I was given the honor to playtest this by the developer (known on this very site as MagneticBurn), a good friend of mine who shares a lot of interests with me and sounds like the evil bird from Rio when he laughs.
Rather than a more ambitious first outing, he opted for a simple shmup that presents itself as accessible even for people inexperienced in the genre (or savescummers such as myself). It gets the job done very nicely. Proudly wearing influences such as Thunder Force and Darius on its sleeves, it still remains distinct with its much more forgiving difficulty and its striking visuals. I've been a fan of his art ever since I'd seen some of it and it shines through very nicely here, maybe at its brightest yet.
One thing I really like about this one that I don't see much in other games is the "free run" mode. This essentially allows you to just waltz through the game with infinite lives at the cost of score and achievements, which sounds a bit silly at first but it provides a great way to practice some trickier bits if needed. It's interesting to see a shmup that holds your hand a little, and in my opinion it's quite welcome as someone who just isn't very good at games. If free run sounds lame to you, fret not! It's always entirely optional and you can just go straight to basic or advanced mode if you please. Everybody wins! (I'd assume so).
I don't really have many complaints. Call it bias, but I think this is great in all the important regards. The only thing I can really think of is that the character portrait in the top left feels a little expressionless after I was spoiled by Pizza Tower earlier this year. Nothing totally necessary, but would make for a nice finishing touch. I did mention this in testing, though, so maybe it'll be updated a little if he feels like it.
At the end of the day, it's very exciting to see this out and I'm glad I could help in some form leading up to release. I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I did.
Rather than a more ambitious first outing, he opted for a simple shmup that presents itself as accessible even for people inexperienced in the genre (or savescummers such as myself). It gets the job done very nicely. Proudly wearing influences such as Thunder Force and Darius on its sleeves, it still remains distinct with its much more forgiving difficulty and its striking visuals. I've been a fan of his art ever since I'd seen some of it and it shines through very nicely here, maybe at its brightest yet.
One thing I really like about this one that I don't see much in other games is the "free run" mode. This essentially allows you to just waltz through the game with infinite lives at the cost of score and achievements, which sounds a bit silly at first but it provides a great way to practice some trickier bits if needed. It's interesting to see a shmup that holds your hand a little, and in my opinion it's quite welcome as someone who just isn't very good at games. If free run sounds lame to you, fret not! It's always entirely optional and you can just go straight to basic or advanced mode if you please. Everybody wins! (I'd assume so).
I don't really have many complaints. Call it bias, but I think this is great in all the important regards. The only thing I can really think of is that the character portrait in the top left feels a little expressionless after I was spoiled by Pizza Tower earlier this year. Nothing totally necessary, but would make for a nice finishing touch. I did mention this in testing, though, so maybe it'll be updated a little if he feels like it.
At the end of the day, it's very exciting to see this out and I'm glad I could help in some form leading up to release. I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I did.