Resogun PS4 Review

SAVE THE LAST HUMANS

by Manny Brown
Gaming Review

Highly Recommended
Resogun PS4 Review
MSRP: £11.99
There’s something about the neon-tinged rendering of an arcade classic that seems appropriate for the dawn of new hardware.

It’s a safe bet in many ways. Here’s your new system showcased to the max with eye-bleeding visuals, spectacular particle effects and huge numbers of objects on-screen at once, all of which is accessed via tried-and-tested simplistic gameplay that’s dependable and intuitive. It worked for Geometry Wars and Super Stardust HD, and the same design process has been applied to PS4’s PlayStation Plus freebie Resogun.

Finnish developer Housemarque is again at the helm, and if Super Stardust represented their take on classic Asteroids, then Resogun is undoubtedly Defender.
Resogun
Resogun

Victorious vector

Despite its five levels forming around a cylindrical backdrop of futuristic cityscapes, each of Resogun’s three selectable spacecraft is piloted with the left stick along strict horizontal and vertical axes, with the right analogue stick acting as firing control and shoulder buttons triggering smart bombs and other special weaponry. As with its inspiration, the general aim is to save each of the glowing green humans dotted around the level, all the while racking up points and keeping a score multiplier ticking away in the background. There are no tutorials to speak of, so arcade-style trial-and-error play is necessary to pick up on the subtler mechanics.

Fortunately that’s an extremely enjoyable process. Even without its long-term depth immediately on view, Resogun is an entertaining shoot-em-up that’ll tax those infrequently-used twitch skills. Enemies are warped into the stage in waves, adhering to strict patterns and AI routines that quickly fill your path with a seemingly-unending chain of spacecraft and bullets; a cacophony of neon explosions and thundering bass drives you forward to discover the next treat.

At first, clearing each level is no easy task in itself. Ground-based turrets launch bullets vertically to block your horizontal path, while some enemies will swarm towards your position and others attack in line formations at differing speeds. Special glowing-green “keeper” waves trigger the release or death of a human if you fail to reach their position in time, and it’s that death-defying scramble around the cylinder that provides much of the challenge.
Resogun
Resogun

Up your arsenal

As you progress, the key to reaching your helpless little chums and thundering up the leaderboards depends heavily on deft use of Resogun’s special abilities.

Activating Boost gives your ship invulnerability for a short period and rotates the stage at high velocity, allowing a precious few seconds to ram into troublesome chains of enemies and reach a human or the next wave of enemies before the multiplier ticks away. Bombs can be utilised similarly to clear the stage and extend a combo when that last enemy is beyond reach at normal speed, and the final special attack - a heavy-duty laser called Overdrive - comes into its own when applied for massive amounts of damage during tricky shape-shifting boss encounters.

Resogun

There’s a good learning curve to all those mechanics. Early runs usually manifest in desperate fights to simply get through each stage, while more experienced sessions see enemies mentally switched from obstacles to score fodder, frequently tantalisingly out of reach. Higher level players use the swarming ships to provide a constant supply of points behind them as they clear the areas in front, and if ever there was a game that evoked that zen-like “zone” that Geometry Wars managed to conjure, then this is it. Don’t even bother to pick up the pad if you’re tired.

Outside of singleplayer arcade and completing individual levels, there’s also a co-op mode that allows two players to run through each stage, working with or against each other for high scores. In practice, co-op is a a little underwhelming compared to the addictive qualities of solo score chasing, but between that and PS4’s Twitch streaming, there’s never been a better opportunity to learn from any natural-born Resogun savants residing on your friend list.

Conclusion

Human saved

  • Beautiful visuals
  • Addictive gameplay
  • Fast-paced action
  • Excellent learning curve

Human lost

  • Only five stages
  • Co-op mode is a little flat

Resogun PS4 Review

In practice, Resogun plays beautifully when all its pieces come together, with only a few minor grumbles to note over the sheer density of on-screen information that needs to be parsed at any given time. The five stages could maybe have done with a little more visual variety in terms of backdrop and colour scheme, but that’d be DLC or a sequel I’d happily shell out for. What’s here is excellently rendered, plays brilliantly and contains enough replay value to justify the £11 price tag.

As a showpiece for the PS4 and a hook into the value-ridden world of PlayStation Plus then, Resogun does everything it needed to. It’s a title that generates a much-needed leaderboard buzz that’ll keep old-school shooter fans coming back during those early months when larger titles are lean on the ground, and it’s a visual and aural spectacle that pushes its voxels and particles to heights of screen-bursting neon not easily seen elsewhere.

Scores

Gameplay

.
.
8

Graphics

.
9

Audio

.
.
8

Single Player

.
9

Multiplayer

.
.
.
.
6

Longevity

.
.
8

Overall

.
.
8
8
AVForumsSCORE
OUT OF
10

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