Acclaim had its first "Play Acclaim" showcase. They DO have games...but I'm not sure it feels like the Acclaim I knew...
I mean, I wasn't expecting top tier titles from a brand new company, but a majority felt like "any other indie company". Not that that's a bad thing, but only a few of the games channel the old "bro-vibes" the old Acclaim had (not helped by the new company evoking the old one with video clips). I argue there IS a space for a more "action/arcade" focus than other companies, especially on the indie side. But, as an initial slate? It's interesting:
GridBeat- I suck at rhythm games, but it doesn't look awful. Not for me, it looks fairly interesting.
Bastetball Classic- This is more like what I expected. An nifty little arcade sports title is right up the old Acclaim's wheelhouse. I'm NOT a fan of the art direction with the 8-bit PC pixel artwork and the zoomed out perspective, but solid gameplay could make a huge difference. And it at least has some personality.
Ground Zero Hero- ANOTHER rogue-like akin to Vampire Survivors. I'm a little "played out" on the rogue-likes, but I appreciate the personality of the game, very 90s. With the "Fox Animation" stylings, it gives me a "Simpsons" vibe, which Acclaim published for many years.
Pixel Washer- A twist on the Power Washer simulator game style with some Smash TV vibes. The 2D art looks nice, and it has a delightfully weird vibe to the proceedings. I'm going to keep an eye on it.
Talaka- ANOTHER Rogue-like Metroidvania. Looks pretty, but some of the game flow looked a bit choppy to me.
TossDown- An arcade delivery game where you must deliver packages while avoiding obstacles..and chaos ensures. Looks nifty.
The Poisoning: Fletcher's Quest- A Metroidvania on crack.
HyperYuki- An SSX-inspired Snowboard game. THIS is more the kinds of games I was expecting/hoping to see.
Katanaut- A grim Metroidvania set on a space station overrun with grotesque creatures. But you play a gun toting samurai, and you can give pets to the cats and dogs you find.
Note that Katanaut and Basketball Classic are available NOW on PC, coming soon to other platforms.
It's not a bad slate of games for, effectively, a new developer. But it's also not "vibing" with my old perception of old-school Acclaim with that entity's focus on action, arcade, and sports titles. I'm also seeing a lot of the "same old, same old" when it comes to almost ALL indie publishers: lots of rogue-like and Metroidvania titles. Fancy twists or personality notwithstanding, half the games shown fall into those categories, which I feel are a little overdone in the market. If anything, most of the games remind me of the weird stuff Interplay might have published back in the day.
Despite being a Metroidvania, Katanaut has the "vibe" of a classic Acclaim title, as do HyperYuki, TossDown and Basketball Classic. I feel like there IS a place for a solid B/A tier developer focusing on action, arcade and sports games. Sports in particular as the big companies have locked down leagues and gone all in on simulation gameplay. But we also don't need everything to look "retro" either.
Guess we'll keep an eye on things. My fear is that the company is going to go "cheap" with indie stuff and never really step up to more interesting titles that might garner more attention/sales.
