"Xeo-Man Explorer"
Developer: Renegade Kid
Publisher: Gambitious Digital Entertainment
Price: $9.99 (Free for PS+ members)
Cross-Buy: Yes (PS4 and PSVita)
Size: 80MB
PSN: Click Me!
Xeodrifter is a 2D action game developed by Renegade Kid and published by Gambitious Digital Entertainment. This game also came out on 3DS last year and received positive reviews. Since I like 2D action games, I gave this game a go. Here's my review.
This game reminded me of the classic 2D action games like Megaman and Castlevania. I also heard that this game has some resemblance to Metroid, but I cannot tell because I still hasn't played any Metroid games yet.
The game starts with a scene of an airship travelling in space which is later on hit with a bully comet that sends it flying somewhere near some planets. The Warp Core of your airship got busted and your mission is to find or create another Warp Core from the nearby planets.
This game is all about exploring. You will have to explore each planet to know where you should be heading first as there is no guide on which planet to go first or go next. You will be able to move your airship by pressing the X button and land with the O on the planet of your choice. You can also go back to the map screen after landing to a planet.
In the beginning, you can only shoot, walk and jump. You can later on unlock more helpful abilities as you progress in the game or after beating a boss. These abilities will help you get pass the impassable routes that you will encounter on each planet and will also help you on boss battles.
The weapon can also be upgraded by collecting Upgrade Points. The upgrade points are hidden in each planet and most are only accessible when you acquired a certain ability later on in the game. When upgrading, you can choose which type of fire to upgrade. Focusing your upgrade on a single type of fire will boost its damage. What I like in this game is that I can relocate the points in the other type easily even after spending it. That way, I can experiment on what combination is better to use in each situation.
The Health Points can also be upgraded by collecting the Health Point Upgrade lying around or hidden in each planet. Like the Upgrade Point, some Health Points can only be accessed later on in the game after aqcuiring a certain ability.
The enemies you'll find in this game are not really that hard. They are just in a certain position shooting at you in a fixed direction, some are going back and forth in the same direction and there is just one enemy in the game that will fly and chase you around until you are dead. I think most of my death have been from this enemy. It's the hardest enemy in the game for me.
Boss fights in this game are a bit challenging. Each boss have the same exact attack patterns as the first one. Only difference for the later boss is that they will have additional attack pattern along with the previous ones. Once you've remembered their attack patterns, boss fight will be a walk in the park.
Defeating a boss will grant you an ability that you can use to advance in the game. These abilities includes diving underwater, flying, running, etc.. These abilities will also let you reach those areas that are inaccessible before. I had fun combining abilities to avoid enemies and obstacles.
The chiptune soundtrack in this game is great. It fits the retro style graphics perfectly. I specially like the soundtrack played during a boss fight.
The only thing I probably didn't like in the game is the lack of boss variants. You will only get to fight the same boss with just a different colors and additional attack patterns throughout the game. Second was the lack of diagonal shooting. You can only shoot vertically and horizonally.
This is a good 2D action game that will require patience to overcome each planet's obstacles. The controls are very smooth. The graphics has this NES era feel to it along with the nice chiptune soundtrack. Other than the lack of diagonal shooting, challenging enemies and boss's variants, this game still gave me some fun experiences and brought back my love with the retro games.
Score: 3.5 / 5
Website: http://www.renegadekid.com/xeodrifter_info.htm
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RenegadeKidllc
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Renegade-Kid/52665966020?ref=br_tf
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