online play. I expect that the final product will be even more polished and enjoyable then it is now, especially looking at Cryptic Sea’s other works, including Gish, blast miner and Golf?, which are all very fun games and very well polished, but those are games for later reviews and, hopefully, maybe an interview. I’ll be sure to post an update next time a version is available, meanwhile, enjoy!