Review of Super Space Blank, a "Competitive Cooperative Shared-Fate Shooter"

Last weekend, Justin flew me up to hang out with him in the greater Boston area.  We took advantage of this time by using it to try out a new-to-us indie game, SuperSpace_____.  Super Space Blank (as it's pronounced) is a clever cooperative/competitive arcade-style shooter made by a team of students at the DigiPen Institute of Technology.

The Basics

In this game, each player controls a turret on a shared spacecraft, competing for individual score against the other players while ensuring that the craft itself doesn't go out-of-bounds.  The only way to control the position or rotation of the ship is through the use of the turrets themselves: each shot fired produces recoil that moves the ship in the opposite direction of the shot fired.  If any part of the ship contacts the red wall at the perimeter of the level (or any other red elements that come into existence), the ship is destroyed, and the players must start over.  Take a look at this video that the team put together to get a better idea of what I'm talking about:

Gameplay: Fun and Frenetic

SSB is fast, fun, frenetic, and polished.  Our crew of two, three, or four players blasted away at virtual boxes for hours on Saturday night, and were it not for waning energy and thumb strength, we could have kept going.  Although the consequence for a single mistake is having to start over from the beginning, the speed at which the game could reset itself made up for the loss.  The controls are tight, the power-ups classic (machine gun, laser, or shotgun, anybody?), and the soundtrack really set the mood.  All-in-all, this game was a stunning success for us, and I can't wait to get together a group of friends in Pittsburgh to give it a try.  

You can download the game for yourself here.  Windows required.