Dreamt, Built, and Now Playable

Published May 21, 2009

Everyone loves a good "garage entrepreneur made good" story. Particularly when the punchline to that story is an engaging, adrenaline-pumping game that's a blast to play with friends. And that's exactly what you have with David Flook and his new Xbox LIVE® Arcade game, Blazing Birds.

Incoming!

David Flook built Blazing Birds for the 2007 Dream-Build-Play competition, the contest that also brought us The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai. While some entries were created by teams of programmers, this simulation of fast-action robot badminton was a one-man project, with Flook's brother Jonathan pitching in with testing and quality assurance. The resulting game was so much fun to play, it was chosen to make the jump to Xbox LIVE Arcade, where it's available for a mere 400 Microsoft Points.

Don't let the lean development team, low price, or basic concept of the game give you the wrong impression. Get a long volley going in the game, particularly when playing with a friend, and the action gets heart-poundingly intense. This isn't just fast-action badminton. Put a couple of robots on the court, add a series of intense power-ups and a variety of shot strategies, and you have a very twenty-first century take on the classic sport.

The Dragon Flight shot is impressive.

The basic gameplay involves pressing a variety of buttons and triggers to choose how to return the volley: short, medium, long, or smash. When you've built up enough energy to take the smash shot, you're not hitting a shuttlecock. You're firing artillery. It gets even more interesting if you put the Right Stick into play, which lets you aim your shots, though that's not mandatory for winning.

Hit the ball through a floating power-up and you'll gain the ability to launch a super-hard-to-hit power shot. These include Dragon Flight, a twisting, confusing shot that's followed on screen by an actual dragon, and Hyper Space, which sends the ball unpredictably through a portal to the opponent's side.

Blazing Birds is available now on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. You can download a free trial that gives you a taste of the single player action, though the game is at its best when you're playing against a friend. It's local-multiplayer only—there's no Xbox LIVE support—but this has the benefit of letting you throw nearby objects at your friend after he smashes a volley into your court.

Think you have the programming chops to follow in David's footsteps? The 2009 Dream-Build-Play challenge is on now. Good luck!

Article by Denny Atkin