Penguin War

Penguin War

Release type: Freeware
Release date: 1997
Levels: 4
Author: Robert Brandon
Related games: Seal Boarders, Seal Boarders 2, Peach the Lobster

Not to be mistaken for Joan Stone's Penguin Pete or PPP Team's Pengo Adventure.

As a game, Penguin War is the Brandon brothers' most complete and refined production. The iconic sense of style that would carry over into the Seal Boarders games begins here (as do the penguin and lobster characters, both of whom would later become playable).

For all its genial presentation, Penguin War is hard to quite define. It's sort of an action game, except there's not much action. It's sort of an exploration game, except the player must at all times stay on the path. The best solution is probably to avoid definition, and just to describe the experience.

Though Penguin War allows scant liberty, the same can be said of the whole genre of rail shooters -- and good luck finding a bad example of that genre. The game isn't really about challenge, and it isn't about unfettered freedom. It's more like, well, Seiklus crossed with Pac-Man. You explore straight tracks around a simple yet appealing twilight world, listening to music borrowed from Mark Hadley, collecting fish and firing at essentially harmless lobsters with unnecessary yet enjoyable Robotron style controls.

The sun sets on Penguinsburg, in Penguin War

Nothing's ever really out to get you. The worst that will happen is that something will stand in your way. To get past, you must clear a lobster or an ice block.

The ice blocks are a particularly interesting thing. Encased in each is a fish; to claim the fish, you shoot or touch the block and then wait for a moment as it melts. Once it's gone, you may pass and collect your prize.

The game's structure emphasizes its general lack of a goal, or a driving force beyond curiosity. Scattered around the landscape are various doors. Enter a door to access a sort of underworld maze, built of tiles from Peach the Lobster. There are no threats down here; just a few moving floors, and a bit of gentle confusion. Finish any given underworld level to end the game.

That's it. Poke around, pick your door, wander a maze, and move on. It's a bit of a shame that there isn't more to wander and see, but Penguin War makes its point succinctly. Sometimes a game doesn't have to be about doing anything; sometimes it can just be about being, and enjoying the time that we have. This is an argument that the Brandons explore again and again, but here the statement may be at its clearest.

Story

Once, there was a penguin who went by the name of I. Dont Know. He was a very well educated penguin, and a smart one at that.

For those who know their history, the great war between the penguins, and the lobsters. At the time when I. Know was inventing his INSTA-FLIP ray, the evil cave lobsters were preoccupied with taking over the great city of Penguinsburg.

Late one evening, as I. Dont Know was putting fresh polish on his ray gun, he was startled out of his menial task by a thumping at his door. "Who is it?" He called. Only a faint bubbling sound could be heard, the same sound, coincidentally, that a long-bearded-cave- -lobster made. He opened the door, shot the lobster, went back inside and ate a health-fish or two. Then, he leapt out the door, and locked it before he could change his mind. When he looked outside, he decided that he shouldn't have done that, and that it was a very, very bad idea. With very bad timing on his side, he found that he had lost his keys already. "This," he told himself,"is a quest through very dangerous land, in search of my keys???". He then agreed with himself on that point and started on his search for his keys.

Instructions

Okay, to move UP, DOWN, LEFT, or RIGHT, you should press the corresponding on the arrow keys.

The next step is shooting. To shoot your Flip ray, you should either press

• T For up,
• G For down,
• F For left, AND
• H For right.

/\/\OR/\/\

There is a special cheat mode that lets you fire faster, quicker, and with more power. I doubt that a person who didn't make this awesome game could find it out, so here it is....

 /***\CTRL/***\
 |===|ALT|====|
 (---)#Z#(----)

HAVE FUN *<:-)}

Credits

Designed by

Robert Brandon

Engine and Tools by

Recreational Software Designs

Edited by

EJR Tairne

Background

John Brandon:

You are a penguin and you shoot lasers at lobsters. The lobsters were inspired by Peach the Lobster, and a stuffed lobster I had as a kid, that I actually named "Peach" in reference to the Peach the Lobster character. I think the penguin graphics are ripped from another GM game.

Availability

Prior to this archive's online presence, this game is not known to be publicly available.

Archive history

On January 21st 2010, Rob Brandon pseudonymously responded to a Reddit thread with a passing comment about Game-Maker. When pressed about his history with the software, he replied that all of his games were stored on a couple of defunct computers, either inaccessible or destroyed.

Over 31 months later on August 23th 2012, John Brandon commented on a YouTube clip that he had found an archive of his and his brother's old games. The next day he composed a long e-mail describing the contents of a jumbled collection of gameware files, adding up to an ostensible sixteen games. All of the games were in pieces, many of them incomplete.

Over the next five months, through regular consultation, the games were all reassembled as well as the materials would permit. The games were reconstructed or otherwise recovered on the following dates:

• October 28th: Seal Boarders.
• October 31st: Seal Boarders 2.
• November 5th: Zarlor 2.
• November 7th: Skate Board.
• November 10th: Fox World.
• December 9th: Foxy Dimensions.
• December 16th: Fox Party.
• December 17th: Ulysses, Penguin War, and Raven.
• December 19th: Skatenig, Slot Car, and Anime.
• December 21st: Droid, Void Raiders, and Terra.

Links

• Play Penguin War online

Downloads

• Penguin War (102.7 kB)