Written by: PlayDevil.com Staff

 

 

 

‘Game 3’ is the current working title of The Behemoth’s latest XBLA title. The game is inspired by a popular platform game contained in The Behemoth’s previous "Alien Hominid" game’s PDA, but has changes significantly since its inception. It is set to offer a single player campaign and a number of multiplayer party game options.

 

The single player is currently under wraps. All Dan Paladin and John Baez were able to say was that the theatrical theme seen in the multiplayer does make up a large part of the game, and that the white square-headed character that appears in the promotional images, is to be your emotionally unstable adversary.

 

Currently the multiplayer is team based pitching two sides against each other (maximum numbers for each team are undecided) with three game modes. One mode requires you to an opposing team’s players to steal their souls.

 

Once you have their soul it turns in to a game of cat and mouse as the person holding the soul accumulates points until the other team can it back. Another method requires you to chase a golden eagle around the map. The eagle drops gold when touched, which each team has to collect as much of as possible and return it to a (floating) safe. Finally, there is a mode that I feel is best described as Othello (in terms of its goal at least). In this mode the aim is to change as many tiles as possible on the map to your teams color by touching them.

 

Every multiplayer game was pure chaotic pleasure and due to it being a platform game very accessible and easy to pick up for anyone. It will be interesting to see how they balance maps, the levels I played felt a little too large for the two and three people playing, but if the player capacity ends up being sixteen then a similar map could fast become too cramped and frantic.

 

Game 3 looks set to offer simple platforming fun, which when combined with Dan Paladin’s appealing art style (which this time features some character customization), will no doubt draw a wide range of people to the title.

 

I will confess I wonder how the single player game will work, being so tuned for party play, but the studio has always managed to convey narrative effectively in their games through animation and environment so I have confidence that there will always be something to tempt the player forward.