That's right, the "Mars Extraterrestrial Navy" is evil. At least that's what you can infer from this short demo created by Caz for the game "HEROGOOD VS. VILLAINBAD". This 5-minute demo gives you just enough to tease about the plot and what we might expect from the fully released game.



Story:
As the title implies, you are HEROGOOD, the commander and navigator of your ship. Among your crew are STARHART (the pilot) and HEADSTRONG (the gunner). You are heading towards Mercury to begin researching evolving life. VILLAINBAD has the same goal and will stop at nothing to make sure you don't succeed. Based on the names of the characters and the fact that enemy organization is abbreviated "MEN", I would guess that this game could be a parable to shed some light (or make fun of) a larger issue. Perhaps it's a battle of the sexes? Only Caz knows.

Gameplay:
In this short demo, you'll shoot down MEN flying saucers and smaller ships with impunity. Your ship isn't too fast, so if you can't destroy all enemies it doesn't appear to be a problem, just let them pass you.

After about 30 seconds of shooting ships, your have your first boss battle! It's VILLAINBAD and he's out to destroy you. His ship is saucer shaped as well but bigger than the other ships, and he's the only once who shoots back! Once you've hit him a few times, he'll run away and the demo ends here.

Graphics:
The graphics are all created in a two-tone calculator green color. It's almost as if this could have been a handheld game with a joystick and single fire button. That being said, the resolution is excellent and the lines are sharp. The only concern I had was that I could hardly see the pellets I was firing. I wasn't playing on full screen and it just took me a second to realize what the projectiles looked like. Overall, I kinda like this graphical style and the bullet collision detection seems to work just fine, even if some of the bullets stayed on the screen and should have erased.

Overall:
The HEROGOOD VS. VILLAINBAD demo does it's job well, by giving you a taste of what the story will be like (humorously sarcastic?) and the feel of the actual gameplay. It's a space shooter and the demo has given me enough to want to play the full game once it's available. I'm looking forward to seeing what's in store. Will there be "away" missions? Possibilities are endless right now.