Scottish-developed, Konami-published shooter with a twin-stick control method looking to "elevate the genre to a truly next-generation experience". Epic Games Store freebie within 2 days of launch. There's already one or two signs here that this is going to upset some folks, myself included 
Before you can consider the arcade mode, it first has you dive into its story mode. There's a cut scene before you get going, and of course as the female main character is suiting up, we get a shot focused on her arse. Getting into game at least delivers better on the promise of modernity; there's loads of action on screen immediately, with loads of enemies firing plenty of effect-laden shots, all filling a generously spacious screen and making for a very busy presentation. Sonically it's a bit less exhilarating, opting for an orchestral score that doesn't bring much in the way of energy, and instead gives a fairly stodgy air of pretension.
Stages are long - like 15 minutes so - and are tackled individually in story mode, with you being able to pick and choose difficulty for each and coming into each with a fresh stock of lives. Between stages there's a also a variety of upgrades to pursue that aren't very well explained or demonstrated, and I didn't even think to check until Stage 4. Oops.
When I heard it was controlled with twin sticks my mind went to arena shooters like Geometry Wars, but it's a bit more traditional given it still scrolls vertically and with a fairly limited shot window; locking you in to a 45-degree-ish range in front of you. There's a lot of supplementary controls too - as well as Xevious/Ray----- style ground attacks, one button cycles through shot spread, one transfers power-ups to your shield, another sends them to your attack instead, allowing yet another button to fire missiles. Honestly: this is a crap explanation because I don't have my head around half of this so far myself, but given your primary shot button is R2, having another function bound to R1 has managed to cheese me off a little already.
As already mentioned, it is VERY BUSY, with lots of different shots and effects all coming for you simultaneously. Even playing on easy, taking hits is clearly expected, with a very generous shield capable of taking multiple hits, that is also able to be recharged frequently from dropped collectables. Making things even more overwhelming is an absolutely wild amount of screen shake. I've seen what I believe to be an option to turn this down, but I'm sticking with default options for now, and just considering this to be earthquake training.
Trying my best not to totally hate on it, and definitely wanting to stick through story mode at least. Based on early impressions I certainly prefer it to some other attempts to obnoxiously "modernise" the genre (hi Sine Mora), but on the other hand I think it's some way off meeting its own lofty expectations.
Before you can consider the arcade mode, it first has you dive into its story mode. There's a cut scene before you get going, and of course as the female main character is suiting up, we get a shot focused on her arse. Getting into game at least delivers better on the promise of modernity; there's loads of action on screen immediately, with loads of enemies firing plenty of effect-laden shots, all filling a generously spacious screen and making for a very busy presentation. Sonically it's a bit less exhilarating, opting for an orchestral score that doesn't bring much in the way of energy, and instead gives a fairly stodgy air of pretension.
Stages are long - like 15 minutes so - and are tackled individually in story mode, with you being able to pick and choose difficulty for each and coming into each with a fresh stock of lives. Between stages there's a also a variety of upgrades to pursue that aren't very well explained or demonstrated, and I didn't even think to check until Stage 4. Oops.
When I heard it was controlled with twin sticks my mind went to arena shooters like Geometry Wars, but it's a bit more traditional given it still scrolls vertically and with a fairly limited shot window; locking you in to a 45-degree-ish range in front of you. There's a lot of supplementary controls too - as well as Xevious/Ray----- style ground attacks, one button cycles through shot spread, one transfers power-ups to your shield, another sends them to your attack instead, allowing yet another button to fire missiles. Honestly: this is a crap explanation because I don't have my head around half of this so far myself, but given your primary shot button is R2, having another function bound to R1 has managed to cheese me off a little already.
As already mentioned, it is VERY BUSY, with lots of different shots and effects all coming for you simultaneously. Even playing on easy, taking hits is clearly expected, with a very generous shield capable of taking multiple hits, that is also able to be recharged frequently from dropped collectables. Making things even more overwhelming is an absolutely wild amount of screen shake. I've seen what I believe to be an option to turn this down, but I'm sticking with default options for now, and just considering this to be earthquake training.
Trying my best not to totally hate on it, and definitely wanting to stick through story mode at least. Based on early impressions I certainly prefer it to some other attempts to obnoxiously "modernise" the genre (hi Sine Mora), but on the other hand I think it's some way off meeting its own lofty expectations.
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