E3 2010: Spare Parts Preview

by Erik Brudvig - IGN.com | 21 June 2010 12:00
 
A friendly little co-op action game.
 
Electronic Arts is putting together a little co-op action game for XBLA and PSN that looks friendly enough for a small child, yet it still may have enough style and substance to keep any older gamers interested. It's called Spare Parts and it stars two robots (Mar-T and Chip) who find themselves put out with the trash on an alien planet. The goal is to work together -- the game can be played cooperatively with two players -- to find lost ship parts and eventually escape the dump they're stuck on.
 
Spare Parts follows a standard action game playbook. There's a fair amount of platforming to be done and plenty of little enemies will attempt to impede your progress. When playing cooperatively, the camera will remain fixed in one place for both players (even online), which may cause a little confusion, but it did look fairly manageable. And playing co-op looks like the way to go. Aside from having the added fun of a friend along for the ride, special moves are being put into Spare Parts that make things considerably easier when playing with a friend. One I saw involved a jumping high-five that replenished both robots' health meters.
 

As you explore levels in Spare Parts, you'll find new parts to upgrade the robots, thereby adding new attacks and special moves. Some, such as the rocket boosters, will allow you to reach special places to grab even more goodies. Some will even give you access to new parts of the broken down ship which will open up new levels. To get everything, you'll have to criss-cross your way across each level and area of the ship, sometimes backtracking to previously visited areas. New powers will constantly give you new reason to go back and explore some more.
 
EA isn't rewriting the playbook with Spare Parts, but it does seem to be ensuring that it is upping the expectations of how polished and complete a casual XBLA or PSN game should be. Spare Parts looks pretty darn good for something you can play with a kid or little cousin, and at 800 points it won't break the bank.
 
Supplied by IGN.com