8.5
TheIndieJar: Trash TV – Work In Progress Preview
The first I saw of Trash TV was the quick trailer here - walkthrough of a tutorial puzzle, where lasers set off doors and traps. Unfortunately it only shows a very small part of the platforming, and there are other cool things like weapons and explosions that I was lucky enough to play with.
The little TV you play as is quite cute. He also has little emoticons that pop up, like hearts and sweat beads, that show how the TV would feel as he stands under a huge block of steel. You get to use boxes and other TVs to trip lasers and get through timed crushers. I did get smashed a couple of times per puzzle but the effects are so cool so I didn’t mind. Each time you die there are the fuzzy bars that people born before 2000 will recognise from when you pause a VHS tape. Also, when an enemy hits you, your character wiggles around, and as he recovers a dot on the screen covers him that reminds me of the time I left a magnet on top of my monitor.
Along with the jumping comes loads of cool guns. They too are used to solve puzzle by blowing up enemies that get in your way, destroying boxes that set off traps and blasting yourself to higher platforms. It all works really smoothly and despite the fact that I had to remap the controls the guns worked as you think they would. The rocket launcher was my favourite; it’s timed explosives stuck to surfaces and enemies alike. The developer, Lawrie Russell, seems to be very proud of his explosions because there is a whole test level dedicated to them.
The pixel and old TV asthetic is great, along with some ideas that I can see myself having great fun with. Explosions and platforming are quite popular at the moment so hopefully everyone else will take a good look at this title.
I only got to see the tutorial levels but I look forward to seeing the more advanced shooting and jumping as it’s developed. The game is in late alpha stage and aiming for an end of June release.
Dev site trashtvgame.com
Follow the dev on Twitter: @LawrieARussell
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I can’t wait for this game, judging by the video it’s going to be so addictive.
[...] Lawrie is a top guy, and we’ve been getting some fantastic coverage from RPS, IndieGames and The Game Jar, not to mention Lawrie winning the Best Character prize in Intel’s Level Up [...]