Rogue Star Rescue
Rogue Star Rescue is a fun top down twin stick shooter that really shines when it comes to multiplayer. There are a variety of guns, each with a fairly unique feel, to find and use to blast through the levels. The main story mode features a variety of levels connected in a branching map (think Starfox 64). Each different path has a potential way to reach one of the 32 different endings. This coupled with the randomized room layouts, guns, and items gives Rogue Star Rescue a fair bit of replay-ability. The core gameplay loop is fun, and there are multiple higher difficulties where enemies are more numerous to keep things from feeling too easy. There is a whole trap system, but that only comes into play during boss battles at the end of each stage. There is a wave survival mode focused around those boss rooms if you want to focus on the tower defense aspect of the game.
– Real player with 88.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Bullet Hell Shooter Games.
This is a great multiplayer game. I had plenty of fun with friends on this one. It can be challenging but not alright unforgiving. A good game to pickup for professionals looking for a slightly more relaxed time and some laughs, or for a new player to this genre to pick up this style of game.
There is multiple routes, a few characters, unlockables, and difficulty selector for one to want to replay the game multiple times. There was some quirky moments like somehow I’m inside a room and my friend will teleport into the room and land right into enemy fire, or on rare occasions where the door won’t open for them at all causing me to have to clear the room by self. Overall, no too devastating bugs that is a deal breaker. I am sure they will be smoothed out over time.
– Real player with 41.5 hrs in game
BlastZone 2
My Grandfather smoked his whole life. I was about 10 years old when my mother said to him, ‘If you ever want to see your grandchildren graduate, you have to stop immediately.’. Tears welled up in his eyes when he realized what exactly was at stake. He gave it up immediately. Three years later he died of lung cancer. It was really sad and destroyed me. My mother said to me- ‘Don’t ever smoke. Please don’t put your family through what your Grandfather put us through." I agreed. At 28, I have never touched a cigarette. I must say, I feel a very slight sense of regret for never having done it, because this game gave me cancer anyway.
– Real player with 208.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Bullet Hell Shoot 'Em Up Games.
Apparently the blast zone is actually quite large. BlastZone 2 is a short indie side scrolling shooter (ala R-type but I wouldn’t say this game is that similar to R-type) made by solo developer Mat Edzenga. It features a number of different ships with different load outs, 8 stages filled with enemy ships, interesting 3D graphics and a few extra modes to try your hand at once you have beaten the main game. It also has local 2 players, controller support and costs only a few bucks.
Good
– Real player with 9.6 hrs in game
Dungeon Shooter 2
like watch dogs but without bugs
12/10
ign
goty
– Real player with 0.6 hrs in game
File this one under “bad”.
It may have potential if they could convert the controls to be a twin-stick controller scheme but as-is you can only use the mouse to aim and WSAD to move around. The gameplay is not very fun.
The quality of the game is extremely minimal, this is the absolute least amount of work you could put into a 3D game. It doesn’t seem “unfinished” as much as it just seems like they didn’t spend a whole lot of time on it. You can actually play any level of the game right off the bat, you don’t need to progress through it to unlock anything. It’s actually a really good thing because if you find a level to be rediculous you can just move onto the next one but I tried the first 3 and I’m just not feeling it.
– Real player with 0.2 hrs in game
Sky Mercenaries
Russian and English
Итак перед нами аркада по типу “уничтожь всех” старого, ещё автоматного (кто помнит) образца с элементами прокачки. В целом сначала игра заставляет изучить свой корабль и его способности и здесь ключ ко всему - по вам стреляют синими и красными шариками: от них не уворачиватся надо - а переключив корабль в синий или красный режим по нажатию правой кнопки мыши ловить их - заполнив шкалу до предела вы получите перегрузку которая нанесёт урон всем ближайшим врагам и собьёт летящие в вас снаряды (не шарики), всё другое нужно сбивать. С боссами ситуация таже - последний конечно немного помучает вас из-за мини-бага с тормозом при сбивании его ракетного веера и корабль против него нужен тоже прокачанный - но зато его уровень ОЧЕНЬ богат на деньги и опыт, так что фармим и в конце концов он не жилец. Плюс рандом уровни после прохождения и прокачка пилотов без мании - 5 уровень= все способности.
