PEGBRJE: Zenohell and Watch Me Jump
A hell of bullets, and a hell of controversy. Well that’s a stretch, but you know what I mean. Probably.
Zenohell is a bullethell arcade shmup made by Team Grybanser Fox, the indie studio that brought us Zenodyne R within the bundle as well. Just like before, players are thrust into a space battle of the future, needing to complete Operation “Zenohell”. Unlike before, however, this is a known suicide mission; is it really possible to survive the onslaught?
For any familiar with the Zeno franchise, the gameplay is relatively similar. Players select their ship (starting with three choices), select a difficulty, and attempt to reach the end of the game while dodging bullets and destroying all of the opposition. Most ships again only have two buttons excluding the joystick; one for the limited supply bombs that wipe the screen of bullets and severely damage enemies, and one to hold down for dear life to keep firing forever. As it were with Zenodyne R, this simplicity is necessary to ensuring that players can better focus on the real threat; the absolute blizzard of bullets that is incoming. Players need to be ducking and weaving to ensure they don’t get hit in their core, for death is extremely easy and there are a limited set of lives. Sure, the CONTINUE button exists after death, but utilizing it means giving up the chance to be on the scoreboard.
Zenohell isn’t the same game however, and does have some notable differences; namely, all of its focus is on its namesake, as in the ‘hell’ part. As the mission log states, this is a suicide mission: a hardcore bullet hell experience that wants players to know quickly that they cannot just coast their way to victory. There are no upgrades to help assist in playthroughs, just a choice of three ships and that is it. The four achievements that can be viewed are more for game modes rather than assisting the player in their playstyle. The only pickups in game are for refilling bombs and power capsules. Everything else is up to the player’s abilities to survive and thrive.
It’s a lot more simplistic, but Zenohell does carve its own space among its peers, specifically within the Zeno series. It isn’t meant to have a bunch of extra features, or appeal to a lot of individuals. This game is meant to be the return-to-form bullet hell experience that puts the hell everywhere to remind you that it isn’t playing around. For you hardcore fans this will be right up your alley of game type, but for others it may feel lacking compared to Zenodyne R. Whatever your preference, the art is still clean and the soundtrack is still rocking out, so give it a try and see how you feel.
Watch Me Jump is a theatrical narrative game made by Jeremy Gable, a Philedalphia playwright who adapted his play of the same name into this game. Within this tale, players follow a series of events surrounding Audra Bee Mills, a (fictitious) WNBA star getting ready for the playoffs when things start to go awry. A decision made leads to an interesting set of events, lighting a scandal for the whole women’s basketball world to see. What will Audra do?
Told in four acts, Watch Me Jump is a game of making decisions as Audra attempts to navigate through the waters of the controversy. Each decision made becomes a part of Audra’s personality and shapes how future reactions will be spoken. If players take more aggressive options, taking a softer approach will still have some airs of aggression. Having a hard stance on a matter will permeate a decision if the opposite stance is taken later on while others may call her out for the change. Of course, as the player that might not be as obvious when needing to make a decision, for the prompts are relatively brief — they give the general stance for players to understand, but not the entire dialogue that Audra may say afterwards. This may be seen as a negative for those that are wanting to make an executive decision based on what she might say, but I’d argue that in this keeps the accountability of the player’s decisions in check while reinforcing that Audra is her own person at the end of the day. Flip-flopping in choice-based dialogue is something I can definitely state that I do regularly, and makes narratives inconsistent with their message — especially within a title such as this that deals in some seriously heavy conversations about taking responsibility for one’s actions.
Perhaps it’s this reason that I couldn’t stop playing Watch Me Jump, even booting up a second round just to see a few differences. Perhaps it is the theatrical delivery of the entire game, conveying each section within its own context while building on the previous act. There were even flashbacks at the most theatrical of times, right after the ‘curtains’ dropped and the new act would begin — maybe it’s the former theatre kid in me talking, but having a structure so blatantly made for live theatre was fun. The game even has the bottom of the screen cut off, and thanks to the framing of every shot I kept imagining that it was the stage itself.
When it’s all said and done, Watch Me Jump is a very human story of ambition and morality, of scandal and loss all wrapped into a simple yet effective art style. I personally loved the fact that every confirmation press was a basketball bouncing. It asks tough questions, and doesn’t give easy answers for anyone involved, ending on a bittersweet tone reflecting on how players decided to handle each issue and conversation. There’s only about an hour to witness, but it’s one that compels you to ask tough questions about what you value above all else. If you’re looking for a story that only allows you to shoot a few hoops of basketball, instead having you shoot yourself in the foot at some questionable decisions made, this is definitely one to witness.
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