Stardust Galaxy Warriors: Stellar Climax
I’ve had half of an eye on Stardust Galaxy Warriors since it hit Steam Greenlight. I bought it, and my impression of it then was that it was an alright introduction to shmups. I’d hoped to get some of my friends into shmups by playing this with them, but due to my IRL friends being non-gamers, this didn’t pan out. I’ve attempted to get myself through some of the achievements every now and then, so I’ve put an hour into this game “here and there,” and then I put the game down again because I wanted to play something else - I must admit that this game was not made for someone like me. Yet somehow, I keep finding myself playing this game alone, and every time I pick it up I am not disappointed. This game has, so far, been the highlight of my quest through my backlog.
– Real player with 36.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Shoot 'Em Up Side Scroller Games.
To start off, I highly recommend anyone that enjoys side scrolling shooters to purchase this game, it is a must have. Feel free to keep reading if you want to know my reason.
I’m not a hardcore fan of shoot-em-ups, I didn’t even know what the word “shump” meant until today, but what I do know is that this game is really fun.
The game is very easy to pick up and play, the controls and mechanics are simple and none of that convoluted stuff, which I feel is a great thing. I don’t want to spend an hour learning about wierd game mechanics when all I want to do is just destroy enemies.
– Real player with 21.4 hrs in game
Strania - The Stella Machina -
From modern STG pioneers G.rev, Strania takes its root deep into games such as Cybattler, MUSHA Aleste, Spriggan Mk II and other 90’s mech shooters, while adding the mesmerizing and cinematic experience typical to G.rev that can be seen in some of their other titles such as Border Down or Under Defeat.
With collaboration from Treasure’s former employee Hiroshi Iuchi as graphic designer, famous for directing games such as Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga, and an exhilarating soundtrack with sharp sound effects produced by Keishi Yonao (Asuka 120%, Mad Stalker, Neural Gear), Strania is an accessible shooter that focuses more on environmental aspects rather than just throwing a million bullets at you on a lifeless terrain.
– Real player with 472.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Shoot 'Em Up Great Soundtrack Games.
Well, here’s my 2 cents on it, lol! X3
From the makers of Border Down, Under Defeat, both Senko no Ronde’s, Mamoru-Kun Curse, and their latest title Kokuga. Comes G.Rev’s Strania - The Stella Machina - (Seisou Kouki Strania/星霜鋼機ストラニア), their first title on Steam.
Previously developed for XBLA and the Nesica-(X)-Live Arcade, Strania is a shoot-em-up/shmup/STG, in which you’re fighting a war against both the Stranian and the Vower armies vaying conquest. Yes, there is a story on both sides if you check the “How-To-Play” section after you see the mechanics of the game.
– Real player with 96.4 hrs in game
BE-A Walker
Be warned, im gonna include a few spoilers here and there in the review, if you dont want to see them, skip this review
I saw some gameplay from a youtuber and i was immediatly attached to this game, i played the demo and had a ton of fun, even just being 2 missions, it was still very fun (but i did have my problems with the overheating, however it has been fixed with the patch so i guess it can slide) i did have my problems with the walking since it had a QWOP feeling but i learned it after a bit and slowly started to master it and it wasnt that bad to learn.
– Real player with 19.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Shoot 'Em Up Experimental Games.
BE-A Walker is a sidescrolling re-enactment of the plot of James Cameron’s Avatar. You pilot a bipedal mech across the surface of an alien planet blasting and stomping on the natives as you go. Except you do that exact same thing…. repeatedly. For the whole game.
This game is definitely fun for a bit, but every mission is pretty much the same, broken up occasionally with a ‘walk through the base without stepping on the blind scientists’ mission or ‘walk through a minefield’ mission, which mostly just slow the game down, without improving it much.
– Real player with 16.0 hrs in game
Senko no Ronde 2 旋光の輪舞２
Ok, so I’m gonna re-do the review as the old one was for the VERY first version of the game, and after revisiting it with an older RIP I used to own and videos I did, the game has wildly changed.
First, who’s G.Rev?
