If I had to point out a flaw about myself as a player, is that I don't give enough videogame genres the fighting chance they deserve to win me over. Strategy games, card games or even shooters, I've played quite a few over the years, but beating only some of them and the quantity pales in comparison to the amount of platformers, fighting or metroidvania games I've played; but without a doubt, shoot-em-ups are the ones I have avoided the most. It isn't a matter that I don't necessarily like them, but rather I just couldn't find one that ''clicked'' with me, most of the one that were recommended from friends and random people on posts online were just too hard and frustrating to me, mainly because they were catered to seasoned players, which I was anything but.
And then I saw this game. I'm always on the lookout for games developed by people that are on here, considering this is a site entirely dedicated to videogames and releasing one is, you know, a pretty big deal, and this time it was also developed by a person I follow! I know I wanted to play this game from the moment I saw it on visuals and sound alone, but I also went in hoping that, maybe this was time, the time I finally got into the genre, and I actually had fun with one of these kinds of games...
...and it actually happened!
Time to destroy some fish shaped ships
Cycle Chaser H-5 is probably the best entry point to the shoot-em-up genre I could have asked for, but calling it ''simple'' would be undermining a lot of clever decisions in play here. As I said before the game immediately catches your eyes and ears: the simplistic yet clear and distinct visual style and the up-beat yet oddly calming music work really great together, creating some unique enemy design and levels (The enemy ships shaped like fish actually act like fishes and I LOVE THAT SO MUCH), and when even in the most hectic of moments nothing was lost one me, 'cause believe me, this game does get hectic at times. The screen gets submerged in the chaos, yet where you or the enemies are is never up for debate: this game's priority is for you to know how to act at any given moment and it actively helps you staying alive, with a really permissive checkpoint system and with the hitbox of your ship being smaller than the ship itself, which is a deliberate designs decision and it makes you do much cooler plays and dodges without even noticing.
But perhaps the smartest design decision in the entire game is without a single doubt the percent bar. This one is filled as you attack and destroy enemies, and ounce it has 100% of energy you can perform a special attack, with the limit of energy you can have being 300%. This is all pretty normal stuff, but then there's the fact that this can also work as a shield, so at many points thought-out the levels and in many boss battles I was deciding if it would be better to save up energy in case they hit me or to use it to clean the screen of enemies and bullets, and that little mental puzzle added a lot of depth, and alongside the three different types of shots made this a constant dance of bullets that made the part of my brain that likes to shoot things in space go nuts.
There are still a few things that didn't really end up falling in place for me tho: mini-bosses are surprisingly easy to beat it, they all look amazing, but I can't really talk about their attacks when they die 10 seconds after I encounter them, and I found really peculiar considering how good the main level bosses are; some things aren't communicated as well as I hoped too, some bullets are able to be destroyed by your normal attacks, but it sometimes felt random, and specially in boss battles distinguishing which attacks can be destroyed by normal means is where things can get a bit confusing. And perhaps what really rubbed me off the most by the end: the story was told in a really weird way, there's a really interesting subversive narrative here that I do quite like, but I didn't even know that until I killed the final boss. I understand the narrative isn't the games priority but with the amount of incredibly detail the levels and enemies have in the logs in the menu, it's strange to me that so much of the storytelling is either done without words or done just after you are done with the game your first time around.
But saying that these flaws make Cycle Chaser H-5 something that's not amazing would be a complete and total lie: it's a hour long adventure that with which I had so much fun. I never felt frustrated when I died, I was always excited to pop back in and beat the level I was own and getting this sensation from a vertical shoot-em-up just... just made me really happy.
If someone ever asks me a good place to start with these kinds of game, I will point them out this one, is that good and welcoming to newcomers that I really can't think about another game that checks all the boxes like this one does. while at the same time a memorable experience and one of the biggest surprises of the year by far.
When I write a review, I always do it with the creators and developers in mind, and as such I always try to be as nice as possible, even tho they will never read them. But this time, there's a real possibility that the creator is reading is, and if you are, I just have one more thing to say to you... Congrats man! You really did a dope ass game, and I hope you enjoyed this review even a little, 'cause I sure had a fun time with Cycle Chaser H-5, to the point I might do multiple runs, which I barely do with any game in general!
