Andro Dunos 2 | PS4 Review

Andro Dunos 2. The successor to the original Andro Dunos of Neo-Geo fame. By now you've likely heard your favorite shmup reviewer giving the game high praise, and touting it as the best shoot 'em up of the year. An ambitious kickstarter led sequel to the original experience released on multiple platforms including the 3DS. How does it really stack up though? Well, I'm here to give you the truth. Truth as far as my opinion allows. I've played all kinds of shmups in my lifetime, and know of all the sub-genres. I know good from bad, and even bad from the worst. Having spent time learning what Andro Dunos 2 is all about I believe I'm ready to give a proper critique, in that regard. So, hold onto your seats, and buckle up. You're in for one heck of a ride ...

Andro Dunos 2, as it were, is more or less a traditional 2D side-scrolling shoot 'em up of the Gradius or G-Darius type at base level. Meaning that you pilot a ship that is pushed by screen progress from left to right. Through waves of enemies, and finally to a boss on a per stage basis. Between start to finish of each stage it is your job to rack up as much score as possible for placement on the leaderboards by defeating enemy craft, and bosses as they come into view. All while trying to dodge kamikaze type enemies, and bullets that litter the screen. That, and the physical borders or hazards therein. Points coming from the killing of said enemy craft, and the collecting of smaller and larger blue orbs, in this game's case. 

As a ship pilot in Andro Dunos 2 you are initially equipped with several different shot types that can be cycled through. Front to back, and back to front via the controller's top trigger buttons. These upgradeable shot types differ in a few different ways. They have a main shot, a hyper shot as their base function. The hyper shot depending on recharges, and both shot versions varying according to each shot type. Giving way to increasingly more powerful and numerous bullets the more you power-up. What makes each shot type different beyond that is the spread, direction, and accompanying support shots/missiles that automatically fire upon pressing the shot or hyper shot buttons. That and the fact that they are situational, and good for use under certain circumstances. 

The main shot or bullets/missiles of each can be upgraded via dropped S power-ups to a certain number, and their strength for the two shot types and U (shield satellites) upgraded permanently as well through M/U power-ups. The upgrades to main shots, their number of bullets/missiles, lasts as long as you don't get hit and will reset to base level for a limited cooldown period after you use the stronger hyper shot. If you get hit they're also downgraded a point making them weaker, but not fully resetting the main shot or U/Satellite strength levels. Supposing you increase the upgrades of the U type you will earn orbiting shield satellites that are positioned above, below, rotating, or to either front or back of the ship depending on shot type. This acts as a temporary means to be able to deflect/absorb enemy bullets. Shields will expire though if they get hit enough. At the end of each stage, when your collected blue orbs are counted for the big score multiplier, you will be given up to two or three power-up points depending on orbs collected with which you can upgrade your two shot types' bullets or M/U strength levels before the next stage. Without the need to get those initially allotted power-ups afterwards. It's an additional way to be better prepared for the next playthrough.

Stages in Andro Dunos 2 are short lived affairs that differ environmentally. You'll find space fights, underwater battles, and even battles out in the desert among other locales. As with the G-Darius series the bosses and lesser enemy craft you'll face seem to reflect their environment. Allowing for some creature-like designs. Accompanying the aerobatic fireworks display that is Andro Dunos 2's combat scenario is an 80's arcade inspired soundtrack fitting of the original source material. It has that retro vibe both in the soundtrack, and in the actual ship sprite design. Stages themselves are also retro by design with layered parallax scrolling imagery in the background, and foreground. Everything fits together nicely, and even the anime inspired border art does good to pay homage to everything from that given time period. It should be noted that while it graphically exceeds it's predecessor Andro Dunos 2 does seem to rip some boss designs from Andro Dunos. Only changing them slightly as to not act as a copycat title.

For those of you curious about extras, and the leaderboards I have to disappoint you in saying this is a bare minimum effort release in those regards. You cannot change border art though it does seem to rotate with each playthrough. There is no Tate mode. There are no scanlines sliders, or BGM options. You won't find Andro Dunos history either. There's not even an online leaderboard. In all honesty it seems very basic by design. Inspired, and updated, but basic. What you will get in the way of options is up to 9 credits for continuing upon ship stock exhaustion with slight score penalties, three difficulties (Journey, Arcade, Android), and button configuration options. All tweakable at the main options menu. That and a stage select menu for when you make progress, and wish to continue from a different starting point.

The Verdict ...

As player friendly as Andro Dunos 2 might be, and as tribute worthy as it is it is not the shmup of the year, imo. It's alright for what it is, but placed up against beefy contenders like Eschatos it pales in comparison. It feels low effort in a lot of ways, especially with offerings outside of the presentation and core mechanics. I feel the developer could have done much more to bring this up to modern standards. I do understand though that it falls in the budget range at $17.99, but it's still no excuse to skimp out like they did with features. The fact that you only have one mode of play with three difficulties, limited credit stock, and basic control configuration options does little to impress. Price-wise though I guess you get what you pay for in this case. While that's not bad it doesn't make for that home run hitter shmup enthusiasts have claimed. Buy into it knowing what you are getting, and don't bank on it being a big budget release like some of it's competition. If you liked Andro Dunos you'll likely like this sequel, regardless.