Resogun (PS4)

When it comes to indie shmup concepts I think "Resogun" easily earns it's place amongst the best. This eye-popping spectacle of a twin-stick shooter will either put you into a seizure induced spasm due to sensory overload, or will have you staring at the screen in amazement as next-gen special effects fill the screen in front of you. The idea behind this shooter is a simple yet effective one. As mankind's last hope you are piloting their only way off of the cylindrical cities. For some reason, or another humanity is about to face Armageddon several times over, and they are slowly waking from their suspended cubicles only to be dropped out on the street, and blasted/abducted by the robotic alien life forms who are attacking. You, and your ship will not only aid these poor helpless human beings in their time of need, but will also fight against wave after wave of alien spacecraft in the process.


In "Resogun" you'll find that there are a moderate selection of options made available to you from the get go. Things like difficulty settings (Rookie, Experienced, Hardcore, Master & Hero), and the choice of one of three different ships (Ferox, Nemesis, Phobos) are there for your choosing. The difficulty settings are listed in order, and will give you the level of challenge that you seek. Keep in mind though that "Resogun" is more of a bullet hell experience than "Space Invaders" style game. Once you have chosen which difficulty you want to go with you can then select your ship. Each ship in the game is rated by three different factors/stats including Agility, Boost, and Overdrive. The middle ship which is called the "Farox (or something along those lines)" is evenly balanced according to the three stats. The "Nemesis" is more about boost, and agility, and "Phobos" is more about the overdrive.

As you pilot your chosen ship around the cylindrical 3D cities you will have to shoot down the enemy spacecraft that appear before you while dodging their bullet hell sprays, and looking out for any humans that might have been released from their cryostasis cells. The shooting part of the game is the simplest part of the game while the rest of the actions are a little less so. To move your ship you'll use the (Left Thumbstick), and to shoot you'll simply tilt the (Right Thumbstick) in the direction you wish to fire towards, hence the "Twin-Stick Shooter" reference. For the most part your ship's weapon will only shoot in a left, and right direction. While that shooting direction is definitely limited your ship can be moved fluidly in both a horizontal, and vertical fashion in order to dodge incoming bullet hell, or spacecraft. Aside from standard weapon fire you'll also find that you have the standard issue screen clearing bombs. These refillable explosives can help you out of tight situations, especially when you are trapped/cornered. Lastly you'll find that by continually blasting enemies, and building up the games quota based gauge you will refill your "Overdrive" meter. Overdrive, for lack of a better term is a super powered slow motion barrage of electrical energy. The Overdrive can only be activated when the announcer says that it's ready, and can be used to destroy a massive amount of enemy spacecraft while racking up bonus points in a Pac-Man style manner. This special weapon only lasts for a few seconds, but can earn you some significant bonus points if played right.

Your ultimate goal for each level in "Resogun"comes in the form of a few phases, a boss fight, and an "Armageddon" ending. When you begin playing you'll find that you have a set number of ships/lives with which to make it through to the end of the game. If you get hit you lose a life. While that may sound brutal in the sense that a single shot can rob you of a life/ship the game does good to give you the chance to refill your lives, and other tools. By rescuing the glowing green humanoids that fall loose from their glass cells you can earn everything from bonus points to shields, and even extra lives. Keep in mind though that there are only a certain amount of humans in each level, and that they will die off (suffocating in the cell, falling off of a cliff, being abducted) if you don't make it to them in time. If you see that a human is bounding about on the city platform you simply have to swoop down with your ship, and the human will hang on. After that you must take the human to a portal with arrows pointing up to it in order to cash in on your reward. The more humans you rescue the better the reward becomes.

The phases I spoke of earlier are basically the clearing of a certain amount of enemies. In each phase you will have to fill up the bottom gauge/meter by blasting the enemy ships out of the starry sky. Once the gauge/meter is filled the announcer will state that the phase is over, and you will continue to fight of the waves of ships after a slow motion intermission sequence until the boss appears. Bosses in "Resogun" come in a wide variety of shapes, and forms. Like the rest of the Resogun world the Bosses are built of tiny cubes which come together to form a massive spaceship/alien life form. As with any shmup you will need to shoot away at the boss's weak points, and dodge it's attacks until it is utterly destroyed. You will know this has happened when the boss explodes, and the announcer says "Armageddon!". Immediately after the announcer states the word "Armageddon" the city/level you are currently on will blast into tiny cubes amidst a vast array of special effects, and you will move on to the next level in question so that you can save more humans. In total I think there are about five levels with multiple phases in each one. As you may have guessed there is also a boss to defeat at the end of each level.

For all of you score hounds out there you'll be glad to know that the developer has included a detailed online/global leaderboard complete with flags, PSN IDs, and top scores. The leaderboards are divided up by difficulty setting, and are easy to browse. You'll find several shortcut buttons there that will help you locate your ranking, and top scores as well as your friends current top scores. Features such as the single level mode, arcade mode, and online co-op will give you plenty of options to enjoy this next-gen shooter. It's the time of game that can be revisited as much as you like, and will never be dull.

Now on to the Verdict ...

Resogun is a game that definitely has that "WOW! Factor (Man I love Quoting TV BS!)". The visual display alone is a sight to behold. The fact that the game plays as smoothly as it does impresses the hell out of me. I've never played a shmup that was as fluid in motion, and as unique as this one. I love the whole "Save the humans" theme. It made the game seem more like an actual arcade experience than a console based one. The added vocal announcements via the PS4 controller also gave this game an extra "Epic" appeal. Being a fan of shmups I can say without a moments hesitation that this is the standard by which all future console shmups should be designed. Of course keep it original though. I can't stand those copycat ideas. If for some reason you have not played "Resogun", and you have a PS4 be sure to download it as you will not be disappointed!