– Real player with 21.6 hrs in game
Sky Mercenaries is a sh-mup that has an interesting play mechanism: polarity / color. Otherwise, it’s a fast-paced sh-mup like Raptor where enemies comes from left, right, but mostly up/front.
Your fighter can swap between ‘red mode’ and ‘blue mode’. In red mode, you absorb red bullets and gets damage by blue bullets, and vice versa. Obviously you have to switch based on your tactical situation: sky too crowded? Switch colors to absorb the shot. Remember though, enemy will adapt with you. You can be accompanied by up to 4 drones and depending on which powerup you nabbed you can be joined by wingmen and more. As you fly through debris of enemies you pick up dropped “coins” and whatnot which you can spend on upgrades.
– Real player with 8.1 hrs in game
CounterAttack
Even though the game still needs to be polished up before the Fall 2017 “final” release, I somehow keep coming back to it again and again in hopes of trying out new combos of weapon adjustments. If you like a shooting game that has lots of weapon options anc can stand a huge enemy horde that really stops you in the later levels, than this game is for you at Early Access.
- Seems to be strongly inspired by Gradius in terms of power-up choice since it adds to the idea of tactical choices
– Real player with 192.5 hrs in game
I’m bought. This is a paid review. I have standards though; I don’t sell good reviews.
It’s going to be a positive one though. In specific, I was hanging around on a chinese fingerpuppets board, and some guy showed up saying “Hey, /cfb/, I made a game and I’m drunk and giving away free keys.” Free. That’s pretty persuasive. I grabbed one real quick, activated it, and didn’t look back. Free.
Forget the fact that I’ve never been an arcade junkie, never really play much in the way of shmups (SHMUP? Bullet heck? What are these even called.) and probably wouldn’t play it too much: LITERALLY FREE.
– Real player with 166.8 hrs in game
Kungfu Cowboy
I stumbled upon KFCowboy when I was browsing Steam for new games to play. The game title first caught my attention because it sounded unique and funny and the game looked quite fun from the trailer too.
I would best describe the game as a mix of Celeste-like platforming with bullet-hell action of Enter The Gungeon. You’re constantly fighting enemies and dashing thru spiked platforms while avoiding getting hit. The gameplay is quite challenging, but I like that the runs are fairly short so it never feels tiring when going for another one. You gain exp the more you play and you are able to unlock new weapons with exp. Each weapon has it’s own unique boosts and you are able to stack different ones together to create different builds so it adds a lot of depth and replayability. The enemy variety is great and there’s even some friendly NPCs that you meet along the way that help you out. Also, the music in the game SLAPS. It’s catchy and has a western/Chinese vibe to it.
– Real player with 13.4 hrs in game
Great game to play with friends. You can choose to play the roguelike run mode (PVE) or arena style shooter mode (PVP). The run mode is pretty chill and it took me and my friends a couple of hours to beat the game. We unlocked hard mode, which is the regular mode but ON STEROIDS. The platforming and enemies are way harder, but I quite like the challenge. Each weapon has their own unique upgrades which makes the game play very differently from run to run. The PVP arena mode is so much fun too. It’s definitely a lot more fun the more people you have so I recommend playing with at least 4 players. There’s online matchmaking, but I think the player base is still quite small so I wasn’t able to matchmake with other players. I highly suggest grabbing this game with a few buddies for the PVP.
– Real player with 10.7 hrs in game
ZombieThon
Simple, decent and fun top down wave shooter. Controls got kind of glitchy sometimes, got stuck on the environment a lot and the sounds glitch out when there’s a lot of stuff going on.
– Real player with 1.2 hrs in game
Pretty good game, single player is a good challenge.
– Real player with 1.1 hrs in game
Chaos on Wheels
Leave nothing but chaos!