Most of the Staff is formed by former Taito Employees, you know about G Darius? Ikaruga? Well, this devs were inside those releases doing some sort of collaboration on programming or another, and you can see them in the game credits.
They also did most iMobile Japanese ports (“java” phone ports).
– Real player with 310.7 hrs in game
Awesome game. One part shoot-em-up, one part fighting game, Senko No Ronde 2 provides intense action and mind games as you and your opponent swarm eachother with bullets. I highly recommend this game if you are familiar with both game types.
I am running this game on a computer with specs below the minimum, however it is working just fine for me (YOUR RESULTS MAY VARY).
The negative i see is sometimes you’ll be matched with someone and the match is laggy.
– Real player with 16.6 hrs in game
Assault Suit Leynos
I really like AS Leynos, but can’t help but feel a little underwhelmed with it - as an obsessive player of Gunhound, Valken and similar mech shooters I think I overhyped myself a bit. I looked forward to its western - and later PC release for months and even double-dipped and bought the PS4 version anyway. Overall it’s fine, maybe average sums up the game better.
General gameplay is good, and achieves some pretty solid highs at times but suffers from some slightly annoying decisions like pulling you out of the action constantly to introduce a miniboss, or literally moving you away from a defense objective to fight an enemy only to throw a mission failed screen in your face when the thing you were initially defending ends up being destroyed by the enemy.
– Real player with 13.2 hrs in game
Assault Suits Leynos is a remake of the 1990 Sega Genesis game “Target Earth” or “Assault Suits Leynos” in Japan. Almost 30 years later and partly produced by the original developer Assault Suits Leynos is back with a fresh take on the original game. Upon looking through a handful of Steam reviews I decided to write my own since a lot of the bad reviews for this game focused on the port being “trash” mostly due to problems stemming from controls when the game first launched.
The developer did eventually offer a fix and you basically have to set your control to xbox which will allow you to remap a controller. There currently still is not a method to remap controls for keyboard which is a nearly impossible sell for the large amount of PC players who consider the Keyboard and Mouse to be the ultimate controller. Not the most intuitive way to fix issues with controls. I was able to plug in a ps4 controller and use it without any issues. If you are a keyboard player I would tell you to use a program called JoytoKey to set the controls how you like them, but again this is not an intuitive fix either, and in the future I hope developers allow the freedom to remap controls. In 2019 not having remarkable controls is considered a solid deal breaker to many, myself included.
– Real player with 10.8 hrs in game
cloudphobia
As you can see from my playtime, I’ve played this game quite a bit. I first played this game many years ago when a demo version with the first stage was included in a computer game magazine. Then I forgot about it for a long time until I stumbled upon a trailer for this game on Youtube . I liked the trailer and bought this game after a while and well, here we are.
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Gameplay:
The main gameplay idea is this: On one hand, you cannot let too many enemies pass or else the mothership gets destroyed. But on the other hand if you take too much time destroying each enemy, you cannot finish the stage within the time limit, so it’s necessary to find the right balance and often make sacrifices on one of these sides (for example, by boosting and ignoring some enemies). I think this is a pretty cool idea, but it can be quite stressful if you’re striving for perfection, like when you play for a high score.
– Real player with 25.6 hrs in game
A Difficult but enjoyable indie shmup. Hope more people play it in the future.
– Real player with 7.1 hrs in game
Explosionade
Explosionade, reminds me of the games of the 90’s, simple, but nice and fun!
Considering the low price, and a must to buy with your eyes closed!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrPuhYkwiwE
(Below is the Italian full review)
Pilota un gigantesco robot sperimentale, che spara granate e salta sugli alieni, distruggi le loro basi, salvandoti giorno dopo giorno!
Feature:
Infitrati nelle fortezze sotterranee, e cattura le basi aliene.
Spara con la MegaNades una mitragliatrice che riesce a distruggere tutto
– Real player with 7.1 hrs in game
If mommy has a selection of best games, it needs to get tried - and I’ve got to play the crazy platformer called Explosionade made by Mommy’s Best Games.
