Writings of Mass Deduction

Originally 240 Microsoft Points waaaay back in 2009, and these days sporting an 80 Microsoft Point price tag, “Squid Yes! Not So Octopus!” managed to fly way, way under my radar until today. The game is a neat melding of Jeff Minter-inspired visuals (think Tempest 2000) and an arena shooter. But unlike Geometry Wars and the hundreds that were inspired by it, this is a straight forward shooting affair. That adds an interesting tactical element to the game, where you can only kill an enemy by going right down its throat, and positioning yourself so you can do that safely is quite a challenge.

I’m a sucker for anything inspired by Jeff Minter, so this was well worth 80 Microsoft Points to me.

Here’s what the developer (Loafjaw) has to say about the game:

“Born of atomic death! Raised in the shadow of a mushroom cloud! He’s a squid! Not an Octopus! He’s Squid Yes! Not So Octopus! And he’s very irritable. A classic single player, psychedelic, retro styled, arena shooter. The aim of the game is to score as close to 9 as possible whilst not succumbing to the invading masses.”