Play NYC: ‘Speglar’ Review

It’s amazing how competition can be a driving factor for a game. Take Pong, for instance. The game is nothing more than two sticks knocking a ball back and forth, yet it’s an incredible competition between two players. So it’s awesome to see game developers create intense competition with relatively simple mechanics. Things get much more complicated when levels are designed around those mechanics to create intense gameplay. One of the games at Play NYC, Speglar, managed to achieve this to great effect.

The game supports up to four players. It’s a competitive game, so there needs to be more than one person playing, but bots can populate the level so that people can play by themselves. Essentially, the game is very simple. Players have to shoot lasers and try to hit their opponents. The levels are organized like a grid. Things become more complicated when diagonal mirrors are introduced into the grid. Players can travel through the mirrors, but lasers can’t. So essentially, players try to utilize these mirrors to ricochet their laser shots around corners to take out their opponents from a distance.

A one-on-one match is fairly intense. But things become crazier when the level is filled with four players. not only can they shoot lasers, they can also shoot shields that block and push other players back. This adds another degree of craziness to what can already be a crazy game. With lasers ricocheting all around, it’s often hard to keep track of where the player is going and shooting. It’s this type of intense action that can create tense competition and make for a very fun game. Also, the game employs some neat artwork to create unique characters and give the game its own flair. Speglar is simple in it’s design but fun in its execution.