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### Doppelganger Preview [PC]

#### http://www.pumpkin-games.net/

#### Reviewed By M. Rawlings

"Doppelganger is a frantic 2D side scrolling blaster in the vein of old arcade classics like Defender and Iridis Alpha", boasts Pumpkin Games' website, and that pretty much sums up the game and everything about it. Paul Cunningham created Doppelganger as an entry for Microsoft's Dream Build Play XNA competition and this version is allegedly just a teaser of the full game to follow in the near future. When complete, Doppelganger will be available to play on both PC and Xbox 360, and this latter option is likely to prove the more popular format. The core concept of the game is based on the Eugene Jarvis classic Defender; you control a highly manoeuvrable spacecraft which you must fly over the planet's surface killing all aliens on each level to progress and trying to prevent them from abducting the people on the surface (which are replaced by yellow stars in this game). The game mixes Defender style game-play mechanics with Iridis Alpha by introducing a parallel screen, meaning that you actually control two ships simultaneously (one active and one ghost) that you can flip between.

The word 'doppelganger' means a ghostly double and the essential meaning of the German word is "double-walker". Doppelgangers are thought of as omens of death, especially if you see your own, which makes the game's title particularly suitable. You constantly see your own Doppelganger (a ghostly mirror of your active ship) and you constantly die. Well that's a slight exaggeration, but I found the game pretty tricky. I have yet to make it past level six but I have to admit the game-play at this point still wasn't as 'frantic' as I thought it would be - instead of being shot down by the alien horde the main cause of death was actually due to my craft colliding with enemy mines and aliens (which you would think would be impossible if constantly shooting, but it will happen a lot).

The enemies are nice and quirky (which is always a tick in my book) and the game is very colourful, quick to pick up and play (regardless of whether you've actually played Defender before) and the game features some rocking audio from Thomas Stobierski. That being said I still feel that Doppelganger is currently still a little bit too much like Defender, and indeed Pumpkin Games' previous title, Alien Abduction.

From my experience in designing games it quickly became apparent that no matter how unique you think your idea may be, after Googling it you'll realise that its been done before, or something similar already exists. With this in mind its okay to create games which are similar to previous titles as long as you try to approach it with some new features and try to make it your own. Simply taking a core game-play mechanism from one game and adding it to another doesn't always accomplish this.

It's a shame because the game design skill and talent is obviously present and I'm sure it's not only me who would like to see it put to more use. Don't get me wrong though - Doppelganger is very well made, runs flawlessly and kills a bit of time nicely. Likewise, the ship has excellent responsiveness and the graphical effects are visually impressive. It's a definately a fun game to play in short bursts but this preview failed to keep me hooked. However, with the website boldly listing an impressive list of extra features to be implemented in the full version (such as power-ups, smart bombs, two-player battles and 'wild and crazy shader effects'), the finished game *could* be quite special.

As it stands, this preview is more than worthy of a go or two, but don't expect much more than a nicely coded re-skin of the classic Defender you remember from the arcades.

(Please note that the game requires Microsoft .Net 2.0 installed in order to run. Therefore, we've included the latest version within the game archive.)