Part Time UFO 2017
Log Status
Completed
Playing
Backlog
Wishlist
Rating
Time Played
--
Days in Journal
1 day
Last played
January 9, 2019
Platforms Played
GOTY 2018 - NUMBER TEN
Video version
It’s my great pleasure to welcome the first mobile game to make it onto one of my GOTY lists. Part-Time UFO’s a wee belter.
Coming from a new subdivision of Kirby developers, HAL Laboratory, and being the first game the company has self-published in 25 years, HAL Egg’s first title is a game that matches the scale and charm of some of their earliest titles. Part-Time UFO focuses on UFO Catcher/claw machine mechanics and tells a story about a cute wee UFO finding itself stranded on earth and taking up odd jobs to earn money. Throughout the game, you’ll be tasked with loading a farmer’s pick-up truck, reassembling a pile of scattered dinosaur bones and arranging a pyramid of cheerleaders. This is HAL at their best.
I still like the new Kirbies fine, but you won’t see the bloated, repetitive Star Allies on this list. Part-Time UFO feels like what the first Kirby games were- Daft wee games that took simple mechanics and explored them through a series of cute, funny little levels. At a time when home gaming was at risk of becoming a dry, drawn-out alternative to snappy sparky arcade games, HAL were putting out stuff like Dream Land 1 and Pinball Land to expand on what could be done with shallow, attention-grabbing coin-ops and give us something to feel genuine affection for. Part-Time UFO’s one of those games, and it snuck out on App Stores.
Part of what makes the game so funny and endearing is the deliberate clumsiness of its controls. Your slidey wee spaceship isn’t the best thing for pinpoint accuracy, and the big dangly claw is even clumsier. It’s really good fun to see desperate people task this cute wee flying saucer with intricate jobs. HAL pair this concept with great big pixels and thick lines on everything. These are people who know how to make daft wee classics, and they’re firing on all cylinders here.
I don’t know how much more there is to say about Part-Time UFO, but I’ve got some time to spare, so let’s talk about what works about this kind of design, and why I’m so glad HAL have found an avenue to make more of them.
See, when you have freedom to do whatever, you’re likely to stick to typical logic. Just make a fucking Star Wars game. That’ll sell. When you’re limited by arbitrary rules, like pixel count, a handful of visual techniques, a couple button inputs, that’s what leads to satisfying, innovative, endearing results. The worst Game Boy games were the ones that attempted to bring over home console design to a monochrome screen and fuck all buttons. HAL knew how to make stuff that shone within those narrow walls. They made a wee ball fight a penguin in a boxing ring. They know how to work with fuck all. Part-Time UFO is a Lego cat among 200kb JPEGs of Michelangelo sculptures.
HAL doing stuff like this makes me feel okay about the idea of hardware becoming more standarised and the threat of traditional handhelds fading away into the mist. These are the people who made our games – Our Kirbies, our Super Smash Bros. Melee, our Pokémon Snap – and they’re still hanging around to make sure things don’t get shit or boring. They’re showing the generation of designers who grew up playing Croc and fucking Disruptor that their passions were built on foundations of shit. This is what a great game looks like, and this is the way you make one in 2018. Aye, it’s a fucking mobile game. You think that’s a reason not to play it? You make me fucking sick. You’ve got a phone and a couple quid in your pocket. It’s time to balance animals on an elephant’s head.
If you’re upset nobody makes games like Mr Domino or Ribbit King anymore, you should be shouting from the rooftops about Part-Time UFO. I don’t care how many pixel art games are on the eShop. This kind of design is a rare thing, and we ought to cherish it, incubate it and watch it grow up into a great big chicken. And if you don’t, I’ll fucking hate you.
Video version
It’s my great pleasure to welcome the first mobile game to make it onto one of my GOTY lists. Part-Time UFO’s a wee belter.
Coming from a new subdivision of Kirby developers, HAL Laboratory, and being the first game the company has self-published in 25 years, HAL Egg’s first title is a game that matches the scale and charm of some of their earliest titles. Part-Time UFO focuses on UFO Catcher/claw machine mechanics and tells a story about a cute wee UFO finding itself stranded on earth and taking up odd jobs to earn money. Throughout the game, you’ll be tasked with loading a farmer’s pick-up truck, reassembling a pile of scattered dinosaur bones and arranging a pyramid of cheerleaders. This is HAL at their best.
I still like the new Kirbies fine, but you won’t see the bloated, repetitive Star Allies on this list. Part-Time UFO feels like what the first Kirby games were- Daft wee games that took simple mechanics and explored them through a series of cute, funny little levels. At a time when home gaming was at risk of becoming a dry, drawn-out alternative to snappy sparky arcade games, HAL were putting out stuff like Dream Land 1 and Pinball Land to expand on what could be done with shallow, attention-grabbing coin-ops and give us something to feel genuine affection for. Part-Time UFO’s one of those games, and it snuck out on App Stores.
Part of what makes the game so funny and endearing is the deliberate clumsiness of its controls. Your slidey wee spaceship isn’t the best thing for pinpoint accuracy, and the big dangly claw is even clumsier. It’s really good fun to see desperate people task this cute wee flying saucer with intricate jobs. HAL pair this concept with great big pixels and thick lines on everything. These are people who know how to make daft wee classics, and they’re firing on all cylinders here.
I don’t know how much more there is to say about Part-Time UFO, but I’ve got some time to spare, so let’s talk about what works about this kind of design, and why I’m so glad HAL have found an avenue to make more of them.
See, when you have freedom to do whatever, you’re likely to stick to typical logic. Just make a fucking Star Wars game. That’ll sell. When you’re limited by arbitrary rules, like pixel count, a handful of visual techniques, a couple button inputs, that’s what leads to satisfying, innovative, endearing results. The worst Game Boy games were the ones that attempted to bring over home console design to a monochrome screen and fuck all buttons. HAL knew how to make stuff that shone within those narrow walls. They made a wee ball fight a penguin in a boxing ring. They know how to work with fuck all. Part-Time UFO is a Lego cat among 200kb JPEGs of Michelangelo sculptures.
HAL doing stuff like this makes me feel okay about the idea of hardware becoming more standarised and the threat of traditional handhelds fading away into the mist. These are the people who made our games – Our Kirbies, our Super Smash Bros. Melee, our Pokémon Snap – and they’re still hanging around to make sure things don’t get shit or boring. They’re showing the generation of designers who grew up playing Croc and fucking Disruptor that their passions were built on foundations of shit. This is what a great game looks like, and this is the way you make one in 2018. Aye, it’s a fucking mobile game. You think that’s a reason not to play it? You make me fucking sick. You’ve got a phone and a couple quid in your pocket. It’s time to balance animals on an elephant’s head.
If you’re upset nobody makes games like Mr Domino or Ribbit King anymore, you should be shouting from the rooftops about Part-Time UFO. I don’t care how many pixel art games are on the eShop. This kind of design is a rare thing, and we ought to cherish it, incubate it and watch it grow up into a great big chicken. And if you don’t, I’ll fucking hate you.