Whitaker Trebella’s Piloteer Launches This Week

While the game’s creator Whitaker Trebella describes Piloteer as “A Serenely Challenging Jetpack Game,” I’ve coined what I feel is a much more accurate phrase to describe it:

QWOP Rocketeer.

Trebella has been fairly good at keeping a tight lid on this game since announcing it last Fall, but having gone hands on with an early copy, don’t let its maker fool you — it’s about as serene as a bag of hammers in a washing machine. It’s presentation is mellow, with gorgeous paper-style environments and a hauntingly mellow soundtrack by Trebella himself — but controlling your piloteer will endlessly result in hilariously tragic results.

Such is life for a QWOP-like heroine.

Unlike the majority of games that embrace this silly mechanic though, Piloteer provides players with a narrative to uncover and objective-based gameplay. Thus far I’ve only uncovered one mission — the tutorial-style “land on this park bench” — that I’ve only barely managed to master.

Let’s see if you can do better. Piloteer hits the App Store this Thursday, June 25th for $2.99.

Jim Squires

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Jim Squires is the Editor-in-Chief of Gamezebo. Everything you see passes his eyes first, so we like to think of him as "the gatekeeper of cool stuff." He likes good games, great writing, and just can't say no to a hamburger. Also, he is not a bear.