A pleasantly smooth and hyperactive shoot-em-up with a unique visual style and layers of novetly to the narrative that make it a bit more than just a retro-inpspired title. While certainly not easy, it pushes you onward with the pure satisfaction of the gameplay and heaps of upbeat energy.
I'm not quite sure I'll see the very end of it any time soon, however, as the final strech of this game makes a considerably bigger ask of the player than anything before it. Saying much more, however, would be a spoiler and I do think even just attempting once is an experience worth the admission.
The SHMUP genre is not one I've engaged with often and have generally found rather offputting for its apparent tendency towards sadistic game design. That might seem hypocritical as someone who enjoys FromSoft games and Roguelikes, but its the added strain of constant twitch reflexes and pixel perfect allowances that made the mix too much for me, generally.
I was pleasantly surprised, then, to find that ZeroRanger strikes a nice balance between testing your skill and giving you a boost when your momentum starts to sputter out. The two primary tools it uses being a generous checkpoint system and a "continue" system that gives the player more to work with the more they play.
The only tradeoff the player makes for using both is that it drastically lowers your score potential, so people going for bragging rights will naturally avoid them and take the full challenge while us normies can plug along to the end of the game at a decent pace…
Until the aforementioned final stretch. To the game's credit, I don't think I would have the developer do it any differently. It's pretty unique and bold. But "unique and bold" naturally limits who is going to be able to appreciate it fully.
Alas, at this point in my life it's a challenge I'm not willing to commit to seeing through right here and now. But maybe one day—I did eventually come back and finish the last boss of Dark Souls after 7~8 years, afterall. And, I do still really enjoy playing the game, but I'm more interested in moving on to the next on my stack now.
Definitely will recommend for anyone looking for a novel burst of high-intensity action, whether you're used to the shmup formula or not. The game is full of passion and it bleeds into you as you play.
I'm not quite sure I'll see the very end of it any time soon, however, as the final strech of this game makes a considerably bigger ask of the player than anything before it. Saying much more, however, would be a spoiler and I do think even just attempting once is an experience worth the admission.
The SHMUP genre is not one I've engaged with often and have generally found rather offputting for its apparent tendency towards sadistic game design. That might seem hypocritical as someone who enjoys FromSoft games and Roguelikes, but its the added strain of constant twitch reflexes and pixel perfect allowances that made the mix too much for me, generally.
I was pleasantly surprised, then, to find that ZeroRanger strikes a nice balance between testing your skill and giving you a boost when your momentum starts to sputter out. The two primary tools it uses being a generous checkpoint system and a "continue" system that gives the player more to work with the more they play.
The only tradeoff the player makes for using both is that it drastically lowers your score potential, so people going for bragging rights will naturally avoid them and take the full challenge while us normies can plug along to the end of the game at a decent pace…
Until the aforementioned final stretch. To the game's credit, I don't think I would have the developer do it any differently. It's pretty unique and bold. But "unique and bold" naturally limits who is going to be able to appreciate it fully.
Alas, at this point in my life it's a challenge I'm not willing to commit to seeing through right here and now. But maybe one day—I did eventually come back and finish the last boss of Dark Souls after 7~8 years, afterall. And, I do still really enjoy playing the game, but I'm more interested in moving on to the next on my stack now.
Definitely will recommend for anyone looking for a novel burst of high-intensity action, whether you're used to the shmup formula or not. The game is full of passion and it bleeds into you as you play.