Favs From the Floor at PAX

 Here’s a rundown of some of my favs from the floor. As usual I stuck to indies since the crush of people in the AAA lines make me stabby.

Move or Die

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB22pGSf1Vs[width=650,height=366]

 Lured in by the super cute art I tried this one hands on with the devs at the press hour and it was tons of fun. Move or Die is a party game with rapid fire levels and changing goals played with friends on the couch or online. It will definitely start some friendly feuds as a party game.The devs from Those Awesome Guys LLC in Romania were probably letting me win, but the game had that “omg just one more level” appeal. I really had to tear myself away to go see other stuff before the unwashed masses descended upon the floor. I’ll give this one my game of show.

The Phantom PI & Kitty Disastrous
 Tim & Kathy from Rocket 5 Studios are pretty much my favorite people to visit at PAX.  They’re super nice and their booth is always awesomely decorated complete with handmade pins. This year they were showing off their comedy puzzle adventure game, The Phantom PI, which is already available on iOS, and just got greenlit on Steam so I’ll finally get to play it. They also had a build of a new title they just started working on called Kitty Disastrous, which is a puzzle platformer love story between a cat and ferret. I got a few minutes hands on before I had to run off to the keynote and it looks like its going to be lots of fun!

Mayan Death Robots
 These guys sent me a press inquiry before PAX asking if I wanted to see their game that was based on Scorched Earth with a monkey robot as their mascot. Considering how many hours of my childhood were spent playing Scorched Earth and the fact that my friends have a contest going to see if anyone can count how many monkey things are in my house (spoiler they have determined I own infinity monkeys. I wish they’d get on writing me the next Shakespeare so I can retire) I had to find them on the floor! I only had a few minutes for some hands on play but I am really looking forward to having some free time to check out the beta build and hope to get a proper review up at some point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWe03XR2lbg[width=650,height=366]

The Swindle
 I should confess that I really went to Size Five’s booth to see if I could persuade them to make a third Ben There, Dan That game. Dan Marshall proved he is truly a time gentleman and scholar (I heard sure they made him a full professor when he visited Harvard post PAX) and humored me while I sucked at trying to play his new game, The Swindle. I loved the art style, but stealth is one of my least favorite game mechanics. If you do enjoy stealth then definitely check it out when it hits Steam and consoles later this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysY46cp_RGE[width=650,height=366]

 In researching this article (cuz proper journalist fact check their work)  I found that Size Five also made a game called Privates which I need to figure out a way of importing a copy of to the US. I wish we had this game when I took health in high school! This one needs a NSFW warning in the US but in the UK it won a BAFTA. No SRSLY it did!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfY4YB1fBKs[width=650,height=366]

Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet & Ghost Control Inc.
A point and click adventure with pirates and puns?! Shut up and take my money!

 This sequel to the freeware original Nelly Cootalot Spoonbeaks Ahoy was kickstarted in 2013 and coming soon. I am looking forward to playing both of these titles!
In same booth, publisher Application Systems London was also showing off Ghost Control Inc. Looks kinda like turn based pixel graphics Ghostbusters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUtgs-vB7hM[width=650,height=366]

YIIK
 This booth was always too busy every time I walked by to get some hands on time but it looked pretty cool from standing around watching other people play. The best way to describe it from afar is hipster RPG, since the protagonist wears flannel, has a beard and glasses and his weapon of choice is vinyl records. Keytars are also involved (I’m kind of hoping for a theremin in later levels).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKvDypy1Mrw[width=650,height=366]

Just Cause 3

 So, technically I saw this on a panel not the floor and its not an indie, but damn it looks like fun. The third installment of the franchise from Avalanche Studios will have Rico going back to his roots to take down the dictator ruling his homeland with an iron fist.  The game play isn’t polished enough yet to show off but the screenshots look great and there are certainly all sorts of cool things to blow up and grapple from. The panel had lots of comparison to Michael Bay (“No in the good Michael Bay way we swear”...said no one ever) and the one thing he actually does right: ‘splosions!’. No word on if the voice acting will be just as terrible (in the best possible way) as Just Cause 2 was.