Reseñas

• gamedeal user

  May 22, 2022

  An incredible game that just shadow dropped out of nowhere. Looks incredible and plays like a dream, as expected of Ladybug. There's a few throwbacks tot heir older games that were a really nice touch too! The flexible weapon system lets you customise your loadout on the fly as the stages or bosses demand, meaning people of all skill levels can make their way through the game or build their own difficulty settings on top of what's there. The main reflect mechanic is super quick and easy to use, with a little bit of leeway before it visually kicks in that makes clutch guards feel even better. The level design is some of the best I've seen in a shmup. There's obvious influences from older horizontal games (Gradius, R-type, Darius, etc), but just polished out and made less frustrating compared to 80's coin eaters, while still maintaining a degree of challenge. Each state has its own theme and mechanics, complete with big multi stage bosses, all with their own gimmicks, just the way it should be. An easy recommendation.
• gamedeal user

  May 22, 2022

  What a great surprise! So far (on Stage 5), its a blast. Filled with clear love for the giants of shoot em ups, but also its own unique beast. Team Ladybug is rapidly becoming one of my favorite developers in the world.
• gamedeal user

  May 23, 2022

  Well... normally I go through the list of negatives in a game first, and... uhm... in the final cutscene they have a "wa" instead of a "way" as a minor typo. ...Yep. That's the list. That's all of it. That's the whole list of cons. Soooo yeah. This is basically just short of a perfect game. The writing is fairly above average for a space shooter, nothing too overly special but not bad by any means. Other than that, the rest of the game is pretty much incredible. The level design is very well done, with interesting enemies and things going on, but the pathing is intuitive, new mechanics are shown as they're added in ways that don't need explained, and in the entire game I only got "stuck" one time which I figured out right after and I only got stuck because I wasn't paying attention to something the first time it passed me by it to show me I could shoot through something that looked like a wall, but I saw it the second time when I wasn't as distracted. Everything is very, extremely carefully managed for how it's handled. For example, if enemies are going to teleport in, which happens very rarely, they'll play an animation of where they'll show up a second before they arrive so you have time to get out of the way. The graphics have lasers and shots all over the place, but everything is colour-coded so that you actually never lose track of where your ship is and never get confused on what are enemy attacks or what are your own. For the game features that are unique and pretty interesting, basically you have a sort of Ikaruga-style absorb ability which can suck up any energy attack, but not physical shots. You can only maintain the shield for so long, but it makes you invincible to 95% or so of the attacks in the game, and when you turn it off, you get a brief period of invincibility and release a bunch of homing shots based on how much energy you charged. What's also interesting here is the more energy you absorb, the more gets stored in energy tanks which can be used as currency to upgrade your ship, purchase new weapon systems for different situations, and so on. The other major interesting part here is you can pause the game at any time and change out your ship's loadout, even mid-level. So if the level goes from an open-space area to a tight, cramped corridor, you can switch out from wide-turning homing missiles to wall-crawling mines to suit the situation as you see fit. Your ship is extremely customizable and you're actually encouraged to switch out systems depending on what you're fighting. Your ship has several different power levels it can unlock by grabbing pickups that enemies drop (or using a super-bomb slot item that you can purchase which just gives you a free one on an ammo-based system which recharges as you absorb shots, so handy), and it unlocks weapon systems as you go up in power. Start taking damage and ship systems gradually start going offline one after another, though you can organize which order they go off in, and rearrange things if something important gets lost in the middle of a fight thanks to being able to pause the game and rearrange stuff. In general, there's a lot of really interesting systems in place and it's incredibly well made and intuitive. Once you have the basics down, they introduce everything you need to know extremely well each time. From a game design and level design perspective, it's one of the best I've ever seen for intuitive design overall. As stated, the writing is fairly good for a space shooter, though nothing too great. Music is well done, but not distracting and not overly catchy, it just sets the right mood for what's going on and does its job competently just not exceptionally. It's not Touhou-level music by any means, but it is pretty good and fitting. The sound effects are basically fitting, they don't stand out but they do their job well, and work with the visuals as well. Like if a boss has an ability that it's going to have a section which you're sitting in sucking up energy from with your absorption shield and it's going to block that off, it'll play a clear and obvious sound effect and show a flashing light before it does so, that kind of thing. The sound effects are just enough to catch your attention and alert you to important information, but otherwise they just feel 'right' without being intrusive. Boss fights all, even the first one, have at least 3+ phases to them with many interesting mechanics, but the mechanics are always done well and in an intuitive manner. It's always clear what you're supposed to do, it's just a matter of execution. You will never run into an attack pattern that you don't know what's expected of you. In short... this is a god-tier game in its genre. This is the kind of game that other games look to in awe in order to learn how to do it right. The only downside is it's only about 3 hours worth of gameplay for the story mode. It's more than good enough gameplay and replay value that you can definitely go through it many times with different builds and system setups for your ship though, so it's well worth grabbing even at full price. It literally just came out today, and is $17.49 Canadian, with a -10% discount price of $15.74, and I can't even say wait for it to go on sale. It's definitely one of the best of the genre, and builds upon others in interesting and very fun ways, doing stuff other games of the genre sort of touched on but never really took full advantage of. If you like side-scrolling space shooters, this is now basically the #1 slot for them as far as I'm concerned. Of course, there hasn't been much competition lately, as everything has been a bullet hell for over a decade now, but even compared to the top dogs of the past, like the Darius series, DRAINUS is definitely a major improvement in the genre. So yeah. Why are you still reading this? Buy it. DO SO NOW.
• gamedeal user

