From time to time, we see twists and turns on our genre-based expectations of games in order to provide a new experience. You may have played through games "from the villains' side", and enjoyed many a cerebral treat meant to test our definition of what a game is, but how many games have you seen where the win conditions are literally inverted? What if hitting the ball in baseball was the norm, and the only way you could win is if you could find some way to score outs? While Super Unbaseball 2010 may still be in development, here's an intriguing switcharoo on an old classic to tide us over: Gnop, from the gaming minds of Bit Battalion.
The controls are just as simple as the game's progenitor; [Up] and [Down] arrows steer the ball, though, instead of the paddles. It's up to you to navigate the fearless pixel around those persistent paddles, and into the next area, where a pair of smarter, more adroit defenders await your arrival. [Esc] restarts the game, and [M] mutes the noise. Aside from that, there's nothing to it except making your way from one "zone" to the next and planning daredevil maneuvers to get the projectile around your rectangular adversaries.
The whole game is very minimalist in its presentation as well as its controls, although one can't help but wish that there was some sort of figurative pat on the back at the end of the game. (Or a literal one. I'm not picky about back pats.) Perhaps some other elements could have been added, like more levels or "power-ups" or the like. But then again, giving the player anything more than the core idea and its bare-bones display would stifle the simplicity of the whole package, which comes across as one of the game's greatest strengths. And in the end, there's actually solid replay value to boot; I've been coming back to play it whenever I have five minutes to spare. So whether you've got some time to kill or you just want to ponder the ramifications of un-games (I would be SO good at un-bowling), this is a neat little surprise that fits right into your coffee break.
Walkthrough Guide
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Gnop Walkthrough
NOTE: You NEED to remember the algorithm of the paddle you passed - this is because it is the SAME algorithm that the paddle on the left will use on the new screen.
Level 1: Go Right
The right paddle stays still. Just go around it by pressing UP to move the ball up and DOWN to move the ball down. Note that you can not lose this level, as the left paddle algorithm here is clearly "follow the ball"
Level 2: Top to bottom
Right paddle will try to chase the ball in a slow manner after the halfway point and going in its direction. Because of this, all you need to do is sideswipe - get the ball to the top on your half, then as the paddle tries to go up, you go down. Just remember that if the ball is hit, you must go back to center!
Level 3: Faster!
Right paddle will chase fast when ball is headed in its direction and past halfway point. You are still going to have to sideswipe, but you're going to have to do it earlier now. Or you can just force the right paddle to go low, then when you hit it, quickly have it go up.
Level 4: Bounce over
Right paddle will follow ball once you hit it unless the ball hits the side, then the Right paddle will freeze for a while before it chases the ball again. That said, all you need to do is hit the side with the ball, then quickly go to the other side while the paddle is stuck.
Level 5: Last minute
Right paddle uses an algorithm that tries to predict where the ball will be when the ball is going in its direction, and it follows the ball when the ball is going away from it. The only way to beat this is to be unpredictable - don't let the ball follow a set path, change the direction mid-flight somewhere between halfway to 3/4 way.
Level 6: Motion sensor
Right paddle senses motion from ball and moves to where motion is. So the easy way out is to slightly tilt the ball up or down and the paddle will not detect it.
Level 7: This is the easy side
Right paddle chases ball once it goes in its direction, but has a slight delay going up instead of down. What you need to do here is go relatively straight when going right then suddenly go up just before you get to the paddle - it's a very small sweet spot, but you'll find it if you persist.
Level 8: This is the hard side
Right paddle chases ball, but has a huge delay in going down. This is the opposite of the last level, and the larger delay makes it easy. In fact, from level 7, you should just let the ball hit the top side, then follow down without any change. Just a note that for some reason, the left paddle doesn't follow the algorithm exactly, and will sometimes suddenly go down for no reason.
Level 9:Be gone
Right paddle chases ball at all times, unless you have left the stage by going left then revisit it, at which point the Right paddle will freeze at center. Thus is your answer - you need to lose and go back left, then come back here. Easier said then done thanks to the different algorithm on the Left paddle on level 8 making it extremely easy to go left 2 levels.
Level 10:End
Well... you're done. There are no more paddles left.
Posted by: Anon
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January 29, 2010 7:32 PM