E3 2010 Preview: Grapple Buggy (Xbox Live Arcade)

There aren’t many games from my childhood that still remain fresh and exciting. I’ve gone through most of my rose-tinted memories a few years back and come out the other side a little worse for wear. Mommy’s Best Games’ next title Grapple Buggy may provide me with a solution to my problem; offering a familiar feel to some beloved games of the past improved by the sophistication of modern game design and a quirky personality.

Grapple Buggy‘s unique look is the work of one man, Nathan Fouts himself. He’s behind the artwork (along with nearly everything else) for all of Mommy’s Best Games current releases: Shoot 1UP and Weapon of Choice. Having played all three, I think the look of the game fits well with the design intent, although I’m still in love with Shoot 1UP‘s final boss artwork. The titular buggy is sleek and polished, piloted by a sarcastic blonde and the vehicle’s disembodied brain. The contrast the far-future look of your craft against the truly alien environment and creatures is successful and gives the game a special appeal.

The dynamic duo occasionally comment on the on-screen action through short voiced over text dialogue screens. Though what we played was an early build of the game I came away wishing the chat was more frequent and played over the action with no interruption. All of the power-ups gained during the course of the game are obtained via organic sources. That’s right, the buggy appears to absorb indigenous lifeforms as a means of progression. We sampled a few of these gross-out moments, which were both cool and entirely disgusting.

Grapple Buggy emphasizes movement, exploration and challenge. It would be unfair to pigeonhole Grapple Buggy as another stab at retro gaming’s holy grail: Metroidvania (what you get when you combine Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night; see also: Shadow Complex). Instead, from what I played at E3, the game offers unique locomotion and combat mechanics that haven’t been combined or yet perfected in 2D. You can grapple around the alien environments using your inertia to fling the buggy forward or even up to the platform above. See a nearly flat cliff face ahead? No problem; just drive straight at it and let the buggy’s tires and your forward momentum carry you up the craggy surface. He explained that rather than encouraging the player to complete 100% of a grid-based map, Grapple Buggy entices the player with hints at special locations via the map and a dotted-line trail of where you have most recently been. I experienced this first-hand, un-coached, as I repeatedly flung the buggy wildly towards an unknown off-screen item. I refused to finish the demo until I got that damn thing. I will tell you now, I succeeded and it was worth it.

Nukezilla‘s been following Mommy’s Best Games now for over a year. Nathan Fouts is a programmer, most recently for Insomniac Games, who has moved to indie development and has met with a good deal of success. In addition to getting time with Grapple Buggy, we had a blast picking his brain about indie development, his opinions on E3 and the future of MBG past Grapple Buggy. He offered love for Sonic 4 and geeked out with us when talking about HD displays, iPads and Windows Phone 7. There may be mobile versions of his games coming in the future, but he admits each platform brings its own complications.

Currently Nathan is shopping the game to publishers in the hopes for an Xbox Live Arcade release. This will be the company’s first as the prior two games were released as part of Xbox Live Indie Games. We all wish him the best of luck, as Grapple Buggy is his most ambitious game yet and one I will be sure to play more of when it’s released as soon as this winter. Get a look at the game in its latest form in the gallery below and tell us what you think of Grapple Buggy.