As the release date for Plain Sight looms closer, I took a trip to London to meet with Robin Lacey, MD at Beatnik Games and find out a little more about the game.  "It's become our love child" he tells me.  I doubt you could find prouder parents...

Plain Sight is one of the very few games in this world that actually encourages you to blow yourself – or rather the ninja robot you control – up.  Due for release on 22nd March 2010, Robin confirmed that the game is indeed just about ready, with minor polishing left to do.  It has been under development for roughly 18 months now and is described as an 'amalgamation of random ideas’.  After an open beta was launched in 2008 (leading to approximately 50,000 downloads in a matter of days) it became clear that further work was required to make the game better but Beatnik Games appears to have committed a great deal of time and energy to making these improvements.

Making a game where you have to kill yourself in order to further yourself may seem strange but in essence it’s remarkably simple.  You start with one point.  You have to destroy others to gain more points.  You have to destroy yourself in order to bank those points.  You then use those banked points for upgrades.  Upgrades = more power = more destruction = more points = more upgrades.  The game genre?  It’s impossible to define it.  Rapid reaction times make it great for FPS lovers, the style of controls and movement is modelled to a degree on flight sims, whilst Robin admits there’s a certain amount of Super Mario Galaxy influence too.  They’re clearly not pigeonholing: there’s something for everyone here.

The finished game will feature 13 maps, various power-ups, statistics about kills etc, various modes of play including Team Deathmatch, Tag, Ninja Ninja Robozilla (my favourite for the name alone if nothing else) and there’s hope that the PC version will be added to over time, as well as plans to release a PS3 version of the game (expected in early 2011).

After watching some very nimble keyboard and mouse work it was my turn.  I don’t know what it is about social gaming that turns me into a gibbering wreck but it didn’t fail me now.  Unsurprisingly I got killed several times in rapid succession before finally reverting to a “just leap around and avoid being killed” tactic.  Whilst it kept me alive for longer, I certainly wasn’t scoring any points and my little suicidal ninja robot remained resolutely alive but tiny, weak and without upgrades.

What was surprising, though, was that despite the fact that this was not necessarily the style of gaming I was used to and despite the fact that I was – frankly – rubbish, I didn’t feel frustrated or fed up.  The fluidity of movement combined with the unique art deco inspired maps make it a great environment in which to persevere, practice and – hopefully – get better.  Nonetheless, Robin assured me that most people had not had any problems whilst playing it, which – whilst it didn’t do anything for my ego – is reassuring.  I can see that for many people this would be a game that they could jump into quite easily and for those to whom it doesn’t come quite so naturally, a little practice is bound to be enough to set you on your way.

Hearing the price tag ($9.99), I almost feel a twinge of guilt.  This is the product of so much work, so many ideas and generally a great deal of good stuff that the guys at Beatnik Games clearly love that it seems almost insulting to pay so little.  But as Robin philosophically points out, it’s proof that you can have a very polished game for a low price and this low price will hopefully bring in more players and lead to a bigger community.  At a time when some games are hitting retail stores with a price tag of £50, that’s a refreshing attitude to encounter. 

Thinking about what I’ve seen, it strikes me that this is going to appeal to a lot of people for a lot of reasons, not least of all because ‘try it, you might like it’ is so much easier to put into practice when you’re paying so little.  You might be brilliant at it, you might be rubbish but it’s well worth paying a few quid to find out.  I’m pretty sure that however good (or bad) you are, you’ll still find it addictively good fun.