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From Beyond Outré Space
Strangeluv- 01/03/2011 02:23 PM
- 9385 views
How do I begin to talk about Space Funeral? This is a game filled to the brim and gloriously overflowing with Bizarro-type abysses that act as abscesses filled with absolute abstractions. The title alone makes you wonder: what is a space funeral? Is it a funeral set in space, or is it a funeral that is being held for the concept of “space” itself? And by space, I do not mean the “outer” kind, but rather the expanses of where everything is located. Is a funeral being held for these expanses? It could be, since our characters’ journeys end in a legendary place called the City of Forms, from which all things in the world are derived.
Our heroes are Phillip, a mix between the Pillsberry Dough Boy and Charlie Brown in pyjamas, and Leg Horse, a decapitated quadruped whose “headshot” avatar makes me chuckle and who still can somehow speak (I can only imagine the gurgling sounds from his bloody oesaphagus). Neither are given much characterization past this, unfortunately, but perhaps that’s not such a bad thing. You learn some new things about Leg Horse, but Phillip remains the same wailing pyjama cry-baby. The supporting characters are one-note but enjoyable, nevertheless, though slightly forgettable.
The plot
To say the Space Funeral is eerie and twisted would be an understatement, and descriptions like that usually parallel “Burton-esque” nowadays, which is nothing this game’s atmosphere is. This game is outré. This game comes from the outré spaces where funeral conventions are consistently being held for the conventional. To see Phillip walking, wailing in his pyjamas, past spider-legged fissures along the grotesque grave-ospheres and men with eternal fountains of blood spewing from chopped off necks. Particularly striking is the Blood Cavern, an eldritch abomination of terra firma with the hue of ripe cherries. As you try to navigate this place, a quiet humming punctuated by a voice chanting slowly to you, monotone and emotionless, about body parts and blood.
The music selection itself deserves a commendation for hitting all the right notes. I did like that sailing theme a lot! The downfall in the game, unfortunately, lies with the gameplay. While the graphics are custom and the style is gracefully dreadful, after ten minutes of playing, it had come to my attention that I could win every fight by just selecting Auto-Battle. This method was even successful during the fight with the final boss. The enemies, however, are very interesting. The best one is the King of Crime whose cigarette smoke spells out “KING OF CRIME”. But, hell, I’d take easy battles than frustrating battles anytime. And with a game like this, when I wanted to just get further into the plot without engaging in a lot of battles, I didn’t mind. But it’s still not excused.
Even the cigarette knows he's the KING OF CRIME
Another problem I had was with the navigation. While I had no problem whatsoever with the graphics, the layout of some proved problematic for me as I had to walk all over the place sometimes to advance to the next screen. I also was not fond of pressing Spacebar everytime I had to exit a house.
Those things may seem small, but they are definite detractions. The game is popular in the “mainstream” indie videogame world and deservedly so. It is comical and ludicrously off-beat, while being downright spooky at some points. The game reminds me of a stretched-out version of the final Giygas fight from Earthbound… if it were on Auto-Battle.
Our heroes are Phillip, a mix between the Pillsberry Dough Boy and Charlie Brown in pyjamas, and Leg Horse, a decapitated quadruped whose “headshot” avatar makes me chuckle and who still can somehow speak (I can only imagine the gurgling sounds from his bloody oesaphagus). Neither are given much characterization past this, unfortunately, but perhaps that’s not such a bad thing. You learn some new things about Leg Horse, but Phillip remains the same wailing pyjama cry-baby. The supporting characters are one-note but enjoyable, nevertheless, though slightly forgettable.
The plot
To say the Space Funeral is eerie and twisted would be an understatement, and descriptions like that usually parallel “Burton-esque” nowadays, which is nothing this game’s atmosphere is. This game is outré. This game comes from the outré spaces where funeral conventions are consistently being held for the conventional. To see Phillip walking, wailing in his pyjamas, past spider-legged fissures along the grotesque grave-ospheres and men with eternal fountains of blood spewing from chopped off necks. Particularly striking is the Blood Cavern, an eldritch abomination of terra firma with the hue of ripe cherries. As you try to navigate this place, a quiet humming punctuated by a voice chanting slowly to you, monotone and emotionless, about body parts and blood.
