“bob’s game” playable demo – Impressions
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 at 6:39am by Sean Buckley
For months on end emotions ran high in one man’s quest to see his masterpiece video game to publication. As a carefully planned viral campaign raged on, true rage grew among the onlookers – who did this guy think he was? What egotistical madman would face-off against the largest video game company in the world, claiming the power to destroy them with the self-proclaimed “greatest game ever made?” The answer both is and is not Robert “bob” Pelloni. As bobsgame.com revealed itself as a viral ad for Pelloni’s “game by one person,” most onlookers realized that the “bob” they had loved to hate was nothing more than a character. Despite this, many still vented their frustration, harshly judging a game that nobody had ever played.
Those who hold a grudge against the previously unseen “bob’s game” might want to brace for reality: early this morning Robert Pelloni released the first playable demo of “bob’s game” – and it shows a lot of promise.
“bob’s game” is a homage to gaming – as a hobby, as a culture, and as an industry. It almost feels as if it is as much as love story about growing up with Nintendo as it is a regular game – and if Pelloni’s viral advertisement is any indication, it’s a love story wrought with romance, tragedy, betrayal, sorrow, pain, and just maybe reconciliation. Perhaps it’s too early to make even this judgment, but playing the demo certainly trudges up strong feelings of nostalgia. The easiest way to describe it is as a mash up between adventure RPG style games and “Retro Game Challenge.”
The player takes on the role of “Yuu,” a young teenage boy who has recently moved to a new neighborhood with his family. The first task in the demo is to “find batteries,” which introduces the player to the basic mechanics of the “adventure” portion of the game. After solving a simple puzzle, Yuu delivers the batteries to his mother who uses them to power a Gantendo “Gametoy,” which she gives to Yuu in hopes he can use it to play games with, and make friends with, the neighbor kid.
Much as Yuu’s mother introduces the adventure world, the neighbor kid introduces the “game” world. Here, the player is introduced to “Tetrid,” and as the name implies it’s a Tetris inspired game – but don’t let the name fool you. Yes, it’s a falling bricks game, and yes as you make solid lines, they disappear and give the player points – but you aren’t playing with standard tetras. In Tetrid, it’s as if each “Tetris Shape” is missing a vital block – making most “Tetris Tactics” useless. A few other subtle game mechanics are changed as well, creating a game that looks and feels familiar, but is actually a very different game. It feels solid, realistic – as if it really could have existed as a classic “gameboy” game, but simply flew under the radar. Much like a “real” game there are tricks and tactics you have to teach yourself along the way, and even then it can be frustratingly difficult.
It’s hard to fairly judge a game based on an image, an ad, or a short demo such as this. What I can say is that “bob’s game” has the foundation of a great game. The adventure engine is intuitive and entertaining – with silly characters, promising interactions, and more than enough gamer “in-jokes” to get a chuckle out of a veteran Nintendo fan. The setting is reminiscent of many of our own childhoods – quarreling with brothers, dealing with over protective mothers, making friends, and playing video games. This pleasant and interactive overworld provides a fine frame for pseudo-retro gaming – Tetrid proves itself to be a challenging and accurate Tetris replacement, and Pelloni has stated elsewhere that “bob’s game” contains many other full sized games, including a platformer reportedly as large as “Cave Story.” The melded game styles seem complimentary – and it has the potential to do something few games really can: tell a story that would be impossible to tell effectively in any other medium. “bob’s game” is the story about the game industry from a gamers perspective – and I can think of no better way to tell that story than through a game that makes you play the games that gave that character that perspective.
The fact that “bob’s game” is a game within “bob’s game” showcased by viral ad known as “bob’s game” makes it pretty difficult to explain the demo itself. Luckily, the demo is free and can be found at the bob’s game website – it can be played via emulator or DS FlashCart – see bobsgame.com or Google for more details on what that means. The demo left me feeling quite good about the game – if the full version maintains the humor, fun, and mini game quality I found in the demo I could easily see myself purchasing a title like this if it were available in stores – although “bob’s game” may still not see retail release. The demo jokes that it will “probably never” be licensed by Nintendo, and Pelloni himself seemed unsure the games’ “commercial” future to me during an interview last week at GDC. Go try the demo and judge for yourself – if it peaks your interest as it did mine, let us know – and Infendo will follow up with an exclusive “bob’s game” interview, where the surprisingly soft spoken Robert Pelloni tells about his hopes, plans for the future, and thoughts on Nintendo’s future role in the world of independent game design.
Want to share your own thoughts on the demo? Are you just plain sick to death of “bob’s game?” Head on down to the comments and share it with us!
March 31st, 2009 at 7:34 am
Looks like it would be a great phone for the iPhone.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:09 am
@doughboy74:
Or even a great game for the iGame.
