Demo Impressions:
Wow, what a cool concept for a game. Combining gunplay and typical video game motorcycle gameplay is a very creative and very fun basis for a game. I loved maneuvering around the different levels and using my bike to block/parry bullets while I let loose gunfire of my own. The core gameplay loop is wide open to different level design, different weapons in both the enemy's hands and your hands (though the latter didn't appear in the demo), and shockingly fun boss fights made the demo never boring for even a moment. Even the down-time was great just getting to wander around the wastelands and listening to the vocal soundtrack portrayed with cassette tapes. I will say I wish there was more clarity what each gun is "for" per se since the crossbow being a spread shot was not something I expected; I'd recommend a visual demonstration of the weapon bought in the menu personally. I also would like to see proper variation in enemy design since "seven guys with pistols" can wear thin quickly in a full game.
Speaking of the world, goooosssh it's so pretty. The art design in this game is beautiful and transports me to the barren plains and deserts I've personally driven through. The in-game art is all wonderful with the characters all being very unique and distinct while the fully animated cutscenes bring the world to life even harder. I will say a weird quirk with the cutscenes is the pacing being way too fast for all of them. All of them are five seconds long at most and the pacing of the scenes would be better if they simply drew out the scenes. An example that was the most jarring was the FMV with Puppy howling at the funeral pyre...then abruptly cutting to the same scene in-game with Puppy moving around nonchalantly as if she wasn't just grieving. Even a fade into black and fade back into the in-game scene after would do wonders for the pacing of these scenes to make them less jarring.
The writing does a solid job of portraying a world at its wit's end trying to cope with even living in it. My personal favorite parts were Laika's interactions with her brother and daughter. Another highlight was the aftermath of a sidequest where she lies about a tree being well and the sidequest giver catches her in a lie...and thanks her anyway. That felt a very real response to me and I can't quite pinpoint why. I think the game withholds a little too much information from the player initially though, mostly with the birds and their status as the big bads. It makes the character's actions feel a bit strange since we, the player, know literally nothing about them (although torturing, crucifying, and disemboweling a child for trespassing is a pretty good reason to be PO'd at somebody).
Overall, I'm pretty hopeful of this game and hope to see it improve from the snippet shown in the demo. At worst I can see this game being meh and that's only if they don't have the ambition to follow up on the core gameplay which I don't see them doing. There's at least one fan eagerly awaiting Coyote Mom Bike Game, and I hope to see more out there.
Wow, what a cool concept for a game. Combining gunplay and typical video game motorcycle gameplay is a very creative and very fun basis for a game. I loved maneuvering around the different levels and using my bike to block/parry bullets while I let loose gunfire of my own. The core gameplay loop is wide open to different level design, different weapons in both the enemy's hands and your hands (though the latter didn't appear in the demo), and shockingly fun boss fights made the demo never boring for even a moment. Even the down-time was great just getting to wander around the wastelands and listening to the vocal soundtrack portrayed with cassette tapes. I will say I wish there was more clarity what each gun is "for" per se since the crossbow being a spread shot was not something I expected; I'd recommend a visual demonstration of the weapon bought in the menu personally. I also would like to see proper variation in enemy design since "seven guys with pistols" can wear thin quickly in a full game.
Speaking of the world, goooosssh it's so pretty. The art design in this game is beautiful and transports me to the barren plains and deserts I've personally driven through. The in-game art is all wonderful with the characters all being very unique and distinct while the fully animated cutscenes bring the world to life even harder. I will say a weird quirk with the cutscenes is the pacing being way too fast for all of them. All of them are five seconds long at most and the pacing of the scenes would be better if they simply drew out the scenes. An example that was the most jarring was the FMV with Puppy howling at the funeral pyre...then abruptly cutting to the same scene in-game with Puppy moving around nonchalantly as if she wasn't just grieving. Even a fade into black and fade back into the in-game scene after would do wonders for the pacing of these scenes to make them less jarring.
The writing does a solid job of portraying a world at its wit's end trying to cope with even living in it. My personal favorite parts were Laika's interactions with her brother and daughter. Another highlight was the aftermath of a sidequest where she lies about a tree being well and the sidequest giver catches her in a lie...and thanks her anyway. That felt a very real response to me and I can't quite pinpoint why. I think the game withholds a little too much information from the player initially though, mostly with the birds and their status as the big bads. It makes the character's actions feel a bit strange since we, the player, know literally nothing about them (although torturing, crucifying, and disemboweling a child for trespassing is a pretty good reason to be PO'd at somebody).
Overall, I'm pretty hopeful of this game and hope to see it improve from the snippet shown in the demo. At worst I can see this game being meh and that's only if they don't have the ambition to follow up on the core gameplay which I don't see them doing. There's at least one fan eagerly awaiting Coyote Mom Bike Game, and I hope to see more out there.