October 12th, 2012 | By Emerson Smith
Tagged in: 3D Attack | andriod | iOS | mac | mario | mechanic | PC Game | Platformer | retro | the other brothers
Platformer and retro fans out there should take a look at 3D Attack‘s upcoming title, The Other Brothers. In The Other Brothers, our two unlikely heroes are Joe and Jim, two mechanic brothers that are on an epic journey across junkyards, cities, sewers and more to reach their Tavy, a mysterious woman that not much is known about. Other than the fact that she is new to town, and is in danger!
The gameplay consists of lots of jumping, true to platformer form. The controls get the job done. You can double jump onto platforms and climb ladders like a pro. Strangely though, the option to drop down through floors was missing. This minor inconvenience didn’t detract too much from the experience, but it is something that is expected in other games of the genre. In my time with the game I was only able to play single-player, but the game will ship with multiple worlds that include co-op play.
The environments are full of collectibles like oil cans, pigeons, temporary upgrades as well as environmental hazards and moving objects like pits, conveyor belts and rotating gears. Heated pits spew fireballs and climbing the cogs can swing your character quickly across the screen. The pickups come in a variety of flavors, like giving you the ability to throw wrenches as a weapon or enter bullet time to make dodging the incoming fireballs much easier. My only trouble that encountered during my time with the game is that it took me a while to figure out what I could climb on and what I could not. Most of it was straightforward, but when I turned on the gears, I didn’t realize that I could jump and climb up them like a ladder until much later in the level when climbing them was required to get to an area I could clearly see, and was able to figure out what to do.
Similar to the ring mechanic from the Sonic: The Hedgehog franchise, pigeons can be collected and used to boost your score, but if you’re hurt you drop all the birds and get a second chance at facing the ferocious dogs and other enemies. In a way, the pigeons transcend the way the rings worked in Sonic. When you’re collecting them, you have to be careful — you can scare the birds away and miss the opportunity. It’s a refreshing addition to the game and helps it stand apart style wise from many other games in the genre.
The art is vibrant and colorful. Each character is well stylized and animated from the stars circling downed enemies to the player character’s bouncing mustache idle animation. A comedic comparison to the Mario Bros. is immediately apparent in the characters’ physical appearance, the title itself is most likely another reference to Joe and Jim being The Other Brothers. Flashing point values cross the screen whenever you encounter a pickup or gain points. The arcade-like aesthetic fits the game well, and the chirping tunes in the background give life to the modern 16-bit action happening on screen.
So far so good for this indie title. It seems that The Other Brothers has plenty of good ideas to make a quality game. You can learn more about The Other Brothers by visiting their official page or help fund the project on IndieGoGo.
Emerson Smith (73 posts)
I am an independent developer currently in school. I've designed smaller flash games as well as some larger projects. During the summer I teach game design with iD Tech Camps and during the school year I write for The Indie Game Magazine as well as other incredibly awesome extracurricular activities.