Seriously though, if this gets decent reviews when it is released (one way or another), I’d buy it. Seems like this guy poured his heart and soul into the game, and as someone who has dabbled in game development, I can really appreciate what he’s doing. This stuff isn’t easy. Sure, we are jaded by the constant flood of shovelware, but when you break it down, making even the crappiest game is not an easy task. The vast majority of gamers couldn’t even imagine where to begin making a sprite animate and walk across the screen, let alone build a full-blown game. Whether or not this game turns out to be good, kudos to Mr. Pelloni for all of his hard work and dedication to something he clearly loves: gaming.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:12 am
Looks like it would be a great SP for the PSP.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:13 am
glad i have a flashcard, downloading the demo now.. i hope everyone who bitched and moaned about outdated graphics gets to sit by and watch a really good rpg come from this.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:28 am
Hmmm good review, i will be downloading the demo later and giving it a test run myself, but from what you’ve said it sounds pretty good
March 31st, 2009 at 9:40 am
yup i m so gonna get this
March 31st, 2009 at 9:54 am
Nice to finally see something tangible from bob.
March 31st, 2009 at 10:20 am
[...] really freaky part: we haven’t loaded it up yet, but based on early reports from sites like Infendo, it’s … pretty cool! Bob seems to be delivering on the idea of a game about growing up [...]
March 31st, 2009 at 10:35 am
Anyone else beat Tetrid? The game is actually fun once you realize how to play it.
March 31st, 2009 at 10:44 am
[...] the really freaky part: we haven’t loaded it up yet, but based on early reports from sites like Infendo, it’s … pretty cool! Bob seems to be delivering on the idea of a game about growing up with [...]
March 31st, 2009 at 11:41 am
I’m sorry, I was much too annoyed by the viral marketing to even bother trying this.
With love,
The Grumpy Old Codger
March 31st, 2009 at 11:52 am
I just played through the demo. This game is surprisingly fun (and funny). Still haven’t beaten Tetrid yet though.
March 31st, 2009 at 12:54 pm
I’m ALMOST too annoyed by he viral marketing to try it. It’s a relief that Bob isn’t the huge asshole we thought he was. He’s just somewhat an asshole. Yes this campaign was good advertising for him in the end. But if you’re selling girl scout cookies, a good way to get people’s attention would be to go into a crowded theater and shout “Fire!” That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good idea. He may have gotten the word out with no real harm done, but he’s pissed off an awful lot of people doing so.
March 31st, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Bob’s antics has tainted any kind of enjoyment I’ll might get out of this. Sorry.
March 31st, 2009 at 2:55 pm
I was testing this on the official forums yesterday before it was released! As you have said I REALLY like it. Retro Game Challenge is one of my favorite games so far this year, and his game seems to mold that kind of gameplay with a great solid adventure game.
I’d personally love to see more of the game on the site, maybe even get some exclusives?
March 31st, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Looking good! Hope it will deliver the fun.
March 31st, 2009 at 6:29 pm
I am just plain sick to death of “bob’s game.”
March 31st, 2009 at 6:42 pm
Wil:
I was actually the first of about three or so to beat it yesterday when the team of volunteer testers were trying different hardward so Robert could adjust it for different architectures (this is why the SDK is so important, this wouldn’t be needed if he had it).
It is indeed pretty fun. The last ten lines or so are really, really intense. But yeah, part of it is figuring out how to play it effectively, making it a “puzzle” game in every sense of the term.
There are quite a few references to Yuu being born with a GameToy in his hand. The mom mentions it, and then Yuu mentions it after he beats Tetrid. Seems like it might be a bit of a running joke.
I can’t wait for demo 2, and “project 2.”
March 31st, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Fine. God. I’ll play your goddamn game. Happy now?
Fuck.
March 31st, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Couldn’t he done that in the first place?
I’d give it a try if I weren’t so jaded by his viral spamming.
March 31st, 2009 at 8:23 pm
After all the bitching Bob’s been doing and this is it? I’m sick of bob’s shit too. This guy’s an egomaniac to the highest degree. Just ignore him and maybe he’ll go away.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:27 pm
@Mick Kaine
uhhh have you not been paying attention? The egomaniac is the in-game Bob, not Robert Pelloni
@Everyone who has complained and hated Robert (bob)
At least try the demo, you have nothing to lose, you aren’t supporting Bob in anyway, you are simply testing a demo. Even if you enjoy the game and you don’t want to admit it to anyone you don’t have to. If you still don’t think the game is good then at least you have solid proof for why you don’t like the game and not the same old excuse “I don’t like the game because I don’t like Bob”. Personally I feel that excuse is just as bad as saying “This game is awesome because it has great graphics”.
Finally, my short review:
I thought the game wasn’t that bad at all. I remember some people were talking bad about the fact that the first mission is to find batteries, but you can see how that first mission helps the story progress. I think this game does have potential and I am looking forward to playing the complete game.
March 31st, 2009 at 10:33 pm
I’m going to wait for the complete game before trying out. Best of luck to this guy. I haven’t played the demo, but the world kind of reminds me of Earthbound for the SNES.