The music selection itself deserves a commendation for hitting all the right notes. I did like that sailing theme a lot! The downfall in the game, unfortunately, lies with the gameplay. While the graphics are custom and the style is gracefully dreadful, after ten minutes of playing, it had come to my attention that I could win every fight by just selecting Auto-Battle. This method was even successful during the fight with the final boss. The enemies, however, are very interesting. The best one is the King of Crime whose cigarette smoke spells out “KING OF CRIME”. But, hell, I’d take easy battles than frustrating battles anytime. And with a game like this, when I wanted to just get further into the plot without engaging in a lot of battles, I didn’t mind. But it’s still not excused.
Even the cigarette knows he's the KING OF CRIME
Another problem I had was with the navigation. While I had no problem whatsoever with the graphics, the layout of some proved problematic for me as I had to walk all over the place sometimes to advance to the next screen. I also was not fond of pressing Spacebar everytime I had to exit a house.
Those things may seem small, but they are definite detractions. The game is popular in the “mainstream” indie videogame world and deservedly so. It is comical and ludicrously off-beat, while being downright spooky at some points. The game reminds me of a stretched-out version of the final Giygas fight from Earthbound… if it were on Auto-Battle.
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I think Space Funeral is better when you think of it as an adventure game and not an RPG, much like each and every other catmitts game. In that context, the battles are more a novelty than a core mechanic to the gameplay.
Well, the way I see, there are two ways to look a it: you either take Space Funeral as a game not comparing it to anything else, and you're likely to have an interesting bizarre experience from it; or you take Space Funeral as a trippy RPG caricature, which makes the game look all the more interesting and clever, but I guess it would turn the lack of battle challenge into an actual problem.
The game reminds me of a stretched-out version of the final Giygas fight from Earthbound… if it were on Auto-Battle.
Sounds about right.
Strangeluv
2787
author=narcodis
I think Space Funeral is better when you think of it as an adventure game and not an RPG, much like each and every other catmitts game. In that context, the battles are more a novelty than a core mechanic to the gameplay.
Yeah that's how I looked at it eventually. But I still don't think that excuses it from being reviewed as an RPG. I did give it 4 stars, nevertheless, as it is a very unique experience.
TheNecromancer
3160
The high pitched pinging sounds whenever I attacked were kind of annoying and battles got stale quick, but the atmosphere of this game with the music/custom gfx made it worth while to play (for 20 minutes). I was baked and it was quite a trip. The music was the best thing about the game.
I got bored though and it was awkward to navigate. I think 4 stars is a little high, but it's probably because I'm not into the 'weird for the sake of being weird' aspect.
I got bored though and it was awkward to navigate. I think 4 stars is a little high, but it's probably because I'm not into the 'weird for the sake of being weird' aspect.
Well, I agree that if this game was nothing but 'weird for the sake of being weird', 4 stars would be too high. Fortunately it's not.
TheNecromancer
3160
I'm not saying it's nothing but weirdness but the weird is a pretty big part of it and if your not into that... That's why I'm not writing a review.
I didn't really make it that far in, I got a taste of it and enjoyed it.
I didn't really make it that far in, I got a taste of it and enjoyed it.
catmitts
4862
ahahaa OUTRE SPACE is p good. Also thanks for the review! I think someone else mentioned the way you sometimes leave areas by walking offscreen and sometimes do it by pressing a key, my rationale for this was that you should use the action button to open doors in and out of houses but judging from reaction I probably should have thought it out a lil bit more.
incidentally the sailing music was originally gonna be a baltimore club song called Shorty You Fat but i had to change it because it overshadowed literally everything else in the game.
incidentally the sailing music was originally gonna be a baltimore club song called Shorty You Fat but i had to change it because it overshadowed literally everything else in the game.
author=catmitts
incidentally the sailing music was originally gonna be a baltimore club song called Shorty You Fat but i had to change it because it overshadowed literally everything else in the game.
You should have used that song in the game ending.
Jericho
52
robert frost never grinded down eiffel tower
e: or did he?.... look forward to exciting conclusion in post 2
e: or did he?.... look forward to exciting conclusion in post 2
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