Welcome Time Wasters!
This week I spent my time on my computer with Duck Game, a fast-paced 2-D shooter with a focus on multiplayer.
Duck Game puts the player in control of…well, a duck. The game allows players to customize these ducks with different hats, many of which are references of some kind to another form of media. A perfect example of this is the “Super” hat, which gives the mallard blonde spiky hair like what Super Saiyan Goku from Dragon Ball Z sports.
My first instinct with Duck Game was to jump online and check out the multiplayer. However, I let reason set in first and took on some of the offline challenges. I figured this was the best way to learn how the game is played before I look at a competitive game type.
Duck Game offers players a variety of challenges that are spread throughout a small area offline. These challenges are stored in arcade machines and there are three a piece. It’s basically a bunch of fun mini games that will have the player testing their skills to get the best time or most kills in a level.
When a player completes a challenge, they are awarded tickets. These tickets can be traded to a sketchy looking shop owner for extra in-game options. This includes hats, moon gravity and more. He’ll also offer the player suped up challenges that they have already complete, but need to be done in a new, harder way.
While the offline is definitely fun, players won’t spend a lot of time there. The challenges will probably only take up a couple hours of their time before they’ve pretty much cleared them all. Also, the game prefers a learn-as-you-go style over offering any type of tutorial. This isn’t really bad and it definitely gives the game the 80’s feel that it’s going for, but some items (I’m looking at you grappling hook) could of used a simple on screen direction for how to use them.
Feeling that I was up to snuff on my Duck murdering game, I decided to try out the online multiplayer. Unfortunately, there was a real lack of challenge online. It’s not that the people I played against were bad, it’s just that there were so few of them. Duck Game supports up to four players in a match, but I was lucky to find two people to play with. Most of my time was spent playing 1v1. Don’t get me wrong, it was still fun, but this is a game that just screams of reaching its max potential when it has four players on the field.
Luckily, Duck Game has a solution for this: local multiplayer. Honestly, I didn’t really check it out much. Attempts to get three friends over this week to do just that were foiled by the brakes in my car going out on Sunday. No harm came to Alia or I, but it’s definitely limited our transportation options. I still tested it with one other player and it works just like online multiplayer.
I really did enjoy just how fast paced Duck Game’s multiplayer is. Matches were over in the matter of seconds and the game didn’t mess around with giving a score at the end of each level. Instead, it just moved straight on to the next one and let players enjoy the game. Every 10 matches it would stop to show players their progress in the form of a rock throwing contest, which is a simple and quick way to take care of scores.
The visuals in Duck Game are screaming 80’s. It’s not surprising as that’s the style the game is going for. Sure, it looks a good bit better than anything seen on the Nintendo or Genesis, but it still retains the overall look that era of gaming, and American fashion, had at the time.
The audio in Duck Game is just like the rest of the game: fast. This is a good thing. The upbeat and energetic music keeps the game feeling lively and serves as great background sound. The weapons also have great sound effects to them with each one having it’s own unique noise when fired. One of my favorite features of the game is the ability to quack at command. It’s such a random addition to the game, but it acts as a perfect way for players to taunt their enemies after they’ve killed them. Just don’t get so caught up in laughing that someone else takes you out.
Duck Game isn’t perfect, but it’s dang good. It’s tight controls, fun matches and caffeine-filled visuals and audio make it a great party game. The online is good as well, but it sucks that there isn’t much in the way of a community to play with. The one thing I see really hurting this game is its price. The game is $13 on Steam, which seems a little high for what basically comes down to a 2D deathmatch title. $7 seems like it would be a much more reasonable price. With that said, I recommend this game, but only if you can find it on sale. I guess the exception to this rule would be for college students that share a dorm. I could see it getting a lot of play that way.
Duck Game earns 3.5 GiN Gems out of 5!