One of my first memories (or perhaps the very first one – is it possible to sort them by dates in your head?) is how my dad explained the offside rules to me, arranging rubber animals in the right order. In the offside (behind the defensive line), as I remember now, there was a piglet hanging around. Well, who else, in a family of Spartak fans?
Despelote works brilliantly with transitional plans – the game begins, for example, with an immersion in a “game within a game”, which then smoothly integrates into the larger world. It feels like the author comes from a family of filmmakers
The first World Cup that I remember really well was the one that took place in the USA in 1994. It was a hot summer, I tried to watch as many games as possible, but it wasn’t always possible in the countryside – the antenna reception was so-so, and the time was inconvenient. Well, my dad and I watched the final partly for some reason during a walk to the “Svet” store. We watched the penalty shootout standing outside some other store, where the TVs were turned to the street from the display case. That’s where I saw the legendary strikes by Baresi and Baggio, which killed a couple of birds in the Pasadena sky. I was eight years old.
Just like Julian, the main character of the game despelote, who is having the most memorable autumn of his life — the Ecuadorian national team has unexpectedly caught on in the qualifying tournament and has a chance to reach its first World Cup. An unprecedented event for a small Latin American country. There is a nuance — in fact, Julian was four at that time, and he is not only the hero, but also the author of the game despelote, which does not so much talk about football (to be honest, despelote does not tell you anything about football), as it tries to reconstruct the first memories in its own way. And it does this in a completely amazing way.
At first glance, despelote looks not just unsightly, but even sloppy – in a pixelated (although, rather, pointillist) monochrome world, there are conventionally drawn white figures that talk about something of their own, not paying much attention to Julian. But he doesn’t need attention – it’s all focused on the ball. At any convenient opportunity, the guy flies out into the street, where he kicks it with gusto – with friends or alone. And when there is no ball – he kicks everything that comes under his foot.
In addition to the ball, you can interact with other objects. This one, for example, promises to destroy the total
In fact, this is the only mechanics of the game. We have two buttons available – one is responsible for dribbling, the second for a kick, and you can control its strength and direction. Sometimes you even have to try to hit something (for example, bottles on the wall), but mostly, yes, we just kick the ball and listen to the chatter around us. Or don’t listen. We return home on time. Or we don’t. We try not to stain the suit we are now wearing to the party. Or…
There is a lot of freedom in the game – in fact, we are free to do almost anything within the allotted time periods. But children’s freedom is very conditional. In some cases you are led by the hand literally (by parents), and in other cases – figuratively
The gameplay arsenal is small – in addition to the above, sometimes you can interact with some objects. The graphics are at least unique – although the game ultimately has plenty of charm. Then why such a rating here? (You also look at the rating first and then read, right?)
It’s not just that Julian Cordero (along with Sebastian Valbuena – essentially a two-person game), as you understand, suddenly made a game about me. That too, but he managed to find both a unique way of talking about memory and an amazing intonation.
The game is divided into episodes – according to the number of matches before reaching the final part of the World Cup
Despite the fact that nostalgia is inherently a vicious feeling (looking back on the past with regret is not the best thing), Julian manages to avoid the slightest melancholy. Instead, despelote is filled with warmth and happiness – “it’s great to be a kid.” At the same time, this is not a 100% childhood game like “Sanka” or Alba: Wildlife Adventure: the memories are fragmentary, and at some point the author breaks the fourth wall and simply bursts in with comments from his own point of view, and not from his own point of view as a child (who, by the way, is silent). That is, the story is told from an adult point of view – while the drama of parting with tender age almost does not break through. Some bitterness is felt in the segments dedicated to adolescence, when Julian unsuccessfully tries to play football, but this feeling does not develop into something more. At some point, you start expecting something tragic, something that will somehow break or at least change the life of the main character – the laws of the genre literally beg for it, but nothing happens.
At the same time, the game remains interesting until the very end – not least because of that tense anticipation that is not really resolved. You could root for the Ecuadorian team – but here too you know how it will all end, you don’t even need to go to Wikipedia for that – from the very beginning no one hides that the trip to the World Cup will be crowned with success. At the same time, you have time to understand what this trip meant for the country, which, as is customary in Latin America, was shaking economically and socially (although Ecuador has always been quite prosperous compared to many of its neighbors) – for our hero, however, there was only one plan, and it concerned Aguinaga’s cross and Caviedes’ header, and certainly not politics and the “dollarization” of the economy.
Yes, of course, that’s what I always drew everywhere when I was eight. And later too.
Despelote leaves a poignant feeling, but does not slide into sentimentality. It experiments with form and breaks the fourth wall, but does so without excessive theatricality or vulgarity. It is a small game in terms of timing and its general structure, but a large one in terms of the creative task – and it copes with this task (to show the episodic nature of childhood memories and, in some ways, even the essence of how memory works) brilliantly.
***
At some point we learn that the parents of despelote’s creator made a film called Ratas, ratones, rateros in the late nineties – his dad was the director and scriptwriter, his mom was the producer. The film made it to international festivals and for many Ecuadorians it was even the first Ecuadorian film they saw. Well, that means that the Cordero family is destined to put Ecuador on the world map in terms of different types of art. Julian did it with video games – and he did it in a very original, special way.
Advantages:
- Very accurately conveyed the essence of childhood memories;
- If you loved football as a child, then this game will be about you;
- Unique sound design.
Disadvantages:
- Very unique graphic design;
- Transience.
Graphic arts
The combination of Kito’s deliberately pixelated 3D models and photographs and the low-detail hand-drawn characters is a bit jarring, but also memorable – there are essentially no games like despelote.
Sound
Despelote has an impressive sound design: field recordings of the sounds of the city work very well for immersion, and instead of actors voicing the lines for the game, the authors asked real characters – their relatives and other residents of the city – to voice them. The music is more or less background and often diegetic (that is, it sounds from some virtual sources), but all together it works great for immersion in the atmosphere.
Single player game
A simulator of kicking a ball on the streets of Quito, a simulator of a carefree childhood, a simulator of walking hand in hand with your mother.
Collective game
Not foreseen.
Approximate travel time
2 hours.
General impression
At its core, it’s a short sketch of happy childhood memories, a slice-of-life video game, but somehow it manages to take a place near the heart – and make that heart warmer.
Rating: 9.0 / 10
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