Arcadegeddon

"Arcadegeddon" is another game that appeared on Playstation Plus a few months back that I thought I'd give a try and see if it caught my attention. Whilst I don't think I necessarily got the full experience that the creators wanted to offer, a couple of sessions was enough to convince me that there's isn't anything particularly special, or unique, that the game has to offer.

You play a character whose Uncle, Gilly (Bob Carter) is a holdout game designer and arcade owner in a world where video games are controlled by massive corporations. His last great game is hacked and infiltrated by one of the corporations that is looking to destroy it and you must enter the game and fight off the corporate drones, playing with enough panache to inspire other gaming guilds, in the arcade, to form a rebellion.

The trouble with this is that, just over a year after it's initial release, it feels like the game never really caught on and doesn't have that much of a player base. The Playstation Plus release schedule has included a number of these sorts of massively multiplayer games, I'd assume timed to be released at the point the initial interested player base is dwindling and to give the game a shot in the arm. I don't mean this to sound too negative, I think Illfonic generally make solid enjoyable games, especially for a (relatively) smaller production house but this particular game is one in a genre where there's lots of competition and it's difficult, or expensive, to make much noise.

And there's nothing specifically wrong with the game. The controls are tight, and movement and shooting are decent. Graphically it's nothing special, but again do the job. I played single player through a number of short stages that make up longer levels, which involved killing off the bad guys and then either shooting a target or remaining in a section long enough to unlock the doors to the next bit. I understand that these can be done co-operatively and that there is also a player vs. Player element that I didn't engage with. Progression rewards you with various forms of currency, that can be swapped for customisations, both cosmetic and to enhance the players skills.

Again, I don't think "Arcadegeddon" is a bad game, but it's trying to compete in a genre where there are big, established players who dominate, and this doesn't offer anything unique enough to really stand out.