Z-WARP | PS4 Review

SSDD. Same Shmup Different Day. That's what comes to mind when I think of Panda Indie Studio's latest entry in their ongoing, but disjointed series. Z-Warp, for what it's worth, is more or less a reskin of former Panda Indie Studio shmups like Crisis Wing, and Void Gore. Complete with slightly reworked mechanics, and scoring gimmicks. It features a story with a classic take on intros regarding the year 21XX, and an experimental space-warping ship that has gone missing on it's maiden voyage. As a pilot of the Z-Division it is your duty to locate that missing ship, and retrieve it's black box, so what transpired can be made known. It's a spacefaring shoot 'em up adventure into the bowels of the universe, quite literally.

Coming at you like one of Elon Musk's Space X rockets this tougher than nails shmup has you playing through a multi-stage story mode, or going for that high score in an Endless variant of that gameplay loop. In story mode there are several stages with bosses at the end of each run. With the waves of lesser aliens and ships arriving all around you like Earthbound asteroids missed by NASA's early detection satellites. All for lucrative scoring opportunities. Sometimes with ample warnings, and other times like an out of nowhere "HEY MF'ER!!!" sucker punch kind of moment. The difficulty therein ranges from easy to hardcore, and can be played horizontally in Tate mode, if so desired. Visually it's a chaotic mess of flashing colors, and anatomically designed destinations that warrant the initial seizure warning which you'll stumble upon when starting up the game. Complete with optional screen shaking, and vibrations for that immersive 4D at home experience.

In the way of mechanics the infinite ring bomb returns from former, but separate shmup indies released by the previously mentioned development studio. By holding down the firing button the blue ring within a growing green ring expands, and wherever that blue inner ring touches it can be detonated to destroy bullet hell projectiles or lesser enemy craft. The enemy craft only being destructible when the ring is fully expanded. Either way it turns the projectiles or enemy craft into glowing green skulls of varying point values. Beyond that the bomb also doubles as a means to reach out of the way power-ups, and enemies that gate off passage further into the stages. Detonating the bombs, and killing enemies with your two shot types, as mentioned earlier, rewards you with skulls which translate into points and further into score multipliers. Topping off at 8X which is the game's multiplier cap. As far as the two shot types in the game are concerned you have a spread shot, and a concentrated beam. By holding down the beam shot, in particular, you can slow down the ships speed to better navigate between the maze of bullet hell projectiles. With the wider reaching spread shot you can more easily deal with screen covering mobs. Those are the mechanics in a nutshell, so to speak.

Power-ups you'll find along the way will help with the longevity of a playthrough. They include health/shield power-ups, and power upgrades for your shots. It should be noted that in story mode, and endless mode you are given a single ship with an initially limited stock of health/shields. Once those are exhausted it's GAME OVER unless you earn enough points to get an extra credit. Using a credit to continue though comes with a hefty price as it resets your score that was obtained prior to continuing. Score you earn matters in that it can earn you a place on the game's online leaderboards, and for both modes of play. Additionally reaching score milestones, and stage progress will earn you the usual PSN trophies.

The Verdict ...

While there is an element of familiarity with this latest release that is Z-Warp it is a welcome entry into Panda Indie Studio's ongoing evolution. I feel with each entry they are working to perfect their formula instead of making drastically different takes on mechanics and gimmicks. That I can commend. Why change something completely when it's not totally broken? At the $6.99 price point I think you'll be getting your money's worth this time around. Just keep in mind this shmup is one of the more difficult to master ones, and that it does come with a warranted seizure warning. If you can handle that it's a good shmup to pick up & play, in my personal opinion.