I figured that whilst I was off taking some pictures of Every Extend Extra Extreme, might as well grab a handful of super hi res pictures of Space Giraffe. You know, in case I ever need one or twenty to admire.

I’m still largely of the opinion that the game is an absolute masterpiece (though my skills are more than a tad rusty if today’s efforts are anything to go by), it’s just so aggressively videogame. It is 30 years of arcade games all happening at the same time.

So much effort has gone in to making something seem so completely visually wild and out of control, comprehensively engineered and tweaked for hours upon hours to maintain the illusion of a videogame that never, ever knows when something is enough.

What an incredible, time consuming, trick. Because of course, at the helm are Jeff and Giles, deciding where enough lies. It is always one or more steps above where videogames ordinarily settle, it is as much Douglas Trumbull in a KLF fever dream as it is a synthesis of the videogame arcade, yet it is deliberate and study it for a moment and that deliberateness is glaringly obvious. As obvious in the art as in the mechanics, the scoring, the cacophony of sound telegraphing threats, good play and the throb of a rave accompanying each round.

Chaos, then. But designed. Intentional. Purposeful. Raw.

And so fucking beautiful.

Huge pictures after the cut, feel free to nick them if you need them for owt.

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Lordy, playing Akka Arrh recently reminded me that Every Extend Extra Extreme existed and it’s still such an incredible looking thing around 15 years on. Absolutely inscrutable from screenshots but makes perfect sense whilst playing! In other words, the perfect kind of videogame.

It kinda reviewed okay at the time (tho Eurogamer gave it a right kicking) but seems to be one of those XBLA releases that’s largely forgotten about. Bit of a shame because playing it again for the first time in a very long time and it’s still a bloody great game.

Outside of the Revenge mode which lets you play a twin stick variation on the game it’s a matter of the player spawning onto the screen, being given a brief moment of immunity to line their shot up and/or collect any power ups then before that immunity runs out exploding themselves in order to cause the longest, silliest, chain reaction for big money scores.

And oh my, the chain reactions are long and very very silly and the scores are so very very big. It’s ace. Completely over the top, text and colours all over the place, chains that can go on for obscene lengths of time. A sensory delight first, a game kinda sorta adjacent to that.

Yeah, sure, it’s a simple beast of a videogame and far, far from taxing but sometimes I just want to make pretty colours and shapes happen and look at a really big number.

Mind you, I can’t believe the original Every Extend is nearly twenty years old now! Cripes. This indie lark doesn’t half make time fly.

Massive pictures below the cut.

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