A village populated by arcade-shooter ships should be ready for anything at a moments notice. Form follows function, after all, and these ships were designed for action. Smooth lines and clear indicators make them instantly readable when the bullets start flying, so how they were caught out by an attack is a bit of a mystery. Surprise is a powerful advantage, though, and the village was caught off guard and with a minimum of fuss, its ship-inhabitants encased in crystal and fully neutralized. Except a single fighter has managed to break free and is now responsible for saving everyone, fighting to overcome the bullet-hell evil that’s overtaken the land. Or, as arcade-shooter ships call it, Tuesday.
When classic-style Zelda and bullet hell fall in love
Minishoot Adventure is a free-roaming twin-stick shooter that owes as much to the secrets of Zelda as it does to Geometry Wars-style action. Starting powerless in a tutorial cave the ship quickly acquires a gun, and enemies drop gems that fill up the experience bar to earn the standard single upgrade point per level. A little exploration once out in the world turns up a map, initially empty but upgradeable to show points of interest, but figuring out how to get there requires a bit of poking about. The world is filled with secrets, and while the map covers the surface the cave system running underneath is a different matter. Hidden tunnels, some obvious and others less so, lead to gem deposits and other goodies, and enemies are not only everywhere but generous with the bullet supply.
Review: Archvale
Archvale is a fantastic genre hybrid, easily merging the shooter and RPG elements together to create a ridiculously playable adventure.
There aren’t a lot of free-roaming bullet hell adventures out there, with the one being closest to Minishoot Adventure being Archvale. That one was more straight action, though, while Minishoot Adventure is quite happy to leave you lost and poking around for the missing switch or pathway needed to advance. There’s a great little demo available onthe Steam pagethat’s well worth checking out, with three difficulty levels for those who don’t want to get blasted into shrapnel and those who wouldn’t have it any other way, plus varying levels of shooting assist. It’s bigger than it looks, and my first run through missed about half of the area so there’s more than one way to approach its challenges, making it well worth a replay on the harder difficulty just to ensure you’ve seen all it’s got to offer.
While the demo has been around for a while, the full game’s release has been a bit of a mystery for that entire time. The wait is just about complete, finally, with Minishoot Adventure receiving its release date trailer today. The game comes out on April 2, finally ready to fully reveal its combination of secrets and bullet hell.
