The Free and Worth Every Penny column is no stranger to games designed with an intentionally "retro" aesthetic. Some of the best titles I've written up for this feature have looked like classic SNES, Nintendo, or even Gameboy games. But I'm not sure I've done one yet that looks like it could be at home on the Atari 2600. What a pleasant surprise that one of the simplest visual experiences I've had in years earns its place so confidently among the others. Welcome to Tottenham.
Quite different from the side-scrolling action or Metroidvania-styled adventures referenced above, Tottenham is a bare bones arcade game - a little bit Qix, a little bit Asteroids... maybe even a little bit Yars' Revenge, for anyone who gets that reference. Taking a simple concept and combining clever, varied level design with the need for careful planning and twitchy reflexes in equal measure, Theta Games has produced a unique pleasure: a genuinely new game that feels like it should be old.
Pretty, isn't it? Now blow it up.
The simple concept is this: you need to connect point A to point B. Every level has a green square where you begin, and a red square where you must end. In between... well, in between there could be a lot of things. Most of the levels contain a maze of black and colored lines and squares that you'll need to clear a path through ("I was inspired by the mosaics of Sir Eduardo Paolozzi (installed at the Tottenham Court Road London Underground station) to make this game," says the designer). Some of the levels will also have enemies, that may move at random or may chase you. The final level... well, I'm not going to spoil that for you. It's something different.
The catch is this: you can only make your way through the level by causing explosions, and you're terribly fragile. Every projectile you fire, if it hits something solid, will fling debris in all directions, including back at you. You need to not only be outside the blast radius when one of your shots hits, but also out of the trajectory of any shrapnel that may come your way. And since this debris itself, once settled, becomes the new layout of the level, you could end up trapping yourself in a corner if you aren't careful, or blocking a previously clear part of the path from green to red you need to create. It's a great mechanic - slightly random but never feeling unfair - and, when combined with enemies you need to avoid and eliminate, leads to some wonderfully frantic moments in an otherwise peaceful game.
Boom. One step closer.
The visual aesthetic is a matter of taste, obviously, but I love the simple beauty of the levels, especially after looking at the inspirations that led to them, and the fact that the player deforms the level as they play lends the whole thing a sort of procedural art feel that I more often associate with music games. Speaking of music, the soundtrack is pleasant, if repetitive, and the game is short enough (under 30 minutes, for me) that I never wanted to turn it off. Controls are as straightforward and tight as they can be, and would indeed work on an Atari 2600 joystick: arrows to move, spacebar to fire. I played through the game once using the keyboard, and once with a gamepad after mapping the keys, and found it equally enjoyable either way.
I don't have much of anything negative to say about Tottenham, honestly, other than that I wish there were more of it. I would happily have played through another 20 levels of this, and if Theta Games wanted to make more and charge some reasonable amount for them, they'd have my money. It scratched an itch not many games scratch these days, unless you're playing something like Space Invaders on an emulator, and did so thoughtfully and with style. Recommended without hesitation.
Tottenham is...
- a throwback title that recalls a simplicity of play few games capture well.
- comfortable in its own skin, never branching too far from a small, simple set of mechanics.
- inspired by endangered London Underground artwork, and honestly, how cool is that?
- a game I expect I'll go back to many times, and suspect some of you will too.
This tiny 5MB download is sadly Windows only, but should run great on just about any machine (or, I imagine, in WINE or on an Intel Mac running Parallels / Windows). Don't wait: go get it now.
"Free And Worth Every Penny" is a column I collaborate on with Mike Bellmore at Colony of Gamers. This piece also appears there. If you're done with this one and want more, feel free to browse the archives.