March 31st, 2009 at 11:11 pm
Sounds like he put a fair amount of effort into making sure that it’d be difficult to give it a commercial release, way to go bob.
April 1st, 2009 at 12:29 am
Interesting, but I haven’t been able to give Retro Game Challenge the time it deserves yet, and this sounds like a deeper version of that.
April 1st, 2009 at 12:57 am
What happened to “no more posts on this game or guy” I really miss that.
April 1st, 2009 at 1:51 am
@Cory
I’ve addressed this a few times before – essentially there were conditions to be met before the “bob news embargo” was lifted. When the conditions were met, tentative “bob” coverage resumed in cases regarding “actual news,” exclusive interviews, and tangible content.
April 1st, 2009 at 1:53 am
The demo is really enjoyable, definitely worth picking up.
Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it ;} (really, that’s a very ignorant thing to do)
April 1st, 2009 at 4:43 am
[...] really freaky part: we haven’t loaded it up yet, but based on early reports from sites like Infendo, it’s … pretty cool! Bob seems to be delivering on the idea of a game about growing up [...]
April 1st, 2009 at 9:31 am
Well bob’s game has an official release date for the DS, check out his site
April 1st, 2009 at 9:40 am
@ Attilio
While I hope this is true, remember that today IS April 1st. Also known as APRIL FOOLS DAY. My assumption is that it’s a joke release date. Still, one can hope. (Though his claim that Reggie gave him 3 SDKs makes this seem VERY unlikely).
April 1st, 2009 at 12:24 pm
i still think atillio is bob or his girlfriend. he defends a game that only has a demo tooth and nail. bob’s game’s viral campaign backfired with people like me and numerous others. i’m still not feeling it sorry buddy
April 1st, 2009 at 12:44 pm
@HyperPhazon,
that does make sense, and actually now that I think about it, the release date is april 1st of next year, it probably is a prank, or knowning bob he announced it today so people with think its a joke, but its actually real, or he wants people to think its real then next year on april 1st he says april fools its not coming out
i must admit he is definitely an interesting person
@Lord Toker
Trust me, i’m not bob or his gf and i’m not defending his game either. I just hate it when people say something sucks without testing it; not just video games but anything. People who say “oh the PS3 sucks” but never actually touched one and really used it to understand how it works can’t make that judgment. People who say “ipod is stuipd” but never used one, is actually stupid them self.
I think that before anyone can make an educated judgment they must first test the product, otherwise we would have tons of reviews floating around the world that mean nothing. Facts about a product are important, personal feelings and opinions about a product are not.
I am not trying to convince anyone that this is an awesome game and everyone should play it. I am trying to convince everyone to at least play the demo and then make your decision. After you’ve done that and you still think it sucks then I’ll have no problem with you and your opinion because its based on truth.
Honestly there are aspects of the game I hate. For example the constant use of the word “Yuu” annoys the crap out of me. I understand it is the main characters name, but the way it is used makes no sense, and I have never seen a game where the character’s name is used ALL the time during conversation.
April 1st, 2009 at 3:57 pm
[...] tutti (finalmente non solo in video) che il “suo gioco” merita di essere pubblicato. Le prime impressioni apparse su internet ne parlano davvero bene. A voi la valutazione (sempre se siete in possesso di [...]
April 1st, 2009 at 7:53 pm
@ Atillo:
I agree with you on people saying something’s bad before trying it.
On the other hand, I don’t really like this guy, so I’m not going to support him by trying out his game…
Although, I could give it a try…
April 1st, 2009 at 8:25 pm
@Lite
I understand not liking the guy and not wanting to support it. That is perfectly fine because you have your reasons for not liking him. It is the same thing with not liking a company and not wanting to support them. Personally I don’t like Dell because they have horrible tech support. Granted I don’t need their help if I have a problem with my PC, but still they should treat their customers with respect. Since they don’t do that, I don’t buy their products.
So if you don’t like Bob and don’t want to support him, that’s fine, but don’t bash his game without trying it first, just bash him lol.
April 2nd, 2009 at 3:18 pm
[...] infendo) ANZEIGE Werben Sie auf [...]
April 5th, 2009 at 11:50 am
[...] is due to Infendo’s article about Bob’s Game for giving me reason to try out the demo – their opinion about it largely [...]
May 3rd, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Just finished the demo. I feel like I just started a new game of Final Fantasy, talked to everyone in the first town, then quit and played Tetris.
The graphics are nice, but the dialogue is boring, and there’s nothing to it. So yeah, so far it’s Retro Game Challenge with slightly more storyline and some walking between games. Boring.
June 9th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
It is not fair that nintendo hogs the sdk. The ipod touch is successfull because apple did not hoard the sdk. This game represents the dream of everyone who has ever made any homebrew game. I would buy this game (even if it sucked) just because of what it means. (PS: It does not suck from what I have seen of it. Heck, it is the best thing I have ever seen sence super smash bros.)