Blazing Beaks
No. 2 Review O' Mine: So, after my many hours of play and a session the day I wrote this, I have the feeling that I’ve “completed” this game, or I have a dear familiarity, enough to give shy advice or if I were to dare, a recommendation. I’m not sure I am really writing a review here, but more of my thoughts in a somewhat organized fashion. Somewhat.
I’ve played this game for many, many hours, 162 to be exact, and only today that I write this do I think I’m a bit winded of the game-play. Blazing Beaks does not hook in the player in with a cavalcade of unknown trinkets or a long list of fascinating levels, it does two things really, really well. Firstly, this game is brutally hard. I see this now only in retrospect, I still have no idea how to loop even with my amassed playtime. Yes, Blazing Beaks is difficult, but brilliantly so: each death or restart I knew was my own fault. Distinguishing between tedium and learning is key here. There are very rare instances where RNG is involved, and if so it never determines whether a run successful or not. Say for instance you stumble upon a shotgun in the beginning of run. Firstly, for this to happen, you’d either have to get to a secret room by getting hit and finding a hidden door or using a key to unlock one. It is a brilliant decision on the developers part to make hidden doors proc from an instance of damage. This helps the player if they are struggling, and later on if you are smart enough, you can purposefully get hit to see if there is a door; that is a pretty big risk. Their hidden door system is duplicitous, in that it caters to beginners by helping them out when they get hurt, and advanced players can take a risk to unveil a room. This is an example of what for me is remarkable about Blazing Beaks in particular, that the game-play, among other things, is incredibly well crafted. The list of artifacts and items isn’t long and soon enough you will remember each artifact and what it does, even without looking closely. There is about six levels with not too many enemies. Yet I was implored by the thought-line of, “Oh, that’s what I did wrong, I’ll do my best to not do that again in the next one.”. The challenge is thrilling, really, and even though in little steps, there is a sense of accomplishment that comes in seeing how much farther you can get with the knowledge you’ve accrued. It is a wonderful balance for a rogue-lite (I’ve no idea if I’m using that term properly") to strike, and Blazing Beaks hits the mark precisely. I think the best thing for someone who’s considering to buy this is to purchase the game and immediately play however many runs you can fit within an hour. If you find yourself implored by the little that you’ve played, I think that this game is for you. From the beginning the game only gets better, really. And if you aren’t entertained in the hour that you play, I think it is safe to return it at that point. There isn’t some point of interest that is worth playing through, the game’s initial showing of how it plays is the way it essentially stays, though becoming increasingly intricate and complex as you go along. Blazing Beaks' foundation is phenomenal, and from there the developers run with it, bringing in things as they see fit. A large part of the game is the exchange of artifacts to items, the risk versus rewards. This is done nicely as well: the negative effects of the artifacts only last for a level before you “cash” them in, meaning that you can take huge risks that you think you can just squeeze by from. The toss up here becomes quickly becomes skillful: the timing, the effect, the benefit, and if they are necessary are all factors that come to be considered when picking up that artifact.
– Real player with 168.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Top-Down Shooter Roguelite Games.
More interesting reviews on Fenol Baron Approves Curator Page
So what is «Blazing Beaks» and why should you break away from «Enter the Gungeon» or Isaac and give a chance to this new Rogue-like project? First of all, it is worth talking about the unique concept and the setting that create an indescribable face of the game, and when you consider that the game was developed by a team of just a few people, this deserves respect. The fauna is chosen as a place of action, therefore, the main characters here are appropriate - angry and very militant birds. The platypus, gull, chicken, penguin and many other feathered heroes have their own skills, which imply their passing styles, I like the penguin most of all, he is quite balanced and I like his abilities. The game with a very touching seriousness relates to the observance of the ticking theme, in all locations we are met by enemies and bosses who are suitable for this particular area: in the swamps we will encounter frogs, turnips, marsh cocoons and the boss - the giant Hypno-Toad; in the sands we will be confronted by ant lions and so on. Each locality is truly a different gaming experience that you need to acquire and use.
– Real player with 51.3 hrs in game
Planet Blood
You are a parasitic worm, and humans have set up a remote laboratory on your home planet - a planet so red, they named it PLANET BLOOD.
Your mission is to rescue a fellow worm, who the humans have captured, and are studying in the laboratory.
To get there, you must shoot your way through multiple floors of enemies, and that’s where your mind control ability comes into play…
Includes:
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Procedurally generated floor plans
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Randomly generated weapons
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A variety of human and robot enemies
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The ability to latch onto enemies
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Fast-paced combat
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Grenades
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More Grenades
Read More: Best Top-Down Shooter Shoot 'Em Up Games.
Spacey Vade
LOVE THE GAME
can you have the RT button on Xbox controller as the trigger button
– Real player with 0.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Top-Down Shooter Physics Games.
Loving the old school arcade vibes of this one, but with hidden depths you’ll discover as you play. I was genuinely pleased to get a score that wasn’t a negative! Recommend if you’re old enough to have played the originals, or young enough to have only seen arcade games on your mobile phone.
