Speed Limit is a brand new project by indie developer Gamechuck. Based in Zagreb Croatia, Gamechuck is not a new name when it comes to video games. Their latest project Speed Limit is a fast-paced action game that incorporates different genres into a single package that is made to torture you. This is our preview of the preview build of Speed Limit in which we jump in the shoes of a common man and try not to die more than a million times while trying to complete it.
To say that Speed Limit is limited to one genre will be an absolute disrespect to the title. Speed Limit introduces a brand new method of gameplay where the game can quickly change the entire way of playing it in a second. This keeps the gameplay of Speed Limit fresh and challenging because as you get comfortable with the current layout of the game, you are introduced to a brand new mechanic and then you spend a lot of time getting used to the new mechanic and then the game changes it again.
The game starts as a side-scrolling shooter where you must fight your way to the very end of the train. More variations include top-down car driving and a third-person bike riding sequence. The trailer also showcases a fighter jet. However, this preview is mostly focused on the side-scrolling shooter bit of the game. Since this is the start of the game, you get to know about what has actually happened which has caused you running around, shooting police, detective, and members of the SWAT team. Someone drunk at the train died at your feet and the blame drops down on your head and you have to fight your way out of the mess. The action picks up almost instantly and thanks to no loading screens, you can die again and again without any remorse.
The gameplay involves precision, speed, and killing. There is tons of dying involved and when I say tons, I really mean tons. The game is brutal and will not give you a second chance. Make a small mistake and you are dead. Turn around and you are dead. Crouch down and you are dead. No matter what you do in the game, the game will find a way to kill you. Right from the start of the game, you must fight your way through different cars of a train which are crawling with SWAT, detectives, and policemen. Each of the enemies will literally surround you at certain times making you use your reflexes to their very best if you want to survive the scenario. Most of the time you will just end up with a knife in your head.
The thing here is that you cannot stop as well because a team of SWAT is always advancing from your back so if you stop for a break, they will catch up to you and kill you. This forces you to be always on the move and never look back. The enemies drop down from the top, come from the bottom, come from the back and they come from the top. Some of the scenarios are simple to plow through however some scenarios will literally have you pulling your hair out as you die, repeat, die, repeat. There are no mid-level checkpoints so if you die at the very end of a level, you have to repeat the whole level again and I am pretty sure that you will die once or twice before reaching the same spot again.
Enemies are greatly varied in the game. You will come face to face with detectives which are hiding in plain sight and attack you when you have your back turned towards them. You will also come across shielded enemies whose shield bounce back your bullets thus killing you off your own bullets that you fired to kill the enemy. Apart from the enemies, each level also brings with it tons of distractions as well like for the first level you have tunnels that turn everything black and white and flicker back and forth causing you to lose focus easily. If the enemies do not kill you, these distractions certainly will.
This absolute bloodbath features a really catchy soundtrack which really gets you in the mood for some fast-paced action. The retro visuals of the title also do justice to the overall concept of the game. It really feels like a good old 2D shooter from the early days of gaming. The controls are exceptionally easy to master as there are only two buttons to remember. You move around with the joystick and press A to shoot and B to jump. This minimalistic control scheme allows you to focus on more important tasks at hand such as dying again and again. The simple run and gun mechanic really set up the pace for some super-fast encounters and brilliant for short-gaming sessions. However, it might be a little too difficult for casual gamers as I am sure many will not even complete the first level of the game.
As of writing this preview, I lost my death count and I still have to complete the demo. However, I greatly enjoyed my time with the demo even though it was re-runs of the same level. Speed Limit looks like it will really put the players to the test even with the full version when it comes out. The Full version of Speed Limit will come with more levels and it will be more refined than the current demo as well. However, I cannot say that it will any easier. It might be even tougher as the developers might add randomly generating enemies in the game to make it even tougher. Currently, the enemies spawn at fixed locations so after a few runs, you sort of know where the next enemy will pop out from making the new runs a little bit easier. I am really looking forward to playing the full game when it comes out.
You can download and play the free Speed Limit demo yourself and see if you can remember your death count as the game relentlessly kills you on every single frame. As for me, I will continue to master the demo and hopefully, I will be well-prepared for the full release next year.
