Rogue Flight

[XoPachi]

A promising looking rail shooter. Trailer's awful though. Skip halfway in to get to gameplay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Md08eSKHSw

Initially, I was really worried it was gonna be a rogue lite. But the developer stated a straightforward arcade mode was the primary focus. Rogue modes will be in the game, but as secondary unlocks.
Nice to get something like this.

[ExitPlanetDust]

Yeah, can’t wait for this to come out. There’s a gameplay video on twitter that shows off switching to first person for precise aiming.

https://x.com/famitsu/status/1843773618045759956
https://x.com/PerpGames/status/1844381790682976660

[XoPachi]

That looks like a much smoother take on StarFox Zero's design. I appreciate that in first person your movement halts. It me of Other M's missile switching which, for all that game's faults, that was an interesting concept. I think this works better for an actual rail shooter.

[ExitPlanetDust]

Some YouTube shorts:

Debris dodging
FPV switching

[evil_ash_xero]

I just saw a post on Twitter about this and checked it out. I'll definitely give it a chance.
Very much "up my alley".

[ExitPlanetDust]

I came across this great demo playthrough the other day.

I’ll pick it up if the US gets a disc release. Otherwise I’m going to wait until I need to put in another PA order and I will add the EU PS5 disc version to my lot.

[m.sniffles.esq]

Here's a demo playthrough with the english voice acting

Also, if you're like me and your french is much better than your Japanese (decent vs none) you'll be able to read the control tutorials and onscreen stuff in that video.

Looks very good. I especially am fond of the ricochet animations/sound effects in the boss fight

that said, I'm ready for the trend of a canned wank-rock soundtrack for absolutely every 'action' game to be over.

[evil_ash_xero]

Here's a demo playthrough with the english voice acting

that said, I'm ready for the trend of a canned wank-rock soundtrack for absolutely every 'action' game to be over.

Would you prefer jazz?

[m.sniffles.esq]

Would you prefer jazz?

It depends?

If it's jazz consisting of someone fingertapping a penetonic scale, then no, it wouldn't be preferable.

In other words, it has less to do with general genre and more to do with it being stock, uninteresting, played, and corny.

Edit: and in the off-chance you're weren't just being a wiseass (perhaps even if you were), a couple years ago there was an action game called Ape Out that was in fact scored with jazz, and you'd be hard pressed to find a review that doesn't mention how unique and invigorating the soundtrack is. I'm sure these reviews helped it sell a few more copies than if it was a game about a gorilla punching people scored by a Yngwie Malmsteen wannabe. Just saying.

[XoPachi]

The gameplay is pretty nice. I like how you're really forced to use everything at your disposal. Wish cutscenes could be skipped faster or disabled outright though.

[evil_ash_xero]

Would you prefer jazz?

It depends?

If it's jazz consisting of someone fingertapping a penetonic scale, then no, it wouldn't be preferable.

In other words, it has less to do with general genre and more to do with it being stock, uninteresting, played, and corny.

Edit: and in the off-chance you're weren't just being a wiseass (perhaps even if you were), a couple years ago there was an action game called Ape Out that was in fact scored with jazz, and you'd be hard pressed to find a review that doesn't mention how unique and invigorating the soundtrack is. I'm sure these reviews helped it sell a few more copies than if it was a game about a gorilla punching people scored by a Yngwie Malmsteen wannabe. Just saying.

I was just joking around. I was trying to imagine Afterburner II with "I (All About Me)" by PIzzicato Five as the theme.

[XoPachi]

that said, I'm ready for the trend of a canned wank-rock soundtrack for absolutely every 'action' game to be over.

Yeah this music is lame as Hell. The sound in general is pretty sauceless. I know it's a tired thing to do, but I do compare these games to StarFox 64 a lot and very few match the audio presentation of that game to me. The sounds in a game like that are iconic but this game just sounds really flat and generic. You could put these shooting and destruction sfx in any game with shooting and I wouldn't notice. It's a shame because the game is too cool for that.

[m.sniffles.esq]

The sound in general is pretty sauceless

I do really like the ricochet effects when hitting an invincible section of the boss.

[Lander]

I'd pin tone and mix as the music's biggest issue; the composition is decently for-purpose, but the guitars are too middy to nail the screaming arcs and dives demanded by the visuals
Though, I'm a sucker for anything that resembles TFIV's wailing intro cinema - an art form all of its own, if you get it right.

As for the interesting and new, how about a game scored to a cheesy lyrical radio-musical soundtrack?
You never know, could work out as a neat way to convey story in a shooter without making the player look at text and get shot for it. Whack an instrumental toggle in the options menu for score play, and you're golden.

[m.sniffles.esq]

As for the interesting and new, how about a game scored to a cheesy lyrical radio-musical soundtrack?

When I saw the title, I was like "wait... Is that the Richard Burton?"

Yeah, I guess it is the Richard Burton...