  May 23, 2022

  100% achievements done in under 5 hours. And I'm not really that good at shmups. That should probably say something about the ease of the game. Overall, however, it's a very fun game. Well worth the entry price. If you're a veteran of this genre, you'll definitely feel at home, though you may be left a little wanting for challenge if you're after it, even with the mode unlocks from clearing the game the first go round. The rest is on you whether or not you want to give yourself a challenge or not. And for those not into these games, you may be surprised to see what fun can be had. It's definitely newbie friendly and that might be something in its own right. It's something just about anyone can enjoy, which is somewhat of a rarity in the genre, especially for those that can drain a playthrough in a matter of minutes. This will likely keep you going for hours once you get into it and so long as you don't shy away from these types of games.
• gamedeal user

  May 23, 2022

  Amazing shoot'em up where you can absorb enemy bullets, and use the absorbed power to unleash powerful attacks and to upgrade your ship. This mechanic works really well, and makes the game a fresh breath of air in the genre. Level design and soundtrack are excellent. Works great on the Steam Deck. Very recommended!
• gamedeal user

  May 24, 2022

  Y'all should have really come up with a different name. This ain't it. lol Game's great tho.
• gamedeal user

  May 24, 2022

  For Shmup fans -- Imagine the weapons of R-Type/Gradius, a shield mechanic that beeps at you like Ikaruga, general enemy/boss design akin to Einhander, and setpieces and bosses that are heavily inspired by all of those. For non-Shmup fans, if you're looking for a game that can convince you why people love these kinds of games, this would be it. It's not that difficult if you use all your resources (I beat it without dying on normal, but ridiculous is as challenging as any bullet hell I've played, but you're a lot stronger in this game so you don't feel as _weak_ as you do in other bullet hells on the hardest difficulty because you're always on the attack), and you can pause and change your loadout easily. Ughhhh this game hits me right in the nostalgia feels. If you grew up on these kinds of games you owe it to yourself to pick it up.
• gamedeal user

  May 25, 2022

  What I expected: A euroshmup What I got: Gradius VI
• gamedeal user

  May 26, 2022

  Arcade mode desperately needs to be based on ridiculous, it's a painfully easy STG in any other mode, plz team ladybug. Shop system is also quite poorly thought out. The game's pretty but mechanically never really hits the gradius+mars matrix attempt its going for.
• gamedeal user

  May 29, 2022

  Yes! Yes! So much yes! I can't recommend this game enough! The controls and graphics are great! I'm much more old school where I prefer chip based music, but the modern soundtrack still matches the hype while you're playing it. I just wish it was more memorable like the Thunder Force series or something. Otherwise, the power-up system can slightly change the feel whether you want to play it like R-Type or Gradius. It's very good to experiment. There are save slots so you play through with different builds. There's also quite a few references to classic shmup games in this. See if you recognize any of them :)