Developers World Championship: Match Report - Iceland v France (Group A)

ICELAND Thor (On The Rocks)

VS FRANCE Twin Blades (Press Start Studio)

After a 2-2 draw in the early kick off, Iceland and France both had the opportunity to top Group A overnight with an opening win and both managers went on the offensive, choosing to field their sideways-scrolling action games.

In the white corner, representing Iceland, was none other than the Norse god of thunder himself, Thor, courtesy of On The Rocks studios (although noticeably the game could also have chosen a run out for Argentina due to some partial Three Melons development parentage).

And in the blue corner, from France's Press Start Studios, we have, err, a little medieval nun. Rest assured though, this isn't just any ordinary Sister, THIS holy lady comes packing some serious firepower.

Yet while Twin Blade's unholy nun was well versed in mashing up zombies in her side-scrolling action romp, how would she fare against the might of a ginger god and his fearsome lightning bolts? This promised to be an epic showdown of the religious sexes.

Kick Off: 7.30pm, 11th June The critical view: With a Bronze Award safely wrapped under her tunic, Twin Blades' nun made most of the early running and ultimately the sheer variety of attacking weaponry on offer proved too much for the Icelandic defence, as the French game literally machine-gunned a shot into the corner of the net.

The Icelandic net was bulging once again shortly after courtesy of some lush manga visuals and 10 brand new environments. However, Thor struck back almost immediately to bring the Icelandics back into contention thanks to its own impressive and distinctive 3D visuals and after a bolt down the wing, On The Rocks' game literally hammered one into the top corner.

After that initial flurry of excitement, though, the match settled down, and for the rest of the half it was very much honours even as sides largely cancelled one another out. Indeed, the match descended into some rather repetitive midfield button bashing with neither game able to offer enough of an inventive spark to engage the crowd or really force the issue.

A close-run thing then, but the Nun had her nose in front as we went to the break.

Half time: Iceland 1 – 2 France The Fans 45: After an exciting start to the first half, we'd hoped for a similarly tumultuous opening to the second half. Unfortunately though, this never quite materialised and indeed the crowd seemed as lacklustre as the games themselves with a comparatively low-level of voting for either side.

Perhaps it was opening match caution or simply apathy setting in as the games' repetitive styles failed to engage longer term support, but, despite the odd positive chant for either side, there was ultimately not enough to separate the sides and with Mexican waves breaking out around the stadium the second half ended goal-less. By no means a convincing win for France then, but a win nonetheless which saw them top the table after the first round.

Full time: Iceland 1 – 2 France Latest Group Tables - Fixtures & Voting - Squads Confused? Click here to go to the Pocket Gamer iPhone Game Developers World Championship home page.
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