The Thrill of Combat

By: Derek Yu

On: June 1st, 2009

Messhof’s first shareware title, The Thrill of Combat, is a cooperative helicopter surgery simulator, where the goal is to incapacitate unwilling donors and harvest their organs to meet your quotas. I know, it sounds almost too good to be true.

The game is disorienting as hell, even more than Party Boat, which I now realize was the warm-up version for babies and little girly people. In TTOC there are more flashing lights, the controls are even more drunk, and the screen zooms in and out in a way that would make it hard to navigate even if you could fly straight in the first place. Meanwhile, you have to zap people and dodge missiles… and eventually drop the helicopter’s gunner so that he can harvest the organs in splitscreen. If you have a friend around, one person can control the helicopter while the other controls the gunner. (But I can’t imagine this makes it much easier.) Once the gunner has collected enough organs, the helicopter needs to pick him up and take him to the boat to offload them. Then land. And repeat.

Many of messhof’s games are a good fit for the gallery setting, and this one’s no different. It’s stylish, provocative, and made for two people to play while others watch. And everyone will be puking at the end of the night. $5 is a fair admission for this game, provided you are prepared for a physically demanding experience.

TIGdb: Entry for The Thrill of Combat

Posted in Abstract, Action, Unique / Bizarre, Windows | Tags: messhof

http://lumberingdream.com/ !CE-9

“And everyone will be puking at the end of the night.”

But in a good way.
mac

no demo? how am i supposed to know if this game is good or not?
cactus

It’s only $5. If you like Messhof’s other games then maybe this is a good time to show your appreciation? :)

There’s also a trailer for the game on youtube.
mac

videos are usually different than the actual game though and TIGSource often likes to hype games up, sort of advertise them in a way, and they usually end up being completely different than the way they describe them.
Zmann

You’re serious bitching about the lack of demo for a $5 game?

It’s five dollars dude. This isn’t a major investment.
mac

it isn’t. but I don’t spend 5 bucks just for the sake of something being 5 bucks. if i did, I’d go to the dollar store and buy out everything.

whatever fine, i guess a demo is too much to ask for. sheesh
Jad

Apparently you already asked so I guess you’re done with that part, huh O:

If you’re so uninterested in this game that spending 5 bucks on it would be the equivalent of buying worthless crap from a dollar store, then don’t pay for it, don’t play it and go to sleep with a good conscience. And that’s that.
mac

thats not what i meant. im just saying a lot of things are 5 dollars. but i dont buy it just for the sake of it being 5 dollars.
mac

again whatever, just ignore my post sorry I even asked.
Anonycat

Just play Party Boat, and imagine it with the ability to shoot laser beams, remove organs, and all that in multiplayer. Epic.
Anonycat

I have no idea why I wrote multiplayer. I was thinking about “more colors”. I think something’s wrong with my brain.
Anonycat

PARTY BOAT DESTROYED MY BRAIN. WOMBAT LYNX WOMBAT LYNX WOMBAT LYNX.
Dinsdale

Regardless of my feelings toward Messhofâ€™s fine products, I have to agree with mac on this one. Demo would be appreciated, especially when, considering Messhof’s other games, I could be spending my money on something more… Complete, so to say. It doesn’t seem like much but inside the scene, for five bucks I can get almost any game I want.
ads

Guys are you seriously unclear as to what you are getting? The article describes it exactly AND there is a video of all the gameplay wat are you even
StarStabbedMoon

Party Boat pretty much IS the demo for The Thrill of Combat.
mac

I just like to make sure what I’m getting is really what I’m getting and not what people say I may end up getting.

Again, don’t worry about it. I apologize for suggesting there should be a demo.
Llort

mac is totally justified. I wont be buying it either because unless I can personally experience what I’m going to be getting, I wont throw 5 bucks down an internet tube. Ive never bought an XBLA / XBLCG without testing the demo first, because no matter who made it or how much it costs, I want to know exactly what I’m getting.

If there is no demo, then fine, but not everyone will buy a game based on good faith and other people praise.
ads

its not just praise though, there is a very clear video of exactly what you are getting, plus a description of the gameplay. Especially if you’ve played his other games, and the target demographic is mainly such people, you should have a good idea of what you’re going to get

also NO HARD FEELIES I AM JUST POINTIN THIS OUT MY OPINION :U
avoidobject

games end up being a lot different from videos and especially TIGSource’s description of them though
Paul Eres

i’d say just risk it: i’m sure messhof would refund your 5$ if you didn’t enjoy the game; i don’t know any indie dev who doesn’t give refunds when people ask for them
avoidobject

but yeah, I guess this is just a game for certain demographic of people. Maybe a demo could expand that demographic, but I guess that’s not the author is really aiming for here
avoidobject

he would? well, that’s interesting. hmm…
O

I’m not gonna buy it either, but I also don’t have the same sense of entitlement that I’ve been seeing in all the comments about this game.
Dude can use whatever model he wants, geez. It’s not like he hasn’t given us a bunch of other free stuff.
Anonycat

Paul Eres – there are a few I can think of who wouldn’t, but chucking out names would be unfair :-p