SPACE DEADBEEF
Posted: 12/15/2008Wait, what?
Is there seriously a game named SPACE DEADBEEF? The answer is yes, and it’s excellent. It is created by Yuji Yasuhara. Yuji worked with the folks over at Polyphony Digital on a sleeper hit called Gran Tursimo. But according to an 2006 interview with GameAxis, “Yuji Yasuhara’s favorite genre is not driving games, but shooters.”
So what do we have here? An amazing little side-scrolling shooter for the iPhone, reminiscent of R-Type, U.N. Squadron, or Darius. And you can’t beat the price. For exactly zero dollars, you can download and be playing this gem of a game. More exciting than that is its refreshing control scheme. You target and maneuver the ship by touch. Missiles will lock on to the hostile target of your choice, and fire upon release of your finger. What results is a beautiful volley of contrails raining destruction. But what goes around, comes around. One hit, and you are toast.
This game has a modern, clean aesthetic fitting to its Gran Tursimo lineage. I imagine SPACE DEADBEEF also steals a page from the GT playbook in it being a prologue to a future, more robust game, hopefully with tilt control and power-ups.
