Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Oct 14, 2022

  it's like a combo of Galaga and Spy Hunter. I like it.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 18, 2022

  Yes, it's exactly like that everyone is yelling about: Galaga meets 1943, meets Spy Hunter, in a Mad Max setting. AND IT'S AWESOME. (8.5/10)
• gamedeal user

  Mar 4, 2023

  fun challenging and addicting
• gamedeal user

  Mar 1, 2023

  Game is tough, but that's because it was designed to be tough and that's a good thing. I recommend looking at the How to Play menu to wrap your head around the mechanics. This is a 2 button shooter though so the difficulty comes mostly from understanding the mechanics and enemy patterns. Who cares about that though? it's frikkin Galaga on wheels. Buy it. Now.
• gamedeal user

  Aug 24, 2023

  Dead End City has a nice presentation as well as a good premise for a shoot 'em up that is rarely explored. However, it's also somewhat held back with its Galaga enemy patterns, slow progression/tough unlocks and minor game play decisions for me to given it much more than a weak recommend. Dead End City hit the player with a stunning intro and rockin' music in this post-apocalypse, Mad Max style shoot 'em up. And it's a blast to play the first few play throughs. However, I quickly discovered that the game doesn't seem to want the player to move their car from the bottom of the screen. This is largely due to the Galaga inspired patterns the enemies perform as they arrive on screen and bombard the player's car. Which is also neat until the player realizes just how much that limits their movement. It was fine in the early 80s, but it feels so restrictive here. To be clear, the player can absolutely move their car up the screen. It's just the game punishes them for doing so until latter half of the stage where they drive around buildings and battle bandits that are on foot. The next thing that initially impressed me, but quickly faded was the player car fuel is their health. They only have the one life, but the game constantly drops fuel at them. At least until it doesn't, it what often feels like a lose more scenario where your car is on fumes and you just can get to fuel to drop or get in position to get it. leaving the player in a death spiral. On the other end, the player is reward with more firepower if they can manage to keep their fuel tank topped off. The whole system left me with the impression that mistake recovery is extremely difficult to do once the player gets a little ways into the game. Especially since the player's special attack is also recharged from enemy drops, and oddly enough those drops often happen from using the special attack. So, the player better be ready to get into position to catch those drops or run empty on their special attacks too. Each run provides the player with money to spend at the in game shop that allows them to unlock art, sound tests and other drivers. Those other drivers can also be unlocked by flawlessly defeating the end of stage boss as described in the shop. But as of yet, I've come no where near being able to perform a no miss even on the first stage end boss. And while I'm not great at shoot 'em ups, I do feel these challenges are a little harsh. Especially since the amount of money my people (bad shmup players) can earn isn't much. I'm already an hour into playing this game and nadda new drivers to play around with. I've beaten easier STGs in that amount of time. I don't know if I have it in me the desire to put the time and practice to unlocking these other drivers via skill or dinero. As such, I don't really care for Dead End City. But that's not to say the game is bad. Far from it. Ultimately, the game just personally rubs me the wrong way. It doesn't just about everything to keep itself from clicking with me. That said, I still recommend it. It looks and sounds real nice. The Galaga patterns are a neat throw back and not at all the whole game. I do enjoy the parts of Dead End City where the player drives between buildings and junk just before the end of stage bosses. I just found the game a little overly difficult to explore much of it without practice I'm not readily willing to give it.
• gamedeal user

  Aug 25, 2023

  I'm sad to say that this game is not very good as a shmup. The hitbox is far too large and the fuel mechanic is fine until the game refuses to refill it even though it goes down on its own. I feel like the game would benefit from maybe the cars being a little faster, the hitbox not being the size of the planet, and the fuel system either being reworked or adding a lives system so that good scoring can reward extends. It's not satisfying when racking up a combo for three stages means nothing after getting random strays hit into death. In its current state this game isn't worth picking up.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 20, 2022

