What the ding-dally is Plain Sight, you ask? Well, dear reader, just take a seat and I’ll run you through it. Before the Eurogamer Expo, I had no idea about this game either, but after discovering and playing this gem I’m sure more people need to know about it.

The game is developed by six Londoners collectively known as Beatnik Games, and will be available at the start of 2009 on PC and later Xbox 360. I’m sure what you really want to know is what the fuss is about- hit the jump for the full preview.

In answer to your question, I refer you to this page. You play as a little ninja robot, with one point. The aim of the game is to kill other ninja robots to get more points and multipliers. Try to contain yourself from the excitement of ninja robots for a second, because there’s slightly more to it than that- the only way to actually score those points is to blow yourself up. The more people you catch in the explosion with you, the more multipliers you get. It’s simple enough once you get playing.

You get the idea.

The attack button auto-locks on to nearby enemies, but don’t worry about it being too easy- you still have to be facing them, and that likely means they’re facing you too. If you miss, your ninja robot will fly past them, and you’ll get stuck on something for a while, as if your sword has gotten jammed in the wall. If there are no walls, you’ll simply be unable to jump or attack again until you hit the floor or a building.

Once you want you bank your points, you’ll want to jump around a bit and take people out with you, while being careful not to get hit- if you do, you lose all of your multiplier. This is a great mechanic, as it allows those who are behind the others in points to grab a sneaky kill and keep everything fun for everyone. Oh, and by the way, in the build I played, the buildings lit up with your colour when you touch them, but this doesn’t seem to have any effect on your points or the gameplay. It looks pretty, though.

The game, in a word, is fun. Really, really fun. The simple mechanics, even in the short amount of time that we played for, were intuitive and highly enjoyable. The build we played was set up on some PCs over a LAN connection, but we played with Xbox 360 controllers, which was nice n’ easy. The physics were fantastic: at least as good as those in Super Mario Galaxy. The jumping felt fluid and natural, even when triple jumping, and moving around the little world (with its own gravity like the planets in Galaxy) was a joy.

There was, however, a spot of lag on the build we played, although perhaps it can be forgiven; it was pre-beta, after all. Other than that, Plain Sight is definately worth playing. The website says it will be priced in the region of £10 (about $16), which in my book is a bloody good deal. The only thing more I can say about this game is that everyone should be keeping an eye on this- it could turn out to be the next Braid. I’m sure Soulja Boy will give it a glowing review.

Tags: Beatnik Games, Eurogamer Expo, indie, Plain Sight, XBLA

• Plain Sight open beta ready for consumption
• TF2 update day 2: Community maps
• Halo 3 Mythic Map Pack Video Preview
• Brian Crecente In “Preview Impossible”
• E For All: Metal Gear Solid 4 Hands-On
• Nirvana DLC Hits Rock Band Next Week
• Resident Evil 5 Demo For Japan Next Week
• LittleBigPlanet to Hit Stores in October

No Comments » No comments yet. RSS feed for comments on this post. Comment Now Note: Commenting on Ripten does not currently require registration, however to be eligible for contests on the site, you must be a registered user. Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website Commenting Rules: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Ripten reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. Thanks. Notify me of followup comments Tired of the Goomba? Upload your own custom comment avatar.