If you’ve been following my site for a while, you’ll have noticed the frequent mention of a company called Gamechuck. I had the chance to meet a few of their team at EGX in October and have been consistently impressed with the high-quality games and hardware that they produce on a regular basis. We’ve talked about some of their older works such as Vape Escape before and recently I got to look at a preview of their newest creation – Trip the Ark Fantastic.
I’m always excited to see something new from the Gamechuck crew, so when I spotted an email in my inbox last week from them, I was excited. Their letter of love to the era of arcade games, called Speed Limit, released its trailer and demo as of today! (March 12th). It’s a high-paced, run-and-gun, action filled arcade game demo, available on Steam for you all to enjoy – click here for that – https://store.steampowered.com/app/1058280/Speed_Limit/
I got a little sneak view at Speed Limit when at EGX. I was terrible at it, but I enjoyed it immensely. For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, let me explain:
“A daily train commute gone wrong: Speed Limit is a one take, non-stop arcade experience that never slows down. An old-school shooter boiled down to its core elements: Hard. Fast. Addictive.”
Have you ever been on the London Underground and been ambushed by dozens of soldiers dressed in full SWAT gear? Me neither. Though I probably wouldn’t be that surprised if it did happen. The Tube is known for it’s weird and whacky events after all – such as a goth and his surfboard, a satanic doll and people bringing various …adult art pieces onto the train. Seriously, I don’t know what it is about public transportation that inspires commuters to try weird and whacky things. Then again, the Internet wouldn’t be the same without it.
Simplistic, fast-paced and addictive gameplay is what makes Speed Limit so intriguing to me. You will die, a lot. Not as often as Dark Souls or Cuphead but Speed Limit is very much trial and error experience. You’ll become a professional in the first few sections of a level, charging through train carriages, shooting bad guys and dodging bullets like you’re in the matrix, then suddenly faceplanting off the roof and being crushed the wheels of the train. You know, just normal things.
Speed Limit isn’t about learning a mechanic and just charging through every level as quickly as possible. It’s about adapting to what is front of you. As soon as you get used to one level style, it’ll throw you into another – forcing you to start that learning curve all over again. It takes everything that was brilliant about arcade games and adds that modern zeal to it.
Every frame is hand-drawn by the phenomenally talented artists at Gamechuck, with such detail that it boggles the mind. The one thing that it doesn’t take from the arcade era, is the tendency to steal all your money. If you die, you start the level over from the last checkpoint. You don’t have to put in additional coins or run to find more tokens before the timer ticks down and you lose all your progress.
I’m not going to reveal too much about the game itself as I believe that it is well-worth playing yourself, even if just for the banging soundtrack. It’s a hard balance to nail – creating a soundtrack that doesn’t frustrate you after listening to it on loop for ten minutes. They’re talented folks, what can I say.
If you’re curious about how Speed Limit was created, the Gamechuck crew are releasing a three-part documentary series talking about the whole process, so it’s worth looking at! Especially if you’re interested in game design.
Anyways, apologies for the shorter piece this week – partly not wanting to spoil the demo experience for anyone and partly because I’m running a production this week, so I’m sat writing this whilst waiting for some set pieces to dry!
Till next time,
CaitlinRC