I have once again accumulated a decent amount of games to review. So instead of having a detailed review of each one, I'm going write a short article about the shoot-em-ups I've played and briefly reflect on them.
eXceed Complete Pack - $9.99
Source: Youtube Channel Fiorion
eXceed Complete Pack is totally worth it for those who love bullet hell/Danmaku shoot-em-ups. Rather than just being upgrades from each other, each of the eXceed games are vastly different from each other in terms of game mechanics. The first eXceed is sadly not translated to English, but is still playable with classic insanity of bullets even on the easiest level. eXceed 2nd uses the polarity bullet mechanic that is most well known for in the shoot-em-up Ikaruga. eXceed 3rd plays much like Touhou with grazing bullet mechanics much like Shikigami no Shiro 3 (Castle of Shikigami 3). Side from beautiful visuals, the games have an incredible collection of music that plays throughout the levels. One of my favorites is the first half of the one that plays in the video above.
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved - $3.99
Geometry Wars is a great game to play when there isn't that much time for a break or if you want to play a short session for it. This Arena style arcade shooter is matched with tight controls, colorful visuals, and a motivating song that keeps the action going.
Sine Mora - $9.99
Source: Youtube Channel DigitalRealityGames
The graphics and aesthetics in Sine Mora is breath-taking and absolutely beautiful. This 2D shooter with 3D graphics has a unique mechanic, challenging boss battles and all sorts of weapons and ships to use, but it's sadly a game I didn't enjoy entirely. Rather than having health or lives, the game runs on time. When the player gets hit, they lose a bit of time and running out of time meant game over. The way a player acquired stronger versions of their weapons is by picking up power-ups dropped by enemies. If the player is hurt in any kind of way, the power-up falls out of the player's ship and starts floating away. Here's where I had problems with the game. Without those power-ups, the player is really weak and useless and won't be able to defeat bosses in time without them. It makes sense to avoid getting hit, but there are a lot of moments where unexpected speeding danger hits the player. The power-ups float towards danger which causes the player to run into more things that eats up time just to get back time. But if you don't grab the power-ups, you run out of time trying to whittle down the bosses. Add this with unchangeable key bindings, unruly movement controls (too fast on keyboard and too slow on mouse) along with moving levels while getting shot from all 360 degrees and you find yourself being more frustrated with the game than enjoying it. It's sadly not a game I can't recommend. Great visuals and audio (music/sfx/interesting choice of having voice acting in Hungarian), but the game mechanics and controls were just awful for me.
Ether Vapor Remaster - $7.99
Holy cow is this game hard! Edelweiss is apparently known for making really difficult and challenging games. The game's life system works much like Gradius V for those who have played it. Essentially, the more you play the game, the more lives and shields you'll receive. This can be very discouraging for some players having to lose over and over and starting over from the very beginning of the game. The concept behind this game is like many older games where you try to learn and get better each time you restart the game. It's a dastardly way to extend a game's play length, but those that have the patience and time will find challenge and gratification when they get to the end of the game.
Really Big Sky - $5.99
Source: Youtube Channel bossbaddiegames
I think this game randomly generates levels every time. Each time I played it, the level changes. The player can keep improving their ship at the end of each playthrough. The visuals are super flashy and the audio makes for a explosive experience. There are a lot of modes to play but must be acquired by fulfilling certain conditions. It's a great distraction to sit down and relax to this game.
Scoregasm - $9.99
I have a hunch that this game is by the same developer as bullet candy as the concept is similar and the ship looks the same. Although significantly better in visuals, gameplay, and level design than Bullet Candy, I still got bored of the game fairly quickly. What I enjoyed most were the boss battles where it felt more like a bullet hell. With the rest of the levels, it just felt like a tight-spaced geometry wars in very short durations.
Titan Attacks! - $4.99
Source: Youtube Channel Puppygames001
An homage to old arcade games such as Galaga and Asteroids, Titan Attacks is essentially Space Invaders with power-ups. I've played quite a few flash games with the same concept and similar visual aesthetics, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Titan Attacks is mildly entertaining, but starts getting boring after the player gets full on all the items. It wasn't a bad game, but don't expect too much out of it either.
No comments:
Post a Comment