You may or may not be familiar with the side scrolling voxel based shoot em up Resogun back in 2013, beyond that, you might remember R-Type or even perhaps 1942 with the WW2 plane that spewed out ridiculous amounts of firepower against waves and waves of enemies....yeah that.
Well, dial that all up to 11 and add a neon disco like you've never seen before because Nex Machina is the arcade players dream shooter. A marriage of what Robotron and Smash TV were back in the day, frantic eye busting affairs of onscreen digital mayhem.
Developed by Housmarque who developed the original Resogun, Nex Machina is a twin stick shooter, on PS4 you can either use both the analogs to move the character and shoot or use each of the joypad buttons to fire your characters weapons in the direction of the button press.
What initially looks like a manic onscreen frenzy is actually a well choreographed enemy threat, timing is crucial to utilize your characters dash ability to avoid the seemingly impossible pulses of plasma shots and spinning shurikens of laser filled death. If you actually watch the patterns you'll see that timing and strategy...as well as pulling off some crazy moves can work in tandem.
Onscreen pickups like shields are essential, multi-shot blaster upgrades and dash pickups are challenging to reach too, you'll need to blast your way through a wall of enemy bots homing in on you or the hapless humans that are wandering around on each level that you need to save.
Waves upon waves of enemy droids will stream towards you in a seemingly endless tsunami,walking spider bots with cannons lumber towards your position from all angles and stationary mortar stations target you from afar with a neon crosshair that gives you enough heads up that standing still is a death sentence. The game is tough but very easy to play, dying a lot is the norm, as is utilizing copious amounts of continues as you look to keep the action going. One of the most striking aspects of the game is the visual chaos, electric neon blues, pinks, greens and purples mix with a heavy dose of reds and blacks which are then further contrasted by exploding enemies that disintegrate into a mash of coloured pixel spray as your shots hit home.
The game takes up less than 1 Gig of space on a PS4 and is a perfect pick up and play blaster that takes what Resogun, R-Type,Smash TV and Robotron did but cranks it all up another level and delivers an eye bleeding and satisfying arcade shoot em up.
Above: The on-screen arcade mayhem of Nex Machina.
The video below was me on 'Rookie' setting, I was sweating like a demon even on this setting, I think my wife thought I was going to have a heart attack, all she could hear from the lounge was me shouting "holy shit" or "this is bloody impossible"...additionally flavored with 'thank Christ that's over".
Check out the Gameplay video here and see for yourself
The Good Stuff
The Bad Stuff
End.
The video below was me on 'Rookie' setting, I was sweating like a demon even on this setting, I think my wife thought I was going to have a heart attack, all she could hear from the lounge was me shouting "holy shit" or "this is bloody impossible"...additionally flavored with 'thank Christ that's over".
The Good Stuff
- Pick up and Play instant Arcade action
- Visuals are incredible
- Challenging and also has co-op mode
- Bound to become a classic much respected arcade shooter
- probably THE best arcade shooter since Resogun
The Bad Stuff
- Insanely challenging for novice arcade players, you'll die...a lot
- Limited Scope after prolonged play
- lacks any real customization to make the game your own.
End.
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