SAGE 2023 games I enjojne'd part 3

INTRODUCING: Beep Bap the Beep Boop, David Get Keen, and guest starring PROJECT 32X DEMO

BEEP BAP THE BEEP BOOP

The title screen for BEEP BAP THE BEEP BOOP, a little red and gray tinker-toy robot with big eyes and a toothy lower jaw.

The robots of GOOD PEOPLE INC. have gone haywire and have started attacking innocent people! Meanwhile, a little toy robot is discarded in a scrap yard and promptly struck by lightning, bringing it to life.

Beep Bap lying discarded in a pile of scrap metal. Beep Bap is struck by lightning, bringing it to life.

BEEP BAP THE BEEP BOOP is a 3D platformer with some sword-and-shield combat. Using things such as pipes for swords and trash can lids for shields, it's up to BEEP BAP to destroy the GOOD PEOPLE INC robots before they cause any more mayhem.

Beep Bap holding a pipe and trash can lid as a sword and shield. Beep bap engaging a blue enemy robot who is armed with a haybale on a pitchfork.

This game is a cute little adventure reminiscent of that game you played once on your friend's Nintendo 64 and then never saw again but also never forgot about. It's light and funny and very cute, and it looks pretty good too.

Beep bap talking to an upset "Mosster", a rock person, about the robot uprising. He says, "F-first the blender turned evil, then the fridge, and then the robot worker took my wife!" Beep Bap tumbling out of an excavator which it used to crash through a fence. A screenshot showcasing the environment of the second area, which features farmland, a river, a windmill, and a cartoony pizzeria.

It feels pretty good to play, and even features a parry if you hold up your shield just as an enemy attack lands. Beep Bap gains new abilities as you gain "IQ", symbolized by collecting glowing lightbulbs. It seems like it'll try to stay fresh!

DAVID GET KEEN

The title screen for DAVID GET KEEN, featuring a boy with spiky red hair and a sour disposition.

DAVID GET KEEN is a speedy momentum-based 3D platformer featuring a cool kid who wears his jacket like a cape who can run really fast, double jump and air dash.

A screenshot featuring David in the tutorial level. David has red spiky hair, a scowl, and his coat tied around his shoulders which billows behind him like a cape as he runs.

With a VHS filter and a lo-fi kids' comix look, I was immediately endeared by this game and its colorful cast of misfits who seem straight out of Beano.

A screenshot of David and his friends sitting in their mutual friend Ella's family-owned business.

The game itself is a real looker, featuring cool low-poly environments with a sharp, angular style, with hand-keyed 3D animation and lots of kid-comic flair, like hand drawn sound effect bubble letters that pop out when you press switches.

David overlooking the demo level, which features floating platforms and windmills over a bright blue sky. David presses a big red switch, which makes a large CLICK written in bubble lettering pop out. David running, arms behind him and jacket billowing, into a farm labeled "Ella's Farm" which features a mean looking face drawn on

There's lots of cool tricks you can do to gain speed and most importantly momentum, which allows you to soar over platforming challenges you would otherwise have to carefully time your jumps around. It doesn't take much effort to go blisteringly fast--though the game is compatible with controllers, it recommends you use a mouse and keyboard to make quick, sharp turns.

David soaring over, rather than through, a tunnel at the end of the level, which he was able to launch over due to gaining enough speed on an earlier ramp. David grinding on a pink handrail, Sonic Adventure 2 style.

This game is oozing with confidence and style. It is entirely unashamed in what it's doing, and it's doing it well.

David pointing at a map on which only two locations are not scrawled out--a tutorial level and a level named "Floaty Farm". The info screen for Floaty Farm, which seems to feature some kind of mock album art. One of David's friend's a smiley girl with pink clothes and gray hair who introduces herself, "HEY!! It's me, Olivia!" One of David's friends, a dour bespectacled girl who simply says, "hey, im treble."

This demo was short and sweet but it was a blast, and there's something really great happening under the hood here. I'm keeping a KEEN eye on this one.

David soaring through the air towards some platforms. David standing next to some dancing flowers.

PROJECT 32X DEMO

A low-poly 3D Sonic stands in front of 3D lettering that says PROJECT 32X

Even before the advent of the Sega Saturn, the folks at Sega Technical Institute were hard at work trying to figure out a way to get Sonic the Hedgehog in 3D. Before the failed attempt known as Sonic X-Treme came to be, there were mock-ups demonstrating how a Sonic might look in 3D on the Sega 32X, such as one infamous video on which this playable demo, made in Blender, seems to be based.

Sonic being sucked into a wall of TVs. A screenshot of the game where the top fifth of the screen is taken up by a large HUD, featuring a static image of Tails' head, and a huge WATCH OUT!! warning indicating there are nearby enemies. Sonic stands in 3D from a fixed camera perspective on a green checkered floor with an arrow painted on it, pointing down offscreen.

To be blunt, it's not very fun to play, but it is interesting to see in motion if you've ever ravenously gobbled up information about Sonic Mars and Sonic X-Treme.

Sonic rolls along a Hot Wheels track, automatically speeding along it without player input. Sonic stands at the level end signpost in the demo's third level, which is magenta and purple rather than green.

It certainly looks the part! While the Sonic Mars animated mockup featured some more robust movement and animation, for a demo, this feels pretty authentic. I'm interested to see how much the developer plans to embellish and expand upon the limited information out there about Sonic Mars, if they plan to turn this into a full game.

Nadia Rain Chassis

@softchassis

Purpose-built for wrong