Washington's Wig (XBLIG)

Hit it or Quit it?

Year: 2012 -- Developer: Team2Bit -- Publisher: XBLIG

This should be an interesting experience.  It's kind of like Sloppy Seconds, but it's not because I've seen it played.  It's most like it's because I've seen it be created.  Washington's Wig was actually on an IGN webseries called The Next Game Boss.  The show was based on 6 teams of indie game developers trying to get through a bunch of challenges and ultimately win a bunch of money, as usual for these types of shows.  The challenges were designed around bumping your original concept up to the next level each week and see if it/you could keep up.  It wasn't the greatest thing I've ever seen, but it was interesting.  So anyways, this game/team was the winners, and then I saw the game pop up on Indie Games a few weeks later.  Pretty cool!

First Impression:
I've seen the game quite a bit, so I pretty much know what to expect.  This is probably most like getting with that "celebrity" you've been watching for years.  You've seen it, but it doesn't mean you don't want to be involved.  I imagine this type of game has to have a genre by now, but it's a forced-run platform type game.  You just scroll from left to right and get as far as you can, and as many points as you can.  Then you just compare it to yourself or some leaderboards and keep going.  In this game, you play a dog who is trying to catch up to George Washington to return his wig.  WTF, right?  Looked pretty fun, if not just a little crazy.  You are jumping across ice floats and dodging crocodiles and such.  At least as far as I remember.  Let's see how it actually plays!

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Fooled around for:  7 minutes (XBLIG Demo Time Limit)
7 minutes always flies by so fast..  Was thinking about taking another 7 at it, but I have enough info to review, so I will just get it done.  As seen on the show, the game design premise is to just be controlled with one button, and it holds true to that.  All you can do is jump, and then double jump.  As you progress levels by gaining enough speed throughout the level to catch up to Washington's boat, he has a bunch of excuses why that isn't the right wig and you start over, but harder.

The graphics are nice and 8-bit retro. I'm always surprised by how much detail artists can get into so few pixels and colors, but it looks pretty good in HD.  The sounds are a little basic. I'm not sure how much work they put into this after the show.  Probably just more levels, but the sounds are probably the most lacking.  The music is a catchy song, but it's just one song.  As the levels go up, you encounter different varieties of dogs as your "enemies".  Each is the same as itself, so you just get used to how to dodge them, and do it quickly.  I think the levels are not randomized, so you could really just get used to each level and get further and further.  I have no idea how far that game goes though.

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Hit it or Quit it? (80 MSP)
If you have the patience for these "simple but hard" Scroller games, as I often do, this is a pretty good one.  It's got some humor, it's got some retro feel.  I am interested in seeing the other dogs more than I am seeing what score I can get to.  I don't know if the game just goes and goes or if you can beat it.

For a buck, I'd buy it and hit it for a while longer.  After I hit one awesome lucky run that would start to get hard to recreate, I'd probably drop out though, maybe load it up again to show a friend.  But for the time I'd get out of until then, definitely worth a buck.

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How do these end up getting longer, the shorter I play a game?  Gotta keep myself focused.  Too many games, too little time.  That's what started this whole thing.  It's nice to really dig into a game, but it's not like I'm playing things long enough for a real review.  The gut reaction is all I need.  I will try to keep that in mind.