The visual style is not serious at all, it’s kind of silly sci-fi/alien environment where you are piloting a mech, killing aliens and getting to the exit. The controls felt really tight (played on Xbox 360 Controller) and I really liked it, considering more possible ways to deal with enemies - aggressive grenade rushes or defensive tactics with shield.
– Real player with 4.6 hrs in game
Sierra Ops - Space Strategy Visual Novel
Update after episode 2
This first episode is good but also very very very short. Might be one of the shortest I ever tried. It has an interesting sci-fi setting and introduces the characters but doesnt let you get to know them since you barely get a few lines. It also makes use of flash backs as the main characters clearly has mental wound attached to past incidents. Battle system is ok and unusual for a VN but not too hard to figure it out. The design of characters seems to fit a game like this quite well. Overall it got me interested to see next episode and decide if its good enough to get the season pass.
– Real player with 42.2 hrs in game
I won’t lie, this barely tips the needle into recommend rather than neutral. Sierra Ops is basically a visual novel with a light fleet command and time management mechanic attached to it. I think the issue I have with it is that none of the component parts of terribly good. They aren’t BAD, but in trying to cram all of that in here they’ve cut a few corners on each section. Battles are a mixed bag of good, bad, and frustrating. I like a lot of things there but you have to go through so much story to get to them… and when it turns out they’re one the token five minutes and done type battles that can be frustrating. Not to mention the difficulties of introducing various new mechanics and ideas with that pacing. There’s a similar problem with upgrading your ship, by the end of chapter 2 there’s still not that much to choose yet. On the visual novel side the story is… it has potential but I don’t want to give it too much praise or condemnation yet. It’s not completely sold me so far, in either plot or execution, but I have to admit there are some good foundations here and it could make me eat those words in future chapters.
– Real player with 36.2 hrs in game
ARMED SEVEN
Yet another SHMUP from ASTRO PORT, creators of SATAZIUS and GIGANTIC ARMY. This time we have some sort of mix between previous two. We’re piloting one of those cool Japanese battle armors, but gameplay itself will feel more like our usual SHMUPs. Unlike SATAZIUS, though, you won’t need to re-play a certain part of the game if you’ll die. You die – you lose life and appear exactly where you were killed. And as much as I liked SATAZIUS (the need to re-play certain parts totally added to the balance), I can see how many people would love what ASTRO PORT did in ARMED SEVEN. There’s a bad thing too. And that bad thing is – there’s no story anywhere. I mean, I’m one of those people who dislike reading long texts, or listening to the long briefings in SHMUPs. Actually, that was exactly what I disliked about GIGANTIC ARMY. Those texts were just… distracting. I like having story in such games in the old school way. As a skippable intro, or in manual. This game doesn’t have any and the only story-related thing you’ll get is a description on Steam store page. How cool is that? Well, not cool. Not cool at all. I mean, come on! Even SATAZIUS had manual in PDF format! Why being lazy this time?
– Real player with 44.3 hrs in game
This game in 5min
If you like difficult shmups then this game is for you.
Easy is do able, normal i can get to the last boss, hard and insane are for the truly gifted players.
You have 3 weapons that you can chose 4 varieties of then its off to 7 levels of bullet hell.
If you die its back to the beginning to do it all over again and the only help is every now and then you can shoot special ships that drop a shield or weapon boost.
You do have “lives” but they are more like hits that you’ll lost 1 for every hit after you depleted your 2 shields also these hits downgrade your weapon power.
– Real player with 10.7 hrs in game
JAGD LANZER
Simple laid back arcade shooter with auto fire and plenty of action. You can’t go wrong with this!!!!
– Real player with 29.8 hrs in game
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The Short of it: JAGD LANZER feels like a blast from the past, arcade shooter that would have made my day on the NES in 1990. It’s a bit “rough” in visuals/graphics + translations, but I had good fun with it. Pew pew.
Reminds me of: If you liked NES Mecha shooters, there’s a good chance you’ll like JAGD LANZER.
– Real player with 4.0 hrs in game