  Dead End City's an intense and fun retro-style shmup that's got some interesting systems going for it! I'll go ahead and give a rundown on them: For starters, instead of having lives and dying in one hit like other shmups, you instead have a fuel gauge that drains over time and drains faster when you take damage. It's only when you run out of fuel that you'll die in one hit, but fear not though, as you can collect fuel pickups to keep yourself alive. Collect fuel while you're already full of it, and your weapon will get stronger until the excess fuel drains. There's also ammo pickups enemies drop upon death to charge up your special shot, though if you leave it fully charged without using it, enemies will drop fuel instead of ammo and you'll be able to keep your weapon powered up for longer! This can make for some tense moments where you're close to dying and want to get fuel drops from enemies, but have to refrain from using your special weapon for a bit to enable said fuel drops (some enemies still drop fuel regardless, but being full on ammo makes fuel drop from every enemy). As for the structure of the game itself, each level starts with waves of enemies to clear one by one (a la Galaga), followed by a scrolling section where you eventually drive your way to the boss. I like that at the start of each wave, instead of saying the wave number, it shows text to describe what you're about to face, mention how close you are to the end of the waves section, or something else along those lines. I find that it adds some charm to each of the waves and helps with remembering them, plus the wave number is mentioned in the results screen after you clear it anyway, if curious. I also find the style of dodging enemies and bullets to be interesting, the game does have its intricate patterns but I found more of a focus on reacting to quick bullets and manipulating player-aimed bullets around in order to set yourself up for free shots on a strong enemy or not get trapped, which is cool! Lastly, there's the scoring mechanics, which is where this game gets even more engaging. There's a score multiplier that either goes up when you kill enemies with your special shot or while you have excess fuel, and goes down when you take damage. Once you get the multiplier to 9, enemies will start dropping point-filled medals, especially when you attack them with your special shot! ...This also applies to bosses once you get the final blow on them. You have to be cautious to not get hit during boss fights because when you finish them off at a score multiplier of 9, you're rewarded with a very satisfying shower of medals! Dead End City's been pretty dope from what I've played so far as of writing this review, I've beaten Normal mode (and unlocked Hard mode), but I feel the urge to keep coming back at it to beat my high score (especially with the game's rockin' soundtrack), and I'm all for it. There's also unlockable characters, settings, etc. that you can either purchase with currency you gain throughout play, or earn for free by completing certain tasks which is neat. The game's nice overall for any shmup fans, but I highly recommend Dead End City to any high score enthusiasts out there, it's a fun time!
• gamedeal user

  Sep 3, 2023

  This is a very well made shmup. I love that you can take a few hits and keep on ticking because I get hit a LOT lol. But the game has a lot of mechanics based around getting more fuel (EG. if your special weapon ammo is maxed out, enemies will drop fuel aka health when they die). You also get more fuel and ammo by killing multiple enemies with your special shot. So it becomes a beautiful dance of resource management and dodging bullets. Plus the aesthetics and music are on point. They also added a very fun caravan score attack mode recently. Def worth the price of admision.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 28, 2023

  This game is awesome. It's a car-based shmup with levels that start with a "shootiny gallery" like Galaga and then you have a normal scrolling section then a boss. The fuel system makes the game pretty forgiving but still very challenging (Still couldn't beat what I think should be the last boss). It has "secret" bosses - just destroy a boss without getting hit and you face a rival - which is pretty cool. The score system with the multipliers, medals and use of the special weapon is simple but fun to play with it. Boss design is really, REALLY top notch, with different parts to destroy and many different ways to milk them for score - which is always dangerous because your fuel means you have a time limit, and their patterns are fair and fun to play through. Graphics are very, very polished pixel art. The game has a score attack mode for each level and the Highway mode which seems to be a 2-minute mode (I admit I didn't try it because I was addicted to the main arcade mode). There are different cars to unlock (At the start you only have one available) and they do play differently (At least the one I've unlocked). The requirements to unlock them may be kinda hard to achieve, but you can buy it with in-game money you earn after each play, so it's all fair. But after all this, what's really important, the game is insanely fun to play. It's a shmup that makes me eager to start a new game after I get a game over, and it would sit perfectly in any arcade gallery of the 80s. Maybe a continue system would make the game a little bit more accessible for newbies and the music didn't win me over but, all in all, there's nothing to complain about the game. I strongly recommend this game.