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Dear everyone everywhere, Space Giraffe is a fantastic game. In fact I think Space Giraffe is one of the best games that I have ever played. Why? I’ll tell you why.

Jeff Minter is pretty much a video game legend. Started way back in the before-I-was-born and has been actively developing games ever since. Maybe this is why his take on game design is both more old school and more groundbreaking than anything that’s being made today. With roots in the bloody fantastic Tempest, Space Giraffe is a new spin on the fixed shooter concept. Luckily instead of just updating the graphics and adding a few levels/power-ups, Jeff Minter completely re-made how you have to think while playing the game. Space Giraffe is anti-Tempest.

For anyone who’s played Tempest you know that if the enemies reach the the top, you’re basically dead. In Space Giraffe your goal for big scores is to let the enemies reach the top. Here we have the core gameplay concept “bulling”. Basically you can push most enemies off the top of the playing field as long as the “power zone” is active. To keep the power zone active you either have to shoot stuff or jump with a little friend from pods you collect. When the power zone is active you can effectively rinse all enemies and gain pretty a massive multiplier and score. Still with me? Ok.

Beyond this the other core part of Space Giraffe are the visuals. Minter’s background in making virtual “light synths”, basically what most people call “visualizers”, has blessed us with one of the most amazing gameplay concepts ever. The visuals are part of the challenge. The beautiful Neon engine is constantly pulsating and how intense is different between the levels. Sometimes the visuals partially obscure the level (or at least fight for your attention). The interesting thing here is that you’re adapting to these visuals, learning how to see what’s going on and evolving as a player during the game. The learning curve here is incredibly smooth and you pretty much never hit a brick wall in game. Instead it’s an almost religious experience to suddenly realize what’s happening after you’ve died once. It’s very much like those “zelda moments”, you know when you finally get that hookshot and go “OH SHIT NOW I CAN GET TO ALL THESE PLACES I COULDN’T BEFORE” and you get all warm and fuzzy inside. Space Giraffe gently kicks your senses in the balls but in time it feels more like gentle fondling. Spectacular, eh?

Beyond this (quite frankly genius) core lies numerous other twists and elements that makes the 100 levels enjoyable. The different kinds of enemies are all handled differently and when you understand how to deal with a certain enemy in the best way, another one poses a new challenge. I especially like the feedback monsters that distort the visuals when you shoot or bull them, possibly killing you if you’re not used to it. Beyond that there are pretty flowers, enemies who say Ni, zappers and a few other lovely creations. The level design is also varied, some of the harder levels making it hard to see one part of the arc when you’re in the other. Couple this with the ever changing visuals and you have a great variation of levels that you’re eased in to with the smoothest difficulty curve imaginable.

The key to Space Giraffe is understanding the core gameplay concept. It’s not your run of the mill FPS or even arcade shooter, you have to approach it a bit differently or you’ll have no idea what’s happening. When you do wrap your head around the game though, it’s one of the most immersive, addictive and mind blowing experiences in gaming. Space Giraffe gets you into a trance-like state, Space Giraffe makes you illuminated. Everything outside of Space Giraffe doesn’t matter and everything in Space Giraffe is all that’s good and logical. It’s also a whole lot of fun.