Shantybot is back with a review of ‘Duck Game’…
Last summer, I strolled up innocently enough to the Adult Swim booth at Penny Arcade Expo West, being held in Seattle. I noticed a big screen with a retro looking fight game being played. I walked up and saw a 4th controller not being used, so I picked it up and grabbed a seat. What happened next would begin a new-found gaming obsession.
‘Duck Game’ is a single-screen, multi-player side-scroll combat game featuring fighting ducks and a whole slew of weapons you must employ to destroy your opponents. The rounds move incredibly fast, and require players to quickly acquire weapons to stand a chance against their opponents. The game has an online and single-player mode, but for me it really shines as a 2 to 4 player couch-combat game. The controls are simple enough for a new player to pick up a controller and learn the game fairly quickly, but this game also had a surprising amount of depth for a pixel graphics fighter. This game has a sense of urgency, as you scramble to find a weapon at the beginning of each round, but manages to have a casual, fun feel to it, as you watch the playful chaos unfold. There’s lots of weapons to swing and shoot, and plenty of trap-setting possibilities. Luckily, the controls in this game feel tight, because you need fast response and a hair-trigger to succeed in taking out your friends before they can get you. There’s tons of user mods that can be applied in this game as well, so the replay-ability feels infinite. This is definitely a game I will be playing with friends and family for years.
‘Duck Game’ is available to play right now on Steam, and is slated to be released sometime this year on Xbox One, Playstation 4, and the Nintendo Switch.
-Shantybot