Shufflepuck Cantina Deluxe: Personal Narrative

After somehow "accidently" jumping his spaceship through a wormole, the human protagonist of Shufflepuck Cantina Deluxe finds himself crash landed on a desert planet somewhere deep in alien space. As luck would have it the planet is home to a casino inhabited by a motley group of air hockey loving aliens. With defeating the aliens at their own game and wining the parts needed to repair his ship the only way to ever leave our intrepid hero embarks on a new career as air hockey champion.

The plot in Shufflepuck Cantina Deluxe is probably not going to win any literary awards but it does provide an excuse to take on some wacky alien critters in one-on-one games of air hockey. Amazingly enough, this is not the first time that aliens have taken

Of course your opponent is not just going to idly stand by and let that happen so the result is a furious exchange until someone misjudges a shot or are not fast enough to react to one. To make things trickier, each of your opponents has a special shot that they can perform and countering these take a lot of practice. You have to battle your way through four flours, each with three opponents before taking on the big cheese waiting for you on the top floor.

Due to the nature of the game, rounds can be quite short and duels can be won quite literally in seconds. The game also uses a lightweight 3D engine that features virtually no loading times making the game ideal for quick bursts. Don 't expect to finish it in a hurry however as there are 13 opponents to defeat and literally hundreds of side missions. To win ship parts you first have to earn enough of the game currency, called credz, to purchase the complete biography of an opponent. After the biography is completed you can take part in a special match to earn the ship

It took me close to twenty hours to get all the spaceship parts, defeat the owner of the casino and rack up 51 of the 76 achievements but there was still plenty left to be done in the game. Despite all the time I spent with the game I am still not tired of it either and it is definitely a title that I will be returning to regularly for a few matches.

Unfortunately there are no multiplayer modes available at present but this feature, as well as Oculus Rift support is planned depending on the sales figures for the game. Hopefully Shufflepuck Cantina Deluxe receives the exposure and recognition that it deserves as it is a great effort from a small studio. There really isn 't anything else like it available now for computer and it packs a lot of content for a very reasonable price so it would be a shame if it is overlooked.

While at first glance Shufflepuck Cantina Deluxe might look like a glorified version of Pong it actually has a lot to offer. Your opponents are varied and it takes time to learn how to defeat them while a steady stream of unlocks will keep you coming back for more. Whether you want to play for a few minutes or a few hours, Shufflepuck Cantina Deluxe is a good