**NOTE: We are holding on a gameplay video for Lifeboat. When  we get confirmation from Fuel that the video is ok to be public, we’ll update this post**

The adventures in the high seas continues with Fuel Industries’ follow up to VANS SK8 Pool Service: Lifeboat!

Last night, we previewed Imangi Studios’ Harbor Master. We incredibly liked that game and coincidentally, Lifeboat’s gameplay takes place in the ocean as well. Although the gameplays are vastly different from each other, we find it a little surprising.

We played the game for a couple of minutes, and we’ll tell you this: it’s unique, it’s funny and it’s something we can’t wait to get our hands on.

Why The Game?

I thought the game was really unique which lead me to asking what the inspiration behind the game was. Brian said their CEO actually threw the idea last July of taking advantage of the accelerometer control and somehow tie it to Titanic, ha! Unlike the tragic fate of the ship, it seems like Lifeboat will have enough lifeboats to keep you at the edges of your seats.

Gameplay

The game is rather a simple pick and play. But just like Flight Control aka one of the best pick and play games, Lifeboat is very engaging and fun. The object is the game is to save the ship passengers and escort them to lifeboats, thus the title. Lifeboat is accelerometer controlled. Lifeboats are stationary while the passengers move and are the ones that require balancing. There will be both Campaign and “Save the highest amount of people” modes. You just basically tilt your phone and fill the lifeboat’s capacity. If people fall of the ship, you can tap on them and they’ll get thrown back to the ship.

Upgrades (i.e. make the fallen off people swim better)  are available that can help you save more lives (;p).

Design

Another good thing I liked about the game is thematic and clean presentation. The whole story is basically somewhat a hat tip for LOST (aka my favorite show ever). The menu buttons, result screens and the intro (newspaper) were really well done.

Conclusion

Wow! This is something I personally can’t wait to see get released. Fuel Industries is looking into submitting the game sometime at the end of this month. Fuel is still unsure of a pricepoint but guarantees it will NOT be over $2.99.