Recent reviews by Quebec Dragon

Flashing lights are crazy exagerated in this shoot 'em up, probably dangerous if you're the least bit photosensitive, but also dazzling to look at. Basic graphics with big pixels like Space Invaders but more colorful with bright rainbow colors. Looks like fireworks sometimes. Appropriate techno party music pumps up the excitement. No problem with gamepad controls although it's annoying when the enemies faster than yourself crash into you and when some shots just can't be dodged in the later levels. Level 22 is near impossible. It was even acknowledged by the developer as way too hard and poorly balanced in the Steam discussions. Poorly balanced for many levels even. Not recommended because of the flashing lights and difficulty peaks. Not worth the risk for one to two hours of playtime. That being written, I managed to beat level mode at normal difficulty.

Get the 2025 Syder Reloaded instead which is basically the same game but improved and at a minimal price difference. Gorgeous graphics, some of the best I've seen in a shoot 'em up, but lacking in variety. The "original" feature is being able to flip your ship and fly right or left, like the old Defender game. Unfortunately, the color choices, backgrounds and explosions hurt readability of enemy bullets, especially in level 3 with the sun. Controls well, but no d-pad. Bosses are mostly weak in terms of design, especially the last one with those annoying rotating rings. Story seems like a wasted opportunity and you wish there had been more. Too few levels, two of them being protection in a small area, and not enough content, but replayable with 4 different ships. Campaign should last around 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on difficulty. Please remove 6.5 hours of my playtime as this was for idling cards long ago. I loved the techno music. This was a borderline recommendation before seeing there was that newer version.

Boss rush shoot 'em up that was obviously a mobile port. It's not real levels per se, but only confrontations against one or two or three bosses. Up to level 12, it was always the four same bosses with different colors and combinations. It got repetitive and tedious real fast. Your phoenix constantly shoots, you just have to move it around. You can't even activate the charging special attack when you want, so you end up missing because you couldn't aim. Mouse control didn't feel quite right, a bit floaty, and the default Windows mouse cursor always appeared overhead, but gamepad control was acceptable. Also one hit and you died. The store page description defended that, but I think that's frustrating crap to lenghten the duration of a crappy game. The only thing going for Phoenix Force is the very cheap price, but I wouldn't even pay that much.

Fun beat 'em up with a few extras you don't usually see in that genre. First, the characters are 3d rendered instead of the usual 2d pixel art of the Double Dragon series. I found it refreshing and I also liked the exagerated animations. I appreciated the colors of the clothes and skins constantly changing giving extra variety to the enemies. The 2d backgrounds are more of a mixed bag with some possibly not liking the sci-fi trappings. I did. There are mix tape collectibles that drop and those serve to upgrade 10 special attacks and 10 stances, as well as your stats. You can select one of each. Each one has a great little jingle, an highlight. The upgrades improve your character, give a lot of variety and increase replayability.

The game controls very well with both analog stick and d-pad. A dodge button that doubles damage after success is a nice addition, but you don't really need it to win. In general, it feels responsive and good when you fight. The soundtrack is very good and it even has great 80s-sounding pop tracks with a talented female singer . There's online coop, instead of the usual local coop mode. It worked very well except for the last boss where it was lagging. Finally, there's a subtle, campy humor throughout, especially noticeable with the main villain. That end credit sequence was unexpected and hilarious.

Terrible game that feels like some sort of scam. Why a review? Because of the misleading very positive user reviews. It's more "avoid the shapes" darker than rest than actual shoot 'em up. You can easily die very quickly due to high difficulty. If you're really good, you might survive a few minutes. Extremely limited content. Ridiculous regular price, especially at $29.99 US, although sometimes it was $4.99. Even if it was one buck, it would be too much for what you get. Very bad graphics with no animations, not even death explosions. No leaderboards so the score is pointless. Only playable with mouse, not gamepad. Avoid.

Old-school shooter from 2002 with unique claymation look. Very simple models but always interesting to observe. Limited variety of small enemies. Gamepad support is iffy depending on your controller, but weirdly, this was originally made to be controlled with a mouse, and it controls much better that way. I was stuck on level 3 with gamepad but ploughed through with the mouse. I could also pick up the fruits (why fruits?) sometimes popping up from enemy ships more easily and even found it fun instead of frustrating. Great energetic electronic music that sometimes reminded me of the old indie demoscene (think Future Crew). The game is challenging, even at easy, but not bullet hell which was refreshing. One hit by a projectile or vehicle kills you, but you have lives and credits (continues), and can proceed from where you are until game over. Limited continues but thankfully once you beat a level, you can always start from the next one. Be aware that a more expensive remake exists called Platypus Reclayed and that it even includes the original, this game.

Pretty good for that limited type of arcade shooter game. It was a mobile game originally and it shows in several ways. But for gameplay, think arcade light gun game without the plastic gun, mouse control instead, and with some quick running/jumping between shooting points. Limited roster of very simple looking enemies with almost no faces and no animations, yet I didn't grow tired of them. I liked that you could stay in cover as long as you wanted. Lots of achievements but would require quite some time to unlock. Only had 10 after a complete walkthrough. I've read reports that this was was free on mobile phones.

Very good shoot 'em up in the classic retro style instead of the more modern "bullet hell" style. In fact, it feels like a throwback to Gradius. Don't get me wrong, there can still be a lot of bullets, but it's limited most of the time. That being said, I still suggest playing at Rookie difficulty with three hits instead of just one at Pilot difficulty to avoid frustration. The game looks nice. Pixelated but in high resolution, detailed and not blurry, unless you enable the CRT monitor effect. Lots of levels with branching paths, even optional more difficult ones. About a half dozen different options for each of the three ship systems, but they're unlocked gradually and don't feel overwhelming.

The game controls very well with both d-pad and analog stick. Remote play together coop works well, even with Steam Deck. The only minor criticism would be that the power-up improvements of the weapons inside the level are not visible until they're at maximum. Finished in coop in around 4 hours, having to replay the longer last level many times. Probably much longer in singleplayer and/or at Pilot difficulty (one hit). If you have speed issues, set your monitor's refresh rate at 60. Super Hydorah is a satisfying and complete shoot 'em up package.

Bad and clunky beat 'em up with somewhat decent graphics, but that's the only positive. Cannot reconