Spitlings is a fun and chaotic arcade game from developer Massive Miniteam and publisher HandyGames. Spitlings is just the type of fun game that allows you to start it up and get playing instantly. The game is about cute little square-shaped monsters that you play as, spitting around at the bouncing enemy bubbles to take them down. While you can start the game story by playing solo, you can also play co-op with up to 4 friends in local play. I got to play Spitlings on the PlayStation 4 where I got the review copy of the game.
Spitlings waste no time and get you straight into the action whether you are playing solo or co-op in the Party mode. Before I could try out co-op with an additional player, I got to experience its Story mode, which also gives you to option to invite other players in for local play. Immediately after entering the Story mode, you have to choose any unlocked Spitling and then continue to the Prologue of the game.
The Story of Spitlings is beautifully told in a comic style, featuring images of our happy Spitlings living in a small city inside a large crater. As you continue with the story, the comic style images show a dramatic turn of events that is heading towards our cute terrifying monsters and their crater. The mysterious purple storm immediately covers the sun and rains down purple drops of rain, which later turns out to be the real enemy of Spitlings. The land is quickly taken over by this alien entity that hovers over the crater, forcing our heroes with no other option but to retreat and fight back.
After a short tutorial explaining the basic moves of control a Spitling, the game does not waste any more time and puts you straight into the action. The story mode of Spitlings contains levels that need to be cleared within the required time to unlock more areas to progress. Each of the cleared main areas allows you to head to the giant purple enemy blob and free one of the Spitlings that might have been caught. Remember, there are 100 Spitlings that you will unlock over time in the story. This can be seen on the Spitling selection screen that you see before you begin any game mode.
The gameplay mechanics of Spitlings are very basic, easy to understand and get used to. You can move your selected monster left or right, and spit up or down. Spitting up allows you to hit any object or enemy blob above you while spitting down also allows you to thrust yourself up, and momentarily fly to a higher location by spitting quickly. As far as the combat mechanic is concerned, the two-directional spitting is the only way you can fight. You cannot spit left or right, but your spit can bounce around on jump pads, or stay on the ground, which will still take out the enemy bubbles.
Spitlings are not blessed with unlimited spitting ammo, which is indicated by their teeth. You have a certain amount of ammo or teeth that can be spat and be recollected from the ground when you walk over them. Other ways to get more spitting ammo is to collect them from containers, shooting at spit obstacles that drop down, or can be reloaded by pressing the Recharge button. The Recharge allows you to reload all your spit ammo but it is slow and requires you to stay still. The Recharge can easily take a few seconds to reload, which can be the make or break in clearing the level.
Spitlings becomes even more fun when played with friends in local co-op. The Party or the Story modes allow you to bring along up to 4 friends into the adventure. While the Story mode starts off a little slow and gets difficult with progression, the best experience for co-op play is in the Party mode. After selecting the Spitlings by each player, you are then switched to a level choosing screen where players can decide what level they want to play. The levels in the Party mode are somewhat more challenging than the earlier stages of Story mode as they feature bigger or more enemy bubbles bouncing around. Playing co-op becomes instant fun when you have more enemies to worry about spit at. If either you or your teammate is hit by the enemy blob, the whole level is reset, adding to the element of team play.
Apart from the two modes, there is also the Multiplayer mode which I presume allows you to play with online players. However, I never got to experience this mode as it never connected to any game after a short loading message on the main menu. I tried this multiple times before giving up, thinking it might still be something that will come later. In addition, there is also the Editor mode which is another mode that can be seen on the main menu but is highlighted with a short Coming Soon message beside it. I am really looking forward to the Editor mode which I think will allow the player to create all sorts of custom levels that might be shared online for others to try.
Final Verdict:
Spitling is a very addictive, action-packed and fun game that will have you glued to the screen, clearing level after level. The classic arcade game features that are mixed with modern visuals and music brings out the best. The game gets progressively difficult and unforgiving and will test your skill, other than just spitting around and hitting targets. The Party mode is a great way to tag your friends along to bring them into the action. Spitlings is one of the games that doesn’t require a ton of skill as a beginner and is fun for all ages. The Editor mode is still a work in progress, but will certainly bring out the level creativity out of players, and might even make the game more challenging and fun. I would highly recommend Spitlings for a quick and fun experience with your friends and family.
Final Score: 8/10
