Indie game developer Mark Essen, aka Messhof, found a great outlet for his creations with Adult Swim’s gaming site. Riding that line between WTF humor and an acid trip, both entertain in a way that frustrates the uninitiated (and often the initiated). Let’s take a trip through the boiling brainpan of Messhof. You might want to leave breadcrumbs behind you.
If anything typifies Messhof games it’s 8-bit graphics, off-the-wall subject matter, and fluid controls. It’s a difficult aesthetic to make work. Party Boat is an early effort and a perfect example of the unique (and often frustrating) control dynamic. It seems simple enough, arrow keys move you in the direction you want to go. In practice however, touching the left key only makes your helicopter pull back. It’s not until your copter blades are angled just so that moving backward actually happens. There are no sudden stops and starts, just nearly avoided overcompensations and numerous run-ins with missiles. The boxy and bludgeoning visuals scream button-mashing, but what is in fact needed is finesse and patience.
The perfectly titled Cream Wolf serves as a fine introduction to Messhof’s sense of humor. Avoid cops and fatten up the children so that when the full moon comes around you have a veritable buffet on the suburban streets. It’s a touch of Pac-Man, a bit of Rock Band (although with ice cream), and whole helluva lot of weird. I’m talkin’ werewolf-in-an-ice-cream-van weird. It’s much better played than described, but I guess that’s true of most games.
Turbo Turbo Turbo is Essen’s take on the racing genre. Things start off strangely enough with a Russian (?) mobster spouting convoluted English semi-sentences (Terror is unsuspecting, with vengeance strike!!). The general idea is that you must race and come in first place or there will be consequences. The race itself is like RC Pro Am on ice. The trick is to ram other cars to gain extra turbo boosts. Win, and move on. Lose, and well, uh, you have a choice. Clear out a bar by punching people in the face or get one of your thumbs severed. Lose both thumbs and it’s game over.
The most recent post to Adult Swim is Pipedreamz, which combines a fetishistic love for meat with surfing. A standard day really. The minigames that make up the whole consist of clandestinely eating meat, flipping burgers, and cruising for gnarly waves, and the controls are touchy as usual. It’s reminiscent of the surfing portion of California Dreams for the Sega and Nintendo which also had a steep learning curve. Jumping and landing are no easy task, making success that much sweeter. Or perhaps meatier. The dialogue from your porcine “bro” oozes machismo, and after a hard day of riding the waves and keeping the boss happy, you’re exhausted.
Essen’s two-player minimalist fencing masterpiece, Nidhogg, has yet to be released to the public. Having played it at Fantastic Fest, I can attest that the game has the trademark art design, a killer soundtrack, and a play style that is simple and deep at the same time. Players can jump right in and have a blast, but the real surprise is that like more robust games such as Street Fighter mastery of the controls and strategy can quickly ramp up into gameplay that is fiercely competitive. Whenever this gets a proper release I’m already calling it as one of the best games of the year.
Playing all of these games in rapid succession is not recommended. Take a break from the quotidian but alien worlds and retain your sanity.
This article appears in December 31 • 2010.
