Astroforce Uchusentai (Android)

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Ixmucane2
Posts: 760
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2009 3:26 pm
Location: stuck at the continue prompt

Astroforce Uchusentai (Android)

Post by Ixmucane2 »

Development threads:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=64764 (at least one or two updates behind the current version)
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=64872 (slightly later)

Short apparently random levels (I'm around level 400 of normal difficulty) of wave after wave of cannon fodder, occasional minibosses, and a rather durable boss at the end of every other level.

The player has two weapons: main, defaulting to a peashooter with 5 power levels and temporarily (about 15 seconds) upgraded to fancy weapons with powerups; secondary, consisting of 2 permanent side options obtained with other powerups that often don't last enough to shoot once because they can be hit.

In addition to a well rounded assortment of main and secondary weapons, pickups include a shield (in practice, one extra life) and special attacks (freeze enemies, swallow a wave with a black hole, indestructible bouncing balls).

There are several ship types, differing by option movement (since the last update; they used to just sit left and right) and by secondary weapons awarded for free when spawning. The special octopus ship replaces the standard frontal peashooter with guided projectiles.

The player can spend points to buy upgrades (new and improved powerups) between levels and to continue. Score is capped at 9999 (about 10 continues, more than enough for any boss).

There are several unbalanced and frustrating (rather than nicely difficult) elements:
  • Power level of weapons is very variable, leading to bimodal gameplay: either the screen is cleared almost instantly with a powerful weapons set (e.g. blaster, 2x torpedo, 2x and main level 5 octopus guided projectiles), keeping around forever some powerful secondary weapons, or the side weapons get hit and you attack slowly with a weak main weapon and no side weapons. Unless most of a wave dies immediately, there is too much enemy fire to dodge with two side weapons; one or both are going to be hit.
  • Bosses last much less with guided main weapons (because they allow steady damage while the player is busy dodging desperately).
  • Bosses and snake-type minibosses often shoot in ways that cannot be dodged
  • The upgrade store is extremely limited relative to the length of the game.
  • The challenge level of levels and bosses is very uneven.
On the positive side, graphics are almost uniformly excellent, making blowing up enemy fleets quite satisfactory.
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