Review: Nex Machina (PlayStation 4)

Nex Machina is an intense arcade style twin-stick shooter from Housemarque. Taking hints from both Robotron and Smash TV, Nex Machina focuses on pure action, voxel destruction and competition in the distant, cablepunk themed future.

Pros:

• Voxel powered graphics that look fantastic.
• 2.16GB Download size.
• Platinum trophy.
• Simple two button twin stick controls.
• Twin stick shooter, Score chasing gameplay.
• Full online leaderboard support with friend filter and the ability to check the stats of a players run.
• Arcade- Play through the game to unlock the new areas in other modes.
• Arena- Pick a world and play it with modifiers and earn Bronze, Silver or Gold ranks.
• Single world- Choose a world and go for the score!
• Coins- Earned from the many modes you use these to customise your character like bullet colour, Character model, Armour colour etc. You can also buy player avatars.
• Local two player co-op mode.
• Rank up and earn new titles for your player card.
• Full stats screen.
• Four difficulties- Rookie, Experienced, Veteran and Master. Each one dictates enemy/human numbers, Faster enemies and how many continues you get.
• Feats- Like in game achievements.
• Five worlds to unlock that boast a total of 100 plus levels spread out across them.
• Banging soundtrack.
• Deep complex yet surprisingly easy to use scoring system. Time and chain attacks affect score but so does collecting the humans and chaining them together. Its a lot of pop ups of scores and multipliers but you never feel like you are out of the loop with it all.
• Fast loading times with instant level transitions.
• Addictive game play.
• Very much a pick up and play title.
• Hidden areas to find.
• Destructible environments.
• Instant restarts.
• Tons upon tons of replay ability.
• HDR support.
• Solid 4K 60fps performance on both the standard and Pro PlayStation consoles.
• Visual treat with all the explosions and lasers.
• Power ups in game.
• Can reclaim power-ups upon death in a level.
• Gets straight into the action no long build up.
• Big epic boss battles.
• Cool little feature where, Just before entering a boss door the view goes 3rd person and you are playing that way until you reach the door. It looks brilliant.

Cons:

• No tutorials explaining the mechanics of the game.
• Difficulty spikes.
• Takes a while to get to grips with everything.
• No online co-op.
• Your reflexes are fading with time and this game only compounds the self belief that you are getting old and cannot keep up.