Shootvaders: The Beginning Review (PlayStation 4)

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For our Shootvaders: The Beginning Review, where our mission is to blast out of this galaxy and find an exotic new planet and new possibilities for all of humanity. We have reported there are hostile forces gathering from all corners of the universe. The alien scum will stop at nothing to destroy you! Enemies will come in waves. Stay alive as long as possible to collect salvage to upgrade your ship. But your enemies are improving too, with each wave they will get stronger. The only path to the promised new world is to travel through space-time: a gateway between galaxies. Be warned, touching a crystal inside the gate could have dire consequences.

Shootvaders: The Beginning Review Pros:

  • Decent graphics.
  • 507.6MB download size.
  • Platinum trophy.
  • Works on Playstation 5.
  • Shmup gameplay.
  • The hints menu acts as a brief overview of the gameplay.
  • Two-player local play support.
  • Bonuses picked up in the game are time limited.
  • Co-op play has friendly fire.
  • Local leaderboards.
  • Ship loadout can be changed before a run, you have four slots.
  • Collect coins and alien materials in the game.
  • Use coins and alien materials to buy new weapons for your ship.
  • Each item you can buy for shipping shows damage, fire rate, etc.
  • Spaceship upgrades are seperate from the load out and again you buy them before a run.
  • Fast loading times.
  • Wave-based shoot-outs mixed with narrow alley scrolling sections.
  • Power-ups drop from enemies.
  • The Hud tells you everything from the score, Wave, combo, Shields, upgrades, etc.
  • Combo counter.
  • Auto fire is standard.
  • Do able trophy list.
  • Can get addictive.

Shootvaders: The Beginning Review Cons:

  • No game settings.
  • Small text in places.
  • Cannot rebind controls.
  • When moving within the alley-scrolling sections, you can never make out what will damage you.
  • One hit kills.
  • No tutorials.
  • The Hud has it all but it’s not that clear at times.
  • Had the game black screen after a run a fair few times, you can still click menus, etc. You fix it by rebooting the game.
  • Just all feels lucky in terms of weapon power-ups.
  • The collecting of coins and alien material is a real grind.
  • Cannot shoot and kill enemies as they appear on the screen.
  • Hard to tell what is a projectile and what is a power-up.

Related Post: Trophies and achievements

Shootvaders: The Beginning:

Official website.

Developer: 7 Raven Studios

Publisher: 7 Raven Studios

Store Links –

PlayStation

  • 7/10
    Graphics - 7/10
  • 7/10
    Sound - 7/10
  • 7/10
    Accessibility - 7/10
  • 7/10
    Length - 7/10
  • 7/10
    Fun Factor - 7/10
7/10

Summary

Shootvaders is a game that combines Wave-based Shmup action with reflex heavy dodge em-up sections sprinkled in. Overall it plays a lot like a free-form Space Invaders game with a ton of power-ups, alien material, and coins to collect. As you play your guns will change, all power-ups are time-based so it’s a short burst of action but it still looks pretty cool. The game plays well but it does have a few niggling issues, the alleyway sections move fast and have a load of obstacles that don’t look like obstacles, and the fact that it’s uneventful really and serves no purpose. The wave-based shooting is fine but it does drag with enemies generally staying still waiting to be killed. You don’t get any variety and it all just feels a bit flat. I had fun but like the power-ups you collect, it was in short bursts and it never really grabbed me.

Jim Smale

Gaming since the Atari 2600, I enjoy the weirdness in games counting Densha De Go and RC De Go as my favourite titles of all time. I prefer gaming of old where buying games from a shop was a thing, Being social in person was a thing. Join me as I attempt to adapt to this new digital age!