Platypus is a horizontal scrolling shooter in which you must the defend your home planet of Mongola from the invading plasticine army. Claymation is something not often seen in video games, the only true Claymation games I could find at a glance is The Neverhood and Clay Fighter. When used well it can look great, does Platypus live up to the expectation? Read on to find out.
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Platypus is set over four levels each with four stages and an end of level boss stage which can be played as single or local two player co-operatively. The first level of Platypus starts off relatively easy, as you progress through the game it increases in difficulty with new larger enemies to destroy and obstacles such as exploding mines and a volcano which spits out boulders which you must avoid. Although each level introduces new enemy types, old ones are often repeated, it can feel a little samey at times but overall the location changes, enemy types and obstacles manages to keep it fresh.
Power ups are available to collect by destroying a certain wave of enemy ships. You start with a limited range of weapon power ups such as a three way bullets and rapid fire. Further power ups are unlocked as you progress through the game such as the excellent laser which rips through the enemy craft. These power ups last for a limited amount of time, but they can be extended by collecting another power up star. There is also a second type of special which come in the form of floating crates where the balloon must be carefully destroyed and the crate quickly collected. These power ups include a dual cannon extension to your craft and a score multiplier which last until you die. The range of weapon power ups is fine but I did find the crates a little far and few between.
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Three difficulties are available to choose from; Easy, Normal and Hard. I am not the words greatest at shooters so I started on Easy and managed to get to the final boss on my first go. Normal and Hard difficulties are as you would expect much harder and provide a good challenge to complete the game. The action is fast paced with good patterns of enemy waves to take on. The bosses are massive and usually required to be destroyed in sections which adds a nice bit of strategy.
The difficulty level can however be hit and miss at times, the reason is that the game does at times seem like you must have a weapon power up to clear the screen of enemies, if you have a power up it is a relatively easy task. Not having a power up can mean the loss of a few lives in what feels like no fault of your own as the screen is cluttered with enemies and you have little chance of destroying the enemy wave to get another power up. With further play you can of course learn the patterns and plan ahead, so for more experienced shooter players this may not be as much of a problem.
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At the end of each stage you are presented with some kill stats, you receive bonus points depending on the percentage of how many Primary and Secondary enemies you killed. It adds to the challenge of trying to aim for 100% and brings some good fun to the game. I would have liked to have seen some game awards added for this challenge as it would have made the game very replayable.
Everything is animated in Claymation, from the ships and scenery down to the bullets and explosions. Your journey takes you through landscapes including forests, clouds and mountains in traditional parallax scrolling scenery. A lot of attention has been put into the graphics and it all looks and works very well together. There are several songs throughout the game which are in keeping with the upbeat shooter theme and have a modernised 8bit style. Presentation is done well, everything is easy to find and see, the levels transitions have no loading screens to keep the flow of the game.
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Platypus costs 400 :MSPoints: which does put it in the high end of indie games, but for a professionally created game which is on par with XBLA games, the price is right. There are a good few hours worth of gameplay, not forgetting the two player co-op action, and the excellent visuals and music make it stand out from many indie games. If you are looking for a solid traditional shooter, look no further! Platypus gets two thumbs up from me.
You can find more information as well as download the trial and full version of Platypus via the Marketplace.
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