Game of the Year

Since the 29th of September, I've been playing this new, old fashioned gem on the ol' xbone, and golly gee if it is not the most beautiful testament to video games as art that I have seen in awhile, while being a constant challenge, at times a bloody infuriating, and yet it's your own knee you'll slap, it's not the games fault if you suck at it.

Now most game reviewers would be able to give you a overview of a full game. I, on the other hand, am a schmo. I've passed a couple easier bosses with a low grade, but am hitting my head against the wall on multiple fronts right now, unable to master the timing it requires.

Having a three year old join me in local coop did not help, but rather hindered, go figure. If you have a child or significant other who can game though, it must be awesome and I'm a little jealous😕 Guess we'll both just have to be patient.

2017/18 is going to mark the return of couch co/op and versus. It's a trend I think will continue going forward as developers look to add more value to their offerings. But I digress.

Few things I learned about Cuphead that furthered my appreciation? The Brother brainchilds of the game grew up in Regina, Saskatchewan and now have shop setup in Oakville, Ontario. The development team only had 14 people, including one of the brothers wife. Over 50 thousand cels were hand drawn and inked for the game. It's been in production since 2010, and was first shown to crowds at E3 2014.

Understandably it's been a long time coming, had the controls, music or even story been poorly done, all the work to make the game so unique and beautiful would have been for not. Luckily they were given the time to fully flesh out an amazing cornucopia of boss fights, run and gun levels and a simple rewards system. Boss fights aren't dictated by points, you are given three health points (or four depending on your load out) and at the end, you're either dead and shown how close you were, or given a report card detailing your success.

Besides being half the price (or quarter) of other new games, it's a no brainier to grab this game if you have an Xbone or are in the PC master(baiting) race.

All opinions here are open to hear your comments, throw me a pink pill to parry, five aces super weapon.