Review: Gish

[Samwise]

One of the best platformers ever is a PC game.  Who knew?

[Stephen Zepp]

Great review!

Something that not many people actually know about Gish:

It won the 2005 IGF Seamus McNally Award (Grand Prize), as well as the Innovative Game of the Year award also at IGF, and was selected as the 2005 Game Tunnel Game of the Year.

[Llava]

Are the Smashing Pumpkins references intentional on their part?  "Gish" was the name of the first Smashing Pumpkins album and, if I recall correctly, there is also "Dross" in the game which is a song by the same group.  Of course, dross is actually a word so it could be coincidence.  Gish, however... isn't, really.

[voodoolily]

Dang, Llava beat me to the Smashing Pumpkins reference (their best album, imo).

Game looks fun. I love a good platform.

[Samwise]

It wouldn't surprise me.  Then again, "gish" could be onamatapoeic (like "squish" but faster and a bit less watery).  It really is an appropriate name for a lump of tar.

[voodoolily]

It wouldn't surprise me.  Then again, "gish" could be onamatapoeic (like "squish" but faster and a bit less watery).  It really is an appropriate name for a lump of tar.

And the Best Use of the Word 'Onamatapoeic' Award goes to....

[Samwise]

According to the search I just did, that was the first and only use of "onamatapoeic" on this forum.  So I think I'm also up for Worst Use.

[Daydreamer]

Bonus points for Samwise! It should be "onomatopoeic" according to Dictionary.com

[Samwise]

You know, it's funny - I Googled it to make sure my spelling was right, but so many people have misspelled it the same way that Google accepted it as the "correct" spelling.  Damn you, Internet!

[Daydreamer]

I cannot be swayed with logic, force, cash, or seduction (okay well maybe the last one), but you found my kryptonite - large awkward mispelled words are my weakness. 

I just bought Gish, SPLORP.

[Samwise]

If it helps get more money into the pockets of deserving indy devs (as opposed to the ones that put out hideously buggy crap), I'll try to maintain a consistent level of awkward mispellings in the future.   :-D

[Daydreamer]

FUCK! I'm stuck on 5-3.  Enjoyed most of the rest of hte game up until here but I just HATE this level.  The slippery U pipes are a absolute pain, I either wait to long to go slippery or I go to early and die.  I've been at this for 2 hours now and I've made it to the second pipe only twice, both times with <20 health.  I haven't been this frustrated since the old TFC Conc maps.

Any timing tips?

[Samwise]

Yeah, that one's evil.  Make sure that you're leaning into the wall the entire time; that'll stop you from taking damage because you'll follow the curve of the pipe instead of smashing into the bottom.  I think the keys I'm holding down when I do the first two are:

right + down + D + S (first half)
left + up + S (second half)

Switch at or just before the midsection of the pipe - the key thing is to be heavy on your way down, light on your way up, and slippery the whole time.

If you're halfway down and think you're going to screw up because you don't have contact with the wall, abort by holding down the spacebar (you take no damage from falling as long as you're holding down space and/or D because then your body won't compress as much).  Then crawl back up the wall and try again.

The third pipe is the same tactic, but it's about twice as long.  Leaning into the wall is even more important on that one.   

[Daydreamer]

Dense PLUS slippery? Brilliant!

[schild]

Alright. I'm installing my gamepad to play through this. I eat hype.

[Daydreamer]

Its a crying shame that Gish doesn't support internet based multiplayer.  Its not deep, but they would be fun games to kill a few minutes with friends.

[Alkiera]

I downloaded and ran the demo... is there, somewhere, a gamma slider I missed?  game where I manuever a black spheroid against a background of 3 indistinguishable shades of black is not really all that exciting, shockingly.

Alkiera

PS. Yes, I know, my monitor brightness IS all the way up.  It just sucks.  I turn the gamma up in pretty much every game I play.

[Samwise]

I don't remember there being a gamma slider in the game options.  Does your video card have a control panel with gamma on it?  If so, that might be a better option than having to crank the gamma up on every game you play.  And if not, either get the latest drivers from the manufacturer's website, get a third-party monitor adjustment utility, or get a video card that isn't ten years old.   

[Alkiera]

I've got a Radeon 9600, it does have gamma controls in the properties, but I'm loathe to mess with them.  my desktop is plenty bright, sometimes too bright, its something about fullscreen DirectX/OpenGL.  Having to make the adjustments blind is an annoyance as well.

Alkiera

[schild]

I use Omega Drivers. I have to run most stuff in a window. Considering my desktop is mostly black with a hideous image in the middle, it's not a problem.

[Alkiera]

I also use the Omega drivers...  I've been tempted to clean them out and try to the direct ATI ones, to see if that clears up my CoH issue, tho the forum consensus seems to be that it's likely a Crypic issue.

Alkiera

[voodoolily]

Its a crying shame that Gish doesn't support internet based multiplayer.  Its not deep, but they would be fun games to kill a few minutes with friends.

Hi! It's your Derail Queen again. I have been wishing this about Animal Crossing of late. Badly.

Samwise, I think your gratuitous use of the wink emoticon is adorable.

[Samwise]

Samwise, I think your gratuitous use of the wink emoticon is adorable.

Thanks!  I like to think it takes some of the edge off my otherwise abrasive personality.