I'm back, since I don't want this thread to rot. So, more inde stuff, this time of the shooty variety.
This is
TAGAP - The Apocalyptic Game About Penguins. It may or may not have some influence from the military penguins from
Madagascar, but frankly, I don't care.
So, what's the story about this thing? There isn't. Why there should be? There are these Finnish guys making a game about a penguin escaping a lab and shooting EVERYTHING in his way, full stop. It isn't a good backstory, but it doesn't need a good backstory. Doom didn't have a good backstory, but it was fun as hell
(ha-hah, what a gag), so suck it up.
As you can see, it's a 2D shooter where you waddle around with the keyboard while you use the mouse to aim and shoot. Shoot what? Zombie penguins. Well, technically they aren't really undead, it's more of a reduced-to-a-rabid-cannibal-animal thing. Why? Military drugs. Yes, there are drugs. I'm not kidding.
Visually speaking, the game is very polished. It may look a bit simple, but who cares? It has lights, it has shading, it has antialiasing, it looks pretty enough, and, more importantly, it had almost no slowdowns or graphical problems on release, all the way back to 2007. And now, with the HD patch, those problems are gone even on more modern computers. Yes, even Mac.
And the musics? You've got to hear the music. Just go to the site and hear the main theme. It immediately catches you in its catchyness. Also, the entire OST has been made by pretty much
one guy, which automatically doubles the awesome.
Let's talk about the gameplay. You start at point A and you must reach point B. In between, tons of adorable waddling killers, with occasional locked doors and key-holding minibosses and bosses. At least until you the later levels, where the game stops goofing around and throws minigun-wielding giant mooks and robots with plasma guns pretty much non-stop. Though, by that point, you'll have so much firepower Michal Bay will have to take a cold shower.
Let's talk about the weapons. You can change your weapon instantly with the mouse wheel or with the number keys. Every weapon has two functions, corresponding to the two mouse buttons; for example, the infinite (but weak) miniguns can be aimed indipendently from each other, while the rocket launcher chan choose between "point and shoot" and "follow the mouse cursor". This pretty much doubles your options for destruction.
Addictionally, TAGAP rewards players that rack up mayhem. Enough points will net you an extra life, in perfect Arcade spirit. A hundred enemies killed equals powerups for even MORE killings. More importantly, a killstreak (killing many enemies in a short time) nets you the titular TAGAP pills (Tissue Augmenting, Green, Addictive Pills), which are your health. Basically, if you're in a pinch, whipping out the superweapons against the hordes of regular enemies may save your life. Even more when you consider that those green pills are still drugs, so if you get over 100%, you go in OD. Which is very good, because, besides distortions, allucinations of green penguins (really) and other effects, it'll also slow down the game to "bullet time" levels.
And when you get tired of the first game, you can tackle the second. TAGAP 2 can be described as "TAGAP: More Edition". Why? Because it has more everything. The graphics? More details, more care in the effects, more effective framerate. The gameplay? More weapons, more enemy variety, more level variety (which, admittedly, was a weak point in the first game's first half). What else? More awesome sound tracks, and more story. Yep, this game has actually a plot.
Addictionally, the game has a brand new feature: co-op for two players! Well, not really. Unfortunately, since there's no server, the only possible co-op is to play split-screen on the same computer, which requires at least one joypad (the other can either use keyboard+mouse, or another controller). Oh, well. At least they made best of what they had: they refused to stretch and distorce the image, preferring instead to change the enemy disposition so that they won't pop out unfairly from above or below.
TAGAP, its sequel, and its eventual triquel are available on the
official TAGAP site. My suggestion? Go play it. Like RIGHT NOW.
