To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Reservoir Dogs, a Quentin Tarantino-approved Reservoir Dogs game is in the works, and developer Big Star Games having brought the top-down shooter to GDC. After trying the game out, it stands out as an interesting take on the genre, adding a timed puzzle element to the mix.
Reservoir Dogs: Bloody Days plays similarly to games like Hotline Miami. Players take on the role of three gangsters and must accomplish a number of different heists, like breaking into a bank vault or robbing from a shipping dock. The game is played like a twin-stick shooter, with the keyboard controlling movement and your characters shooting wherever you are pointing with the mouse.
Unlike other games, Reservoir Dogs: Bloody Days mixes the formula up a bit. Every mission involves you playing as three characters simultaneously, jumping from one character to the next. Once you are done with a character, time will rewind and you’ll start over as the next one in line.
For example, you start as the first character and rush into a building. You take out two enemies, but one hits you a few times from a side room. You then jump to the next character, and time rewinds back to the start of the game. The best bet would be to use the time to take this character over to the side room, killing the third enemy before he can shoot your first character.
This sounds complicated, and it is. However, once I started getting the feel for the time manipulation, infinite possibilities seemed to open up. If enemies aren’t coming, you can draw them out and kill off one character, only for him to spring back to life on the rewind. Now that you have a decoy, you can use another character to take out the enemies that fall for your trap.
Despite the time stops and rewinds, the action is still frantic, with players having to make snap decisions as waves of enemies flood into whatever location you happen to be in. Ultimately, the time manipulation starts making Bloody Days feel more like some kinetic puzzle instead of an action game; each mission turning into a deranged game of chess with my AI opponent.
The missions are also rated based on accuracy, how much money was taken, and other factors. This gives incentive to play a mission over again to try and get a perfect rating.
Reservoir Dogs: Bloody Days is scheduled to release some time this Spring on Steam, with an Xbox One version confirmed to follow later. No official release date is set for the game as of yet.
So what do you think? Are you interested in seeing the strange time mechanics of Reservoir Dogs: Bloody Days for yourself? What other movies would you like to see turned into a game? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