See y'all battling aliens... in the year 68XX
And then I saw this game. I'm always on the lookout for games developed by people that are on here, considering this is a site entirely dedicated to videogames and releasing one is, you know, a pretty big deal, and this time it was also developed by a person I follow! I know I wanted to play this game from the moment I saw it on visuals and sound alone, but I also went in hoping that, maybe this was time, the time I finally got into the genre, and I actually had fun with one of these kinds of games...
...and it actually happened!
Time to destroy some fish shaped ships
Cycle Chaser H-5 is probably the best entry point to the shoot-em-up genre I could have asked for, but calling it ''simple'' would be undermining a lot of clever decisions in play here. As I said before the game immediately catches your eyes and ears: the simplistic yet clear and distinct visual style and the up-beat yet oddly calming music work really great together, creating some unique enemy design and levels (The enemy ships shaped like fish actually act like fishes and I LOVE THAT SO MUCH), and when even in the most hectic of moments nothing was lost one me, 'cause believe me, this game does get hectic at times. The screen gets submerged in the chaos, yet where you or the enemies are is never up for debate: this game's priority is for you to know how to act at any given moment and it actively helps you staying alive, with a really permissive checkpoint system and with the hitbox of your ship being smaller than the ship itself, which is a deliberate designs decision and it makes you do much cooler plays and dodges without even noticing.
But perhaps the smartest design decision in the entire game is without a single doubt the percent bar. This one is filled as you attack and destroy enemies, and ounce it has 100% of energy you can perform a special attack, with the limit of energy you can have being 300%. This is all pretty normal stuff, but then there's the fact that this can also work as a shield, so at many points thought-out the levels and in many boss battles I was deciding if it would be better to save up energy in case they hit me or to use it to clean the screen of enemies and bullets, and that little mental puzzle added a lot of depth, and alongside the three different types of shots made this a constant dance of bullets that made the part of my brain that likes to shoot things in space go nuts.
There are still a few things that didn't really end up falling in place for me tho: mini-bosses are surprisingly easy to beat it, they all look amazing, but I can't really talk about their attacks when they die 10 seconds after I encounter them, and I found really peculiar considering how good the main level bosses are; some things aren't communicated as well as I hoped too, some bullets are able to be destroyed by your normal attacks, but it sometimes felt random, and specially in boss battles distinguishing which attacks can be destroyed by normal means is where things can get a bit confusing. And perhaps what really rubbed me off the most by the end: the story was told in a really weird way, there's a really interesting subversive narrative here that I do quite like, but I didn't even know that until I killed the final boss. I understand the narrative isn't the games priority but with the amount of incredibly detail the levels and enemies have in the logs in the menu, it's strange to me that so much of the storytelling is either done without words or done just after you are done with the game your first time around.
But saying that these flaws make Cycle Chaser H-5 something that's not amazing would be a complete and total lie: it's a hour long adventure that with which I had so much fun. I never felt frustrated when I died, I was always excited to pop back in and beat the level I was own and getting this sensation from a vertical shoot-em-up just... just made me really happy.
If someone ever asks me a good place to start with these kinds of game, I will point them out this one, is that good and welcoming to newcomers that I really can't think about another game that checks all the boxes like this one does. while at the same time a memorable experience and one of the biggest surprises of the year by far.
When I write a review, I always do it with the creators and developers in mind, and as such I always try to be as nice as possible, even tho they will never read them. But this time, there's a real possibility that the creator is reading is, and if you are, I just have one more thing to say to you... Congrats man! You really did a dope ass game, and I hope you enjoyed this review even a little, 'cause I sure had a fun time with Cycle Chaser H-5, to the point I might do multiple runs, which I barely do with any game in general!
See y'all battling aliens... in the year 68XX
DeemonAndGames
1 year ago
I absolutely agree, as I said I had the misfortune of no having the greatest experience with these types of games, but this really was something special.