Chaos on Wheels is a single-player and multiplayer vehicular combat game. A world where Artificial Intelligence has taken out of control and your job is to bring an end to its existence. Choose your car, fasten your seat belt, ride, survive, destroy and leave nothing but CHAOS.
The story-driven game offers you many different vehicles to drive, turrets to destroy, maps to conquer, and weapons to make chaos!
Play as a driver in a heavily equipped car, destroy enemies, and save the human race. Avoid enemy projectiles, traps, hazards and bring chaos to anyone who opposes you.
Key Features:
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Cars
The only thing between you and other projectiles is your car. Take a swifty car and avoid danger or get into an enormous one and eat projectiles for breakfast. Choose wisely!
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Drivers
Unfortunately, Tesla hasn’t arrived at Chaos on Wheels so you will need a driver to steer cars. Each driver has its unique specialty, select yours and drive into victory.
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Customization
Upgrade weapons, ammo, armor, or equip some of the gadgets and prepare chaos for your enemies.
You don’t like your car to be yellow? Make it black with visual car customization. Add wraps, lights, change their colors and make it how you like it in a garage.
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Turrets
AI has its own army. Turrets are here to ruin your day. Watch out for their projectiles and bring them down before they do the same to you.
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Hazards
Keep your head up and watch where you drive. Some hazards can slow you down while others might even destroy you.
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Environment
We’ll give you one tip. Turrets? They don’t like you but watch out for the environment. It may look pretty, but it can be pretty lethal.
Play on dozens of maps, with various environments.
The Last Archwing
The last Archwing reminded me of the traditional plane/helicopter shooting games I used to play in the pizza parlor as a kid. The more up to date graphics and controls were nice and enjoyed the variety of funny characters. My 5 year old son was able to beat the game on casual and enjoyed the humor as well.
– Real player with 37.0 hrs in game
The Last Archwing nails game balance. It’s frustrating enough to keep you interested, but not in a way that’s discouraging. The variety of enemies is just right. The pacing is on par with the best of 2D side scrolling and vertical scrolling games. It’s nostalgic in a way that brings back the classic game feel, but because of the story, music, graphics (specifically lighting) and voice acting, the game is firmly placed into the modern era of games. A shout out to the barrel roll game mechanic for being easy to use but hard to master. Smashing multiple enemies with one roll is immensely satisfying. Deciding between using barrel roll and Death Wave adds a layer of depth that is compelling. The music choice for the different levels and opening sequence is superb. I’m pleasantly surprised by how much I am enjoying this game.
– Real player with 29.5 hrs in game
Tank Brawl 2: Armor Fury
[received the key for free to help out a little with beta testing, but would have bought it anyway]
First of all my kids and I loved the first Tank Brawl. It was just this fun simple tank game that reminded me of NES days with tight controls and arcade-like levels. Sure it had its glitches and imperfections but it was charming and we wanted more. The devs heard our plea.
Some years later they bring us Tank Brawl 2. The graphics have improved, they managed to fit the entire campaign on a single map w checkpoints and they tried to do some interesting things that are outside of the box.
– Real player with 26.5 hrs in game
For an unknown game from a two persons vietnamese studio that’s only been tried by less than three hundred players, I was pleasantly surprised to find it actually quite fun and well made!
With its vibrant colors, pudgy enemies, short engagement ranges, and screens filled with bright bullets, it looks quite arcadish. But there’s no forced scrolling: I was still always in control of where and when to go. Though it’s not really free roaming, more like sequences of screen-sized canyons and walled arenas, with a couple secret paths. I was also free to choose between different views, from vertical top down camera, to a near horizontal view, and some inbetween, with controls adapted to each: for example in top down, the screen doesn’t rotate, and the right stick is the turret direction, while in more angled views, the right stick is the turret rotation, and the camera follows the line of fire. Not sure it’s clear, but ah, my point is the control scheme changes to best fit the camera. I used a gamepad and didn’t even try KBM btw.
– Real player with 6.8 hrs in game