Dying with style in The Splatters

1:30 PM on 08.31.2011   |   Jordan Devore

11 comments

After getting some hands-on time with The Splatters, I can confirm that it is indeed quite awesome. But you don't need me to tell you that -- not when it was already an Independent Games Festival finalist and selected to be in the PAX 10, neither of which are easily accomplished.

Coming to Xbox Live Arcade at some point down the road, The Splatters is an action-puzzle title from a developer based out of Israel by the name of SpikySnail Games. In it, you control little blobs of goo not unlike the stuff you used to make as a kid using borax.

You fling these cheerful guys around the level in an attempt to make them explode. When they die, they turn into a more liquid-y goo that can wipe out bombs. Getting rid of every single one is how you win, but there's more to the game than that.

You see, the motto for this game is "Life's short. Die with style!"

By going after bombs in the most direct, obvious fashion, you can probably still "win." In order to do well in the final scoring, though, you'll need to get creative in your approach and build up combos by not taking a break between moves.

The attached video gives you a very basic idea of where The Splatters can go. At one point during my demo, I had SpikySnail's Niv Fisher take the controller and rock one of the more difficult levels of the build. He was doing all sorts of crazy stuff I couldn't wrap my head around, like subtly rewinding time to get the most out of every last splatter.

He did help make the game, after all. It may not look particularly complex at first glance, but just know that it gets pretty wild. Niv wasn't even able to earn the level's full three-star rating, and although he said they'd likely tone down the difficulty, I have a feeling The Splatters will be intensely competitive if you want it to be.

It was the most instantly gratifying game I played at PAX.