Indie Impression - PARTICLE MACE

PARTICLE MACE

Available Now, Coming Soon to Steam

Developed by Andy Wallace

PARTICLE MACE is a frantic blast of space trash smash'emup action where you will spin it to win it. The elegant movements of your ship are like a ballet of geometrical anarchy.

In the same way that games like Nidhogg bring the local multiplayer insanity to the platforming brawler genres, PARTICLE MACE brings the same level of abstract and chaotic couch co-op to the action arcade genre.

The next e-sports phenomenon? Probably not, but it's still great.

The controls and the physics revolving around your cluster of tethered space garbage really hit the nail on the head. There's a serious feeling of weight to the mace you're swinging around as you swerve to each side trying to get it's momentum going, and when you do it feels very natural.

There are different ships of different speeds to accommodate each and every play style, ranging from the super slow ship with a large and effective particle mace to the extremely fast and speedy ship with a longer and harder to control mace.

Getting into the groove of the game is a very zen-like experience, becoming lost in the motions of your ship weaving in and out of clusters of asteroids. The movement of your chosen ship feels incredibly fluid and responsive, giving you the edge you need to navigate through the narrowest of passages in-between asteroids and your intimidating red foes.

Even in it's early stages there's already a whole slew of really great modes and options you would expect from a polished full release, including the progressive mission mode which dishes out a series of unique and increasingly harder tasks to take on  that will earn you new ships, à la Luftrausers.

The multiplayer co-op is where PARTICLE MACE really shines as it isn't just the simple addition of new players on the screen, but features some discoverable techniques like the combining of Maces or the revival of fallen teammates floating by helplessly which will require the full coordination of each participating player.

Stills just don't do it justice, this is a game that needs to be felt.

Although seemingly simple on the surface, PARTICLE MACE is a huge game with huge polish and an almost infinite learning curve, making this one hell of an addictive ride to pick up and play for the shortest bursts of play to the longest couch co-op jam sessions. It's already Greenlit and on it's way to Steam so don't hesitate and pick it up now!