A Guide to Space Giraffe the XBox 360 Arcade Live video game

Posted on June 26, 2007
Filed Under Journal |

In this short guide t0 Space Giraffe I will show you the basics of the game, and end with a few tips on how the play this XBox 360 Live Arcade game. Space Giraffe is a very unusal game, so it is little wonder people find it difficult to play or else don’t really know what is going on (hey, it’s all those flashing lights). Anyway, onto the guide:

Space Giraffe in some ways is similar to the game Tempest. You have a grid which you ship can move around, and the “enemies” approach you from the opposite end of the grid. Your ship shoots a constant stream of ammo, so all you need to do is move your ship around the grid in order to shoot the enemies. However that is only a very basic way of playing.
Everytime you shoot an enemy, you will see that the front of the grid lights up. This lit up area will expand with the more enemies you shoot. This lit up area is called the “powerzone
Whilst in the Powerzone, you are more powerful. Allow the enemies to reached the front of the grid, and you can no rotate around and crash into them. This will knock them off the grid. The more enemies you can catch in one go with this, the higher you score will be. This technique is called “bulling”.
Every so often, you will see white tubes approach you. These are power-ups which you should collect. They will allow you to jump with the R2 button. Jumping allows you to move around enemies when you have no powerzone. Jumping also extends the powerzone for a short time, meaning you can use it to bull.

A guide to Space Giraffe

Those are the basics of the game. Sounds pretty simple now doesn’t it?

Only thing you need to worry about are all the colors! A lot goes on the screen in one go, and this is one of the things people find difficult about the game. But no worries - here are some tips:

On traditional games, we are used to looking at specific areas of the screen (i.e. cross-hairs, approaching baddies, etc.) Space Giraffe is different. Try and focus on the whole screen.
Listen to the sound. As your bullets hit the various types of things that approach, it makes different sounds. You don’t need to see what is coming because you can hear it. Think of the sound like reaching out with your arms when you are walking in the dark.
Use your peripheral vision! This is something most of us don’t do on a day to day basis. When you look at the center of the screen, everything that is off-center is in your peripheral vision. Use this ability, and don’t worry too much about moving your eyes around the screen!
The visuals are designed to put you into a trance. Let them do their work. You don’t need your mind directly on the game to play it. In fact the more “relaxed” you are the better you will play! If you “think” to much about it, the visuals won’t be so effective!
Concentrate on shooting down specific areas of each level - rather than darting around the entire area. This will allow you to extend the power-zone, and then bull the baddies off when they start walking around the edge.

Well I hope this guide and tips help out some! This site isn’t a gaming site, but Space Giraffe is so unusual that I felt it deserving of a bit of special coverage!