From the makers of the original Thief and Deus Ex 2 comes Sword of Gary 6000. It’s a bit like Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out, but with aliens for added good measure.
Apart from the fact that this sounds like the best elevator pitch ever, Sword of Gary 6000 just landed on Kickstarter and it’s what you’d would call a veteran game developer’s dream – simple concept, silly jokes galore and no pressure (well, other than a potentially failed crowdfunded campaign).
I’m mentioning the word veteran mainly because the team behind this game (Big Beaver Hat) consists of 5 battle-scarred industry chaps responsible for the design, art and management of iconic titles such as Thief (all three originals, minus that latest thing many people say we should not mention), Deus Ex 2, Star Wars: The Old Republic and American McGee’s Alice. Not too bad of a line-up indeed, although I’m still scratching my head as to what made the bunch go from making immersive sims to developing a small 2D fighting game about slashing aliens.
The game itself promises a fighting system similar to Mike Tyson’ Punch-Out, with players (pant-less Gary) having to slash cartoon-looking aliens from six different angles while also defending themselves with an improvised shield. The concept is somewhat reminiscent of mobile games like Blood & Glory, with those also being all about slashing and timing. However, in the case of Sword of Gary 6000 it looks like players would have a more responsive arcade experience, at least judging by the illustrations shown in the campaign.
Unfortunately, those illustrations are all we get, as there is not much more shown when it comes to gameplay. Still, some depth should come from figuring out different foes and their unique timing/behaviour, and if that isn’t enough the majority of Gary’s story will be shown via silly looking comics made by the great comic book artist Ben Hall.
That being said, the realization of Gary Tinklemaker’s epic Kickstarter space adventures requires $48,000. Is it too much for such a simple concept with so little information? Maybe, but in the same time we are looking at planned releases for PC, Mac and mobile, or as the developers put it – “as many platforms as possible”. Plus, the team behind Sword of Gary 6000 is one I would definitely trust, especially when it comes to delivering jolly, over-the-top cheesiness.
Track the progress of the Sword of Gary 6000 Kickstarter in our Campaign Calendar.
