PixlBit

With hundreds of new indie games spilling onto the scene each month, it's easy to overlook some of the more deserving but obscure titles. Thus, this blog.

Twin Tiger Shark--Ouya, Xbox Live Indie Games (reviewed)--Wide Pixel Games

Sometimes a game doesn’t have to be great or revolutionary—it just has to be good.

Such is the case with Twin Tiger Shark, a very old-school, arcade-style shooter available on the Xbox Indie and Ouya marketplaces. It’s an unapologetic homage to the likes of Raiden and 19XX, in which a lone fighter jet must shoot down legions of enemy planes, tanks, and various war machines to (often presumably) save the world. Indeed, a recent interview conducted by website Press Start to Begin reveals that the game was directly inspired by the classic shooters of both Capcom and Toaplan.*

No doubt, Tiger Shark’s resemblance to those classic shoot em’ ups is convincing—so much so, the game could even be mistaken for its inspiration. From the stolid 16-bit visuals to its no-frills presentation, the game is all about injecting the player into a slowly scrolling world of relentless aircraft and cannon fire in which the slightest miscalculated twitch of the stick can mean instant death. And with only three lives and no continues, this means quite the workout for those not accustomed to 1990-era difficulty.

To duplicate the vertical orientation of classic arcade machines, Twin Tiger Shark is presented in a sort of "vertical letterbox" format. It's a bit inelegant, but works well enough considering the offered alternatives (which involve turning one's TV on its side).

Fortunately, the game provides an “easy” setting (activated by default), which moderates the challenge just enough so that most players should witness the game’s five initial stages. After that, the levels repeat at a much greater difficulty, including a sixth bonus stage that some will likely never see. Three kinds of upgradeable powerups—machine gun, spread shot, and laser—help make the chaos more manageable, as do screen obliterating smart bombs, the occasional 1-UP, and friendly squadrons of planes that sometimes lend a hand.

Level variety comes largely from the end-level bosses, which add a distinctive element to each stage but still seem less epic or memorable than they should have been. More troubling is the lack of co-op play, which was always a staple for these kinds of games back in their heyday. The leaderboard system, however, is surprisingly cool; after the player achieves his score, the game will offer a unique QR code that can then be converted into a recordable score via one’s cell phone or tablet. It works extremely well.

In the end, Twin Tiger Shark is not a legendary achievement, but it doesn’t need to be. Instead, it simply accomplishes what it set out to do—to offer fans of this long abandoned genre an experience both fresh and familiar at the same time. And in that, this fast-paced, polished shooter succeeds wonderfully. And even better, it can be had for a mere dollar.**

 

*Toaplan is a now defunct game company perhaps best remembered for Truxton, an intense shooter, and Snow Bros., a fun n' quirky platformer.

**The Xbox Live price; the Ouya version may be priced differently.

 

Thanks to www.ouya.tv for the image.