Cute chaotic robot ninja explody fun with Plain Sight

6:30 PM on 03.17.2010   |   Hamza CTZ Aziz

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Plain Sight is a game where you play as robot ninjas that use swords to attack other robot ninjas in order to steal their energy. The more robots you kill, the more energy you gain to upgrade your own robot's abilities and powers. And the only way you can upgrade your robot is by self-destruction.

Robot ninjas with swords and suicidal upgrades -- if that hasn't sold you yet, then nothing will. Hit the break for the lowdown on Plain Sight.

Plain Sight (PC)
Developer: Beatnik Games
Publisher: Beatnik Games
To be released: March 22, 2010
MSRP: $9.99

Plain Sight is one of those games that you have to play in order to really understand. Watching the above trailer will probably make you a little confused more than anything else. It seems like there's a lot going on as you play, but it really is simple once you grasp what you're supposed to be doing.

Plain Sight is a twitch-based multiplayer game where you'll be jumping all around a map, with the singular goal of destroying your enemies in order to become stronger than everyone else. The more enemies you kill, the more experience points you'll gain. At the same time, your robot gets brighter and bigger, thus making you an easier target. Once you've received a certain amount of EXP, you'll basically go Super Saiyan, and you'll be practically flying around the map taking out enemies out with ease. Also, you gain a flaming sword during this state. Yes, a flaming sword.

While it's fun terrorizing others as a giant robot with a flaming sword, you'll become the biggest target on the map, and if you're destroyed, all the points you had are lost; they go to whoever just killed you. So killing yourself is the best way to go in securing the points in order to win a match. Yes, you have to kill yourself. At any point after gaining EXP, you can hold down the E key to explode. Your suicidal explosions can destroy others if they're too close.

After killing yourself, you can jump to the upgrade screen, where you'll be able to improve your speed, defenses and attacks. Each perk costs a certain amount of EXP, and you'll be able to give yourself abilities such as shields, double jumps, a lock-on warning system, and a handful of other abilities. Unlocking all upgrades in a specific skill tree will unlock a mega perk.

There are 13 maps in all, with up to 20-player support. There are also five game modes: deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, turf war and my personal favorite, "Ninja! Ninja! Botzilla." In "Ninja! Ninja! Botzilla," one player controls a giant ninja robot that is wearing a Tyrannosaurus hat, while the rest of the ninjas on the map need to destroy the T-Rex bot.

Plain Sight will be out this coming Monday on the PC for $9.99. There will be dedicated servers, and Beatnik Games will be supporting the game throughout the year. Leaderboards, custom map support and more will all be coming down the line for the game.

Beatnik Games is also looking to bring Plain Sight to the PlayStation Network later this year. They're planning to add a single-player campaign and they're looking into having motion controller support for it as well.