NeuroVoider

I'm a true Synth/Dark/Vapor Wave fan. And Dan Terminus is one of the best Dark Synth Wave music artist out there. So if you add his talented work into one of the funniest rogue-like twin stick shooter out there... you know you have something that deserve your interrest. I have to admit that I've only finished the game (on Steam) with FORTRESS. Because you can choose between 3 types of "Frames" with a basic skill to start with. DASH the light robot that can DASH... through bullets. FORTRESS (my favourite) the heavy robot with a personnal shield that deflects attacks but prevents moving. And the last RAMPAGE who can increase his movements and attacks speed and use both of his weapons at the same time. You can mount 2 weapons and a special skill per robots. Skills are mounted at the beginning of the game. Weapons can be found. Lasers, Machine guns, Plasma guns, Rocket launchers, Laser Axes/Swords.... you name it. They are only limited by the energy they draw from your frame and you can mix almost any weapons to your convenience. Usefull because enemies are really dangerous. Considering that rather often you fight near hazards such as toxic canisters or explosiv barrels, even your objectives can kill you: most of the time generators that you have to destroy. That's why most of the time you blind fire from a far to try to trigger an explosion or aggro few enemies from a patrolling mob. But it's related to your weapons too. Of course if you fight in close combat, your experience will be completely different. Also body parts of robots have stats and you can find/buy new ones and upgrade them. Wich makes this little rpg side I really liked because parts have a rarity indicator and it's always good to find nice stuff ! Neurovoider is exactly what he tries to be an excellent action game where you can tailor a machine to destroy hordes of robots with badass soundtrack in your ears. And if this soundtrack is not enough try "New Retro Wave" channel :D N.B: Haven't tried multiplayer, i'm a lone robot !

Pros: - Great visual and sound design - Addictive - 100% cucumber free Cons: - Not much depth - Coop loses momentum between levels This isn't a particularly bad game, it's just a mish-mash of design elements that don't gel together too well: roguelite (random levels, permadeath), loot-based (ARPG-style), Soulslike (EP = stamina, scraps = currency), bullet hell (the boss fights), there's even a very rudimentary nemesis system. The thing is that everything is so random and nothing stands out, you can't properly prepare for any situation. Even the enemies are random, so you can't learn their patterns in true roguelite style. You only have limited amounts of energy to shoot, so most of your in-game time is spent running away and taking potshots at the enemies, who can easily ruin your day in seconds. Yes, you can get more total EP and faster EP regen by switching/upgrading parts, but you also need to get better weapons before the enemies outscale you, and better weapons use up more EP... Every five levels you get to fight a randomly-generated (as far as I can tell) boss, and bosses range from laughably easy to reasonably challenging to "murders several players in seconds". Coop is slightly more fun during levels, but it also exposes the fact that you spend more time building up your robot between levels than you spend int he actual levels themselves. It's quite boring to have to wait for someone to try out different parts for several minutes. Basically, when you fought a couple of bosses and played a few metaverse levels, there really isn't much else to see in the game. Even the glitched (unique) weapons don't have any stand-out features. It's good (and good-looking, if you're into the aesthetic, even if it can be rough on the ol' eyeballs) mindless fun, but once you figure out the simple robot-building system, there's no depth to it.

Shooter mechanics work well. Music is downright awesome. Weapon variation is... well okay. Problem being that a lot of weapons either have to little range to be very effective or do too little damage. So I find myself sticking to just 2 or 3 types which is a bit off a shame. Platforms are nice and varied so there is something for everyone in that. What I don't like are the boss fights though. I don't mind bullethells, but this is just impossible to dodge and the bosses sink incredible ammounts of damage. Some fights took me over 10 minutes and got really repetitive especially when the boss is always on a straight track and you can't circle dodge. Still though. For the money, I'd say get it.

Yeah. That pretty much sums it up. For those who haven't played either of those arcade classics this game mixes the best of both. Randomly generated mazes and loot mixed with twin stick shooter madness. A wide variety of weapons, pumpin' soundtrack, vivid colors and a customizeable portagonist makes for an awesome game I can pick up and not be able to put down right when I need to. The levels play out quickly , even the large ones. Since all maps are generated on a scale of 1-5 with 3 stats (size, # of elite enemies and amount of loot) I've found tiny maps packed with loot and elites give the best return on time investment. You have 3 classes of robots to choose from, a melee 'bot, a tank 'bot and a middle of the road gun 'bot. Each one demands unique tactics, so there's lots of room to experiment. Boss battles are a little on the bogus side. Once you figure them out they're easy enough but they're kind of all the same. Loot sorting is a simple affair that I've figured out well enough that I can pare down my recent haul to a couple keepers and the rest gets turned into credits for upgrades. There's 4 types of parts for your robot, Sensors, generators, movement and weapons, all upgradable by 5 steps. I've found a few types of the weapons to be my favorite so I tend to use them most often. I've begun forcing myself to give the others a shot and they're pretty fun once you get used to them. I've even tried a few silly combinations and they can be surprisingly effective (try double mounting twin beams or rocket launchers) to absolutely useless ( like twin blades). Everyone gushes about the music and while I won't say it's bad it does get repetetive quickly. Overall I love this game. It's easy to pick up and play for `5 minutes but it's kept me busy for hours.