twin-stick

Cars and guns have always been a match made in heaven, except for when it’s not. When you are driving and shooting at things, you want dangerous roads and impressive …
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Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear. There’s no other way I can write it, so I might as well get straight to the point; #KILLALLZOMBIES (or KAZ) is a twin …
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Polychromatic enters the marketplace at a time when there has probably never been so much competition. Gamers are literally swimming in shoot-em-ups of all kinds, ranging from the sublime to …
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Ultratron was developed by Puppy Games and published by Curve Digital on Xbox One. It was released on May 8, 2015 for $9.99. A copy was provided for review purposes.

If any long forgotten genre of videogames has benefited most from the advent of digital distribution and the influx of creative, independent game developers over the last few years, it must surely be the shoot-em-up. We’ve seen more or less every obvious take on the theme imaginable, yet I’m almost always pleasantly surprised by the next innovation or twist.

Ultratron is the latest twin-stick shooter to launch on the Xbox One and it promises a number of interesting features, including “unique retro-futuristic sound and graphics, player responsive difficulty, and a subtle system of tactics combined with classic gameplay.” At first glance, Ultratron looked like a fairly uninspiring arena based shooter, but I’m pleased to report that despite a few minor complaints, there’s more to it than meets the eye.

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We Are Doomed was developed and published by Vertex Pop on Xbox One. It was released on April 17, 2015 for $9.99. A copy was provided by Vertex Pop for review purposes.

Do you love the Geometry Wars series but just wish there was less to do? Well, then you’re in luck! We Are Doomed takes the same twin-stick shooter formula, the same polygonal graphics, the same wild visual effects, the same electronic style soundtrack, the same multiplier score system and adds…well, nothing really. But that doesn’t mean it’s not fun.

In We Are Doomed, you pilot a little polygon ship around a dark playing field with the left stick, while blasting away other geometric shapes with the right stick. This formula has become a genre unto itself ever since Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved released on Xbox Live Arcade in 2005 (although the genre really goes all the way back to the arcades of the ’80s). It’s very fun and pretty addictive. But with so many twin-stick entries in recent years, these games really need some original ideas to stick out from the crowd.

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All Zombies Must Die! was developed Doublesix and published by Square Enix. It was released on December 28, 2011 for 800 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.

Zombies, zombies, zombies. Much like orcs, robots, and other generic villains they need to die. Many a game has tossed some weapons to many a player and let them loose into the zombie apocalypse, and All Zombies Must Die! sets up in just such a fashion. While RPG elements have found their way into undead-ocide before, what about in a top down twin stick shooter? Probably happened before, actually. Looks like this game has much to prove if it intends to stand out from the rotting, vomiting, mindless crowd of lookalikes.

All Zombies Must Die! controls like most twin stick shooters and gives players a choice of four different characters to play with. Co-op partners (of which there can be up to three total locally) can pick from any remaining unlocked characters as they progress through the story, or use a basic soldier character until the characters are unlocked. Each character has a special ability which applies an effect to most unaffected zombies, a main weapon which can be upgraded via the in-game crafting system, and a secondary weapon which changes as weapons are picked up in the field. This arena style zombie shooter also incorporates RPG mechanics including leveling up stats and a simple (almost invisible) preferred weapon system. A main story arch holds the game together along with side quests and mini-quests, adding up to a decent amount of game to experience.

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We posted a rumor that Renegade Ops would be seeing some DLC in the near future and it looks like that turned out to be true. Sega announced today that we’ll be seeing two new DLC packs on December 21 with one for campaign and new vehicles for the other one. In the new Coldstrike campaign, you’ll be facing off against a new villain with three new levels and new enemy types to destroy. It’ll set you back 400 MSP on its release. The new Vehicle Pack DLC will add two new heroes with Crystal using a large-force field and custom armor while Blazemo has an off-road terrain vehicle that’s great against multiple terrains so nothing stands in your path to destruction. It’ll set you back 240 MSP for both heroes and catch some new screenshots after the break of the arctic explosions.
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