First off, I’d like to thank the crew of Glen and Sam for sending me a copy of their first game, Duologue. Duologue places you on the planet Ur, with your mission being to eliminate the oppressive regime of Moloch. Who is Moloch, you ask? Well, he is the leader of a bunch of crazy-looking aliens and is responsible for all of the troubles currently facing Ur. But are you up the task…and more importantly, can Duologue stand out in the twin-stick shooter genre?
The biggest thing setting Duologue apart from other twin-stick shooters is the use of colors in killing the enemies. Every enemy has a specific color to it and can only be killed by bullets of the opposite color, while they will run from your tank’s light, assuming it is the opposite color as well. This can be a bit confusing at first, but after the first few waves it becomes pretty natural. The ability to cause your enemies to run away can really help out when you’re in a bind and does add some new strategic elements.
Throughout the game’s sixty-plus levels you will encounter over twenty hand-animated enemies, all of which have different properties. Most enemies will chase you with varying speeds, but some will shoot at you and they all have different levels of health. Once you get into the later levels the enemies start to get real crazy, including floating eyes and what I can describe only as crazy spinning razor blades of doom. It’s just as terrifying as it sounds. Most levels will introduce some new enemy or variation of one and they manage to keep that aspect interesting throughout. What is really upsetting, however, is the lack of powerups. Having the ability to get a faster tank or maybe a limited-time use gun that allows you to kill enemies of any type would be nice, but instead we're stuck with one gun the entire time.
The game features co-op action but doesn’t add much to the experience other than having more than one player play at a time. This is pretty disappointing as I thought each player would have different colors to focus on, but alas it’s the same two colors for each player. The game offers three mode types though there is very little difference between them. Campaign is the main story mode while infinite has you beating the game with the least lives possible and survival mode pitting you against an endless horde as you try to, well, survive. Once again, I found this disappointing simply because there was a lot of potential here.
Duologue continues the recent trend of indie games with medals, the independent version of Achievements. The medals here provide a variety of things to do such as rolling the score back to zeroes, beating the game, and killing 39,516 enemies. I completed the campaign mode once and only killed 4,973, so as you can imagine that particular medal is going to take a while. While unlocking these don’t seem to do much other than self-pride, it is a nice touch that adds some replay value to it.
The music in the game is acceptable though once the game reaches the higher levels it can be annoying. Luckily, Billy Joel works perfectly in this game. As mentioned above, everything is animated by hand which gives it a certain quality not seen in a lot of games today, which is a nice touch. But, on the other side of the coin, the animations aren’t as smooth as they could be. One of the biggest problems I had with the game comes from the playing field – it’s simply too small. Almost everything in the game looks rather large and it doesn’t take too much for the screen to get cluttered, which sometimes dampers the experience. For most this shouldn’t be too much of a long term problem, but I do know people who would be upset with this.
Overall, Duologue is a fun twin-stick shooter that could have been even better if the full potential was reached. Either way, for the 240MP they’re asking for, Duologue is worth it. A full run-through of the game took a little over an hour and the co-op extended that a bit more. It’s certainly not going to revolutionize the genre, but it’s a step forward and hopefully the guys at Funavision can continue to make games as I think with a couple more under their belt we could get some really great games coming out.
Graphics
7.0
Hand-drawn graphics that fit the cartoon look perfect.
Gameplay
7.0
Though a bit slow, it does all of the things a twin-stick shooter needs to, sans powerup.
Sound
5.0
It's alright at first but annoying as the game goes on.
Lasting Appeal
6.5
For the price, the game lasts fairly long, though once you beat it there's little incentive to play again.
