While wandering the seemingly endless Gamescom halls, I was lucky to chance upon a small, albeit crowded booth filled with people bearing happy, almost silly, grins. Stepping closer, I discovered the source of their mirth: Foul Play. This is an upcoming and utterly charming side-scrolling brawler from Mediatonic. Set in a theatre, the game’s five plays follow the exploits of Victorian demon hunter Baron Dashforth and his faithful servant, Scampwick. Our main protagonist delights the audience with his thrilling adventure tales while beating up a lot of bad guys in the process. This is a quirky and whimsical setup that ties neatly to the game’s core mechanics.
There is no traditional health bar you can refill with pickups. Instead, you depend on the audience’s goodwill. Dealing out blows left and right without getting hit keeps your combo meter up, which entertains the crowd and allows you to take more damage before it’s “play over.” This is an elegant system that has you diving in headfirst instead of pursuing a more cautious approach, even though it can get a bit overwhelming at times. With twenty or thirty enemies on screen, keeping track of your own position isn’t always easy. It does help that button mashing, even if it is commonly regarded as a less refined way of playing, is an easy solution to that particular quandary. If that feels too plebeian, beating little dudes like a true gentleman is encouraged and rewarded. A lot of enemies signal their impending attacks, leaving them wide open for a quick counter which allows you to get in a couple of hits at once – always good for the combo meter.
Foul Play allows for single player mayhem or local and online two-player co-op. I did just fine without a trusty sidekick, but the genre has always lent itself well to playing together with someone else. In fact, 4-player co-op was Castle Crashers’ main selling point, so it’s a shame to have narrative constraints get in the way. But the story only allows for Dashforth and Scampwick, whose well-written banter served to loosen up the slight monotony distinctive to the genre. Speaking of variety: while there are only a few different enemy types, a lot of care has gone into the boss fights, with each of the 13 big baddies having two forms and attack patterns.
I had the chance to play about 20 minutes of Foul Play. The first few levels had me fighting bandits in the desert like a certain adventurous archaeologist. Skipping a big part of the game, I then took on the second play’s boss, a Nosferatu-esque vampire able to create multiple mirror images of himself. Each of the five acts has its own distinct theme and feel. As implied in the beginning of this preview, I certainly had a lot of fun. I actually found the game to be far more enjoyable than the similar Castle Crashers . My only concern is that it might be a bit on the easy side; that vampire wasn’t much of a challenge. However, I didn’t get to try the later levels, so that’s just speculation on my part. Besides, there probably will be various difficulty levels and additional challenges, so I wouldn’t worry to much about that.
Foul Play will be released September 18th on Steam and is already available for pre-order, with 10% off the regular price of $14.99 in addition to getting your hands on the soundtrack.