Jet Lancer

After "Ace-ing" the game, one part of me loves it but the other part hates it. The Love: -Simple and solid flight mechanic, you can go anywhere on the screen and perform stunts and tricks that defy any logic or physics. -The designs, a very simple and beautyful post-modern style even in the chaos of an air battle. -A wide variety of weapons and upgrades, from the standard jet boosters and homing missiles up to gun modules and railguns. -The soundtrack, top notch and perfectly fitting the "aerial combat" theme of the game. -The arcade mode, a roguelite endless with the simple goal of shooting down as many enemies you can, and considering the massive disappointment of Luftrausers being "broken" I'm glad to announce that game is now officially dead (I wish I could talk more in detail about this gamemode, is so good). -How it implements the story with gameplay elements. If you don't know about "Zeroranger", the negative reviews on Steam all mention one particular element, and Jet Lancer "does it right" ! The Hate: -The scoring system. If you are going for high scores the game will artificially force you in a very specific playstyle consisting in a very specific weapons loadout, and rely on an AI that "doesn't know what to do" in order to activate bonuses and buffs that you NEED to get a high score. Enemy planes randomly fly around, ignore the player, sometimes even crash on the ground, and attack whenever they feel like by shooting in your general direction without actually aiming even when you stay still, all while on a time constraint. Basically if you are going for completion "you cannot get a max rank until the game decides to behave in a certain way", and this also includes enemies and objectives spawns as well. Is the game good ? Yes, is definitely a good, fun, solid, and addicting shooter with both campaign and endless-roguelite arcade mode. However, bare in mind that going for completion is a truly maddening experience, "hard for the wrong reasons" so to say.

I just finished my New Game+ run of Jet Lancer and I loved every minute of it. I am not going to lie, it was extremely hard toward the end, but with an experience as rewarding, it was easy to stick to it. The gameplay is fast, tests your reflexes, but requires some strategy as well. Especially in New Game+ or while hunting perfect scores, you absolutely have to plan your loadout, chose the right weapons, specials and gear - of which there are plenty, which change how you tackle situations immensely. Some have complained about this aspect (i.e. the feeling that you have to play in a specific way), but I feel that choosing the right tools for the job (analogous to selecting the right weapon in an FPS, given a specific enemy and range) is part of the fun. And maximizing your scores is by no means needed to finish the game or seeing the True Ending. That you are able to achieve in New Game+ either way. It does add to the replay value, however and that is always a good point in my book. The story is over the top, the music AMAZING (made me rush over to Bandcamp and buy the OST) and the graphics a mix of low poly 3D (mainly for the map) and wonderfully detailed pixel art. A great combination. Last but not least I would like to mention the Accessibility options that allow you to do things like switching firing/afterburner/etc. from hold to toggle, adjusting evade window for projectiles or activating permanent invincibility. A game speed option would have been nice, too, but you can't have everything. Great game. Would Pewpewpew again! P.S. If you experience "Crash to Desktop" when launching the game from GOG Galaxy, try turning off the Galaxy overlay and you should be fine.

The game design is disruptive against the player, on a level where NG+ and score runs are a nightmare. Score-wise, you either know exactly how the developers want you to play, or your score will not be good enough. Some weapons/techniques just don't give enough score, so you on this side it isn't something like "know the mechanics, and do well". It's just "use this specific loadout and play exactly like this". If not enough, enemy AI is unpredictable, but not in a fun way. The AI just does whatever, and doesn't have any recognizable patterns or reason to become aggressive against the player or not. They can engage and disengage for no reason, and when you're playing for score or on a mission that requires taking enemies down fast enough, this AI problem becomes even worse, because the map is too large for you to not take too long to seek enemies on the other side and either lose score or lose because a lot of enemies spawned. One mission in specific draws out the worse of these problems with the AI and its unpredictability, which tasks you in defending a city from bombers. In this case, a bomber can drop a bomb to the ground, and if the bomb touches the ground, mission is lost. Thing is, if you don't take the bombers fast enough, another one spawns (sometimes they take about no time between each other spawns). If both bombers drop bombs, they'll usually drop it on opposite sides of the map, and you will not have enough time to take both down. Even if you do, by the time you get the second bomb, another will be dropped, you won't have enough time to destroy (or even damage) the bombers, and will be stuck on this loop of "fetching bombs left and right". That is, if you're lucky and you just don't fail the mission just because the game decide. NG is playable, but NG+ is when these design issues creep to the point of the game becoming unplayable. (also, the Discord is full of game mechanic spoilers on the main channel despite existing a separate one for that stuff)

Gameplay consists of doing missions to get new weapons and ship upgrades. However, what makes the game so fun is the movement of the jet. The jet carries momentum and weight as you thrust at high speed. Even the primary fire causes knockback. This movement allows you to turn off your thruster and style on your enemies. Each mission becomes a dance on how you flank your enemies and dodge enemy fire. The different weapon loadouts only increase the playtime. If your looking for an arcade experience I'd recommend this game. Music is great too.