Who wants to see a clown get tasered? Thought so. Ubisoft's intriguing new shooter has you covered

Bloody Good Time is Ubisoft's recently revealed downloadable FPS. It's coming out 'soon'. It's a cartoony shooter with comedic brutality and a pseudo-cel-shaded look, and it's coming out on PC via Steam, but that does not mean that it's a Team Fortress 2 knock-off. It's coming out on the 360 too, and has a clown and Goths and stuff. Not only that, but it has a unique and intriguing spin on competetive shooting, with roots in the indie design world.

I'll give you more fuller details and some screenshotsfurther down the page, but right now, I'll shut up and just run the video. Because I know you just want to see that clown get tasered.

The game's plot is essentially just an excuse to get a bunch of weird-looking characters together and get them smashing each other up. There's a surfer, a beach babe,a Goth,a bunny girl, a showgirl, a clown, a gambler anda stoner. They're all trying to crack into Hollywood, but must work with Director X, a legendary helmer of horror, in order to get their big break. The catch is that X's films are so convincing because he really kills people. CUE DEATHMATCH!

But before you slap yourself in the face and scream 'GODDAMN SELF-CONSCIOUSLY WACKY BASTARDS!', be aware of the following fact. The game is being made by Scottish indie developerOuterlight, who have a cult following for PC shooterThe Ship: Murder Party. The Ship's central conceit was that a bunch of characters had been invited to a cruise ship by the mysterious Mr. X (sound familiar?). X then charged each character (and thus player) with hunting down a particular quarry without alerting suspicion from the other players or NPCs, prompting cunning tactics, and complex logistical planning in order to win.

With Bloody Good Time sounding like a spiritual successor to The Ship, its game modes certainly aren't the normal run-of-the-mill death menu. While there is a standard deathmatch mode, the other three game types all look to reprise the sneaky designated-quarry system, throwing in variants centred around last-man-standing elimination and revenge from assassinated players. We're intrigued. We're mighty intrigued. Indie design given a new lease of life through big publisher money? It certainly sounds like it could be. Are you going to be keeping an eye on this one?

David Houghton
Long-time GR+ writer Dave has been gaming with immense dedication ever since he failed dismally at some '80s arcade racer on a childhood day at the seaside (due to being too small to reach the controls without help). These days he's an enigmatic blend of beard-stroking narrative discussion and hard-hitting Psycho Crushers.