by Clenchmask
XBLIG indie game Escape Goat (also available on PC), what we have here is a ridiculously damn good little game. Seriously this is the best NES game you never played, the rare ghost cart that escaped your grubby mitts until you were well into the post-teen years. An elusive unicorn that almost never met expectations. This game does. Shrewd tech-minded purists might say it couldn't have been pulled off due to it's musical and sprite complexity but I've never claimed to know the full potential of the NES. So they can go suck an egg. Let's get dangerous.
Gameplay is as deceptively simple as classic NES games. You're a purple little goat that can jump and ram, that's about it. Where the true genius lies is in the single room puzzles and an invincible, button pushing, teleporting rodent companion. He's precious little skamp that climbs any surface in one direction you toss him, and can swap positions with you after finding a magical feathered cap. Now so far you're thinking "Oh it's pixel-based indie platformer, how original." with jaded sarcasm dribbling down your chin. Well screw that man, this game is a Rube Goldberg machine of diabolical and joyous machinations. You'll probably breeze through a number of the locales in your first sitting but some of the later puzzles can be an exercise in timed frustration. Most puzzles are straightforward and forgiving, but some require multiple deaths/retries to see the simple machine's true purpose to reveal the exit.
Hub area where all the lazy ass sheep chill after rescue.
The game starts with you being accused of Witchcraft just because you're a goat. You then escape your cell and rescue a sheep, it leads you to a hub area where you start your adventure of rescuing more sheep. Each doorway in this hub-land leads to slightly different puzzle chambers, each one containing multiple themed rooms. Rooms are pretty straightforward laboratories and ice/fire/electricity areas that are all wonderfully realized in pixel form. The only disconnect I had with the visuals was the static Reaper enemies. I think if they were rendered to reflect an aspect of the area they inhabited it would have really hammered home the differences between rooms. But that's nothing that would ruin a sane person's enjoyment of the game. My favorite little bit of animation is when the goat as at a precipice he puts all four of his hooves together and stares directly at the player. Almost as to ask "Hey pal whathca ya thinkin about?" Delicious.
MOUSE FRIEND ACTIVATE!
Now for the most outstanding aspect of this package, the catchiest damn music that's ever tickled your earbones. The different tunes will be stuck to the roof of you brain like the best kind of soundbutter. It's that good. Other effect noises are completely original and helpful in letting you know you've done the right or wrong thing. Again probably better than actual NES/Commodore sound work, but still impressively simple yet amazing. The music is so damn good I urge you to check out the trailer for a taste.
This room is a bastard-flavored bastard with bastard-creme filling.
I give Escape Goat 4 out of 5 Sporks. Overall length will vary with your platforming skills but it's a solid 4 hour romp at least. I'm subtracting one Spork only for the difference in pricing, on XBLA it's 80 msp, which translates to 1 USD. And on PC it's seems to be... 4.99 USD. I chock it up to the commit rate on XBLIG being low, but I think they should be closer in price. Regardless I would gladly pay 5 dollars to play this, or... a dollar. It's tasty little treat at any price.
P.S. DON'T FORGET TO SAVE.
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