Anyway, even though it's $2 off for two more hours or whatever, I'm holding off now that it's on my radar. I have a feeling it will be less in a few months, and I already have too many games I paid a dollar a minute for (I'm not saying I would definitely play it for 20 minutes, say "that was okay", then never look at it again. But it kind of looks like something with that potential)

Edit: Speaking of soundtracks to rails, my seven-year-old niece was just over and we were playing Air Twister. She fucking LOVES that game and sings along to it

[ExitPlanetDust]

I finally picked up a PS5 disc. A US Amazon seller had a good price and it doesn’t look like this is going to get a physical release outside Europe. It comes with a really thick SNES-style manual.

The game is a lot of fun. So far it’s more Afterburner than StarFox. I do wish there was a bit more environment or stage interaction. As intense as the game can get, at times it can feel like floating in a stationary space while waiting for targets to pop up. More ground hazards or more frequent scripted debris fields would help. Disclaimer: I’ve only played the game for about an hour across 3 or 4 stages.

Scoring is heavily chain-based. I need to play more, but it seems like grinding out maximum upgrades and replaying the game with a fully powered ship will be required for score chasing. I haven’t explored other modes though, so there may be an arcade mode; something more straight forward.

I’m having a lot of fun with it and it’s a great blend of style and substance. The 80s/90s anime aesthetic is doing a lot of lifting, but the gameplay is equally good. Speaking of aesthetic, there are lots of visual unlocks like decals and paint schemes. It’s a damned good scaler shooter.

Regarding complaints about the music, there is an unlockable 16-bit mode that changes the OST to a more punchy MegaDrive/Genesis score with garbled voice samples and flat, sprite-based character portraits.

[ExitPlanetDust]

Last weekend I finally got back to this one and I’ve put in a few hours over the week, basically beating the campaign backwards and forwards on the highest difficulty.

For something that feels akin to a “1CC” I recommend starting a fresh save and diving into the campaign on extreme difficulty. The game branches after a few levels so choose the last option for the longest and most difficult path. Upgrades and pickups feel like linear progression this way, keeping the game challenging without forcing the player to restrict themselves to the starting peashooter and attachments. The true ending can only be obtained through NG+ unfortunately and there are some unique stages for that mode, but there is no way to wipe unlocks. You’ll need restrict or handicap yourself for an additional challenge. Though some of the NG+ stages and layouts can be extremely unforgiving without even minor upgrades. I posted my clean save extreme difficulty playthrough in the non-shmup 1CC thread.

Stage progression is mostly tied to enemies killed with some set pieces representing physical traversal sprinkled throughout. Scoring bonuses are tied to combos, special kills with the drift maneuver, and difficulty setting. Playing for score is loading up the ship with the best weapon and upgrades, setting the difficulty to extreme, and keeping a combo going for the entire stage or as long as possible.

There’s a nice offensive and defensive flow to combat. Killing four enemies quickly in succession will start a combo. Keep killing before the center meter drops to keep the combo going. Starting a combo also slowly refills health. If you can string together 4 kills you can bring yourself back from the brink. Some bosses can even be cheesed by killing enemy waves to top off the health bar while tanking damage for a kill shot. The drift tail slapping mechanic is incredibly satisfying once I figured out how to aim and curve it. Slapping enemies off screen while they try to fly by never gets old. Seeing the screen fill with lens flares and hearing rapid pings go off from wiping out waves of enemies with it makes me giggle. A barrel roll in either direction can be initiated with a slap of either bumper and this can parry enemy shots. It works similar to Star Fox, but without the need to double tap or added directional movement when held.

The only mechanic that I felt was underutilized is missiles. They take too long to reach their target and I felt they were only necessary in a few areas where I was so swarmed I needed a delayed attack to take out a few enemies while I was tail slapping and pew pewing others. Power ups and unlocks aren’t balanced well either. The laser beam weapon is by far the best option, melting bosses and spongier enemies. Some unlocks basically give you endless meter, allowing constant tail slapping drifts, bringing the game to a snail’s pace, filling the screen with bloom and seizure inducing flashes.

Overall it’s a chill rail shooter that gives off heavy 32-bit PSX vibes. The game looks great on any platform while showing enough restraint to appear as a souped up N64 shooter that never was. The anime character designs and the main character’s 3D model are punching above their weight, appearing VERY reminiscent of the Range Murata and Takuhito Kusanagi OVA designs from Blue Bubmarine No 6. Arrow ship is that perfect blind of tech cool and funky cobbled together 90s anime. The music is hit or miss with a few standout tracks like The Badlands theme with its progressing beats and riffs, the great J-Pop styled intro, or the sad theme that plays during one of the bad endings. The aesthetic goes a long way here. I haven’t explored the rogue-like or caravan modes yet, but it’s a shame that the game doesn’t seem to have a true arcade mode where the campaign can be played through with actual clean-slate power up and equipment pickup progression.