– Real player with 0.1 hrs in game
Airstrife: Assault of the Aviators
Nice game with a beautiful hand-drawn world. In Airstrife: Assault of the Aviators, I loved the ability to create and upgrade planes, and the fact that the game can be played with friends. I advise everyone! 10/10
– Real player with 4.5 hrs in game
Assault of the Aviators - a game in the old genre. I haven’t played such games for a long time. Previously, such games did not have a co-op mode, which got bored very quickly. Now I saw this game in the recommendations and decided to play it with my friend. We played all evening and none of us got bored. The game has a choice of planes and branches for pumping weapons. Nice drawing of models and good music ^-^
– Real player with 4.3 hrs in game
B67
Welcome to B67
What is your job: get to the 67th floor
Sounds easy, right? Well, there is a good houndreds of enemies in your way, counting in bosses.
Asside from cheesy bit, the game is good, a bit rough around the edges in few parts, but still really good.
I personally kinda like the system of “leveling up” your knowledge of a weapon by using it. It’s not something robust, don’t expect attachments, the lvl up let’s you have more bullets in the magazine, some weapons really need to be well leveled to be usefull on later stages.
– Real player with 13.1 hrs in game
I would recommend this game if you enjoy playing top down shooters.
Compared to other games in this price-range, it has a good amount of game play, has some interesting game mechanics and I found it was challenging and addictive. You can expect to die many times before completing, but with each respawn you retain your upgrades, so each playthrough becomes a bit easier.
The graphics are in a pixelated “retro” style, so if you like high end graphics this may not be for you. There is also no difficulty setting, and it is challenging, so if you enjoy very easy shooter games this may also not be for you.
– Real player with 8.1 hrs in game
Penimorta
Penimorta is a delightfully charming yet challenging bullet-hell experience that is chock full of stellar sprite designs and thoughtful level design. The movement is fluid, controls easy to handle, and the presentation of the game itself is quite polished. I was incredibly pleased with Penimorta and would emphatically recommend it, although it had just one minor qualm which I will address later on in the review.
Let’s start with the sprite design. Penimorta’s enemies (and especially its bosses) were incredibly well animated and aesthetically pleasing. The overall quality of the artistic direction of this game is superb, and easily makes it stand out among other similar indie games. The mage (the second boss of the game) had one of the best designs in the game, notably because of how well his appearance changes accompanied his second phase. The enemy attack patterns never felt boring, and were rather refreshing due to the pleasant palate of colors selected for their pellets/bullets. I also appreciated the slight distinctions in color and shape for the enemy bullets as it helped make navigation and movement more refined.
– Real player with 3.6 hrs in game
This game is great, but the snake boss is the worst thing to happen to humanity. The entire game before the snake boss was easy, I only died around 3 times before it appeared. I hate the snake boss, please make the game more balanced.
Edit #1: Turns out that the warden (the final boss I think) is even worse than the snake. It has basically every negative affect, and for some reason there is a cage it randomly puts on you without any sign, the cage moves randomly too, damaging and blinding you whenever you touch it. I could keep on complaining but that would take a while. But please just balance the game, everything but the last 2 bosses is like 1/8 of the difficulty.
– Real player with 2.9 hrs in game
Sefir: Mafia Story
shameless ripoff of Hotline Miami even going far as to ripping sprites from Hotline Miami 2 on top of the mspaint looking original sprites. literally nearly unplayable with how awful the controls are and a story that can be summarized by saying “gang war.” there is no joke or spoof to this game like Kavkaz it’s something I would find on newgrounds when I was 8
– Real player with 1.8 hrs in game
You can’t be black.
– Real player with 1.8 hrs in game
Starexcess
The game made me feel like I was in the 16-bit era again. With a cool challenge, it’s a great shmup with 3 selectable ships. I recommend.
– Real player with 2.1 hrs in game
horrible controls
– Real player with 0.2 hrs in game
Xeno Crisis
A great game, that is held back by very few (but very noticeable) flaws.
PROS:
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Wonderful pixelated visuals created by an industries veteran.
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Sega Genesis style soundtrack, that will blow you away.
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Shooting monsters is super fun.
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Hard as hell. Aspecially for slowpokes such as myself.
CONS:
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Enemy projectiles are too tiny and sometimes get lost in all the clutter. Nothing too scary, but still…
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Enemy behavior differs from the original genesis version a little bit too much. Sandworms on level 3 shoot you immediately after they unearth, while in the genesis version there is a slight delay that allows you to deal with them before they will be able to shoot. The same goes for the toxic bomb launching things. Not sure if its a bug or a feature.
– Real player with 126.8 hrs in game
Very pleased Kickstarter backer! Absolutely worth the wait.
Xeno Crisis is a top down, twin stick shooter, similar to Smash TV. If you’re a big fan of Smash TV and looking for that old school difficulty in games, Xeno Crisis has you covered.
The graphics and animations are stylish and fit the alien theme. The music is arguably some of the best tunes composed under SEGA Genesis hardware. And the gameplay, while challenging, is lots of fun and easy to jump into.
One complaint I have is that the melee attack range is too short for comfort. I found myself getting hit almost every time I tried to do melee attacks. Only really useful on the slower, non-projectile enemies.
– Real player with 14.4 hrs in game
Memento Infernum
Pretty fun to play, awesome time killer. Great Hell mode that allows you to compete with your friends. There is still much to do but its definitely worth to buy.
– Real player with 1.7 hrs in game
There are no bugs. Only features. Story mode isnt anything special but the hell mode is where the things are getting exciting, cracking the skulls of everything that is near me with a shotgun is very satisfying, though i dont think that is how guns work
– Real player with 1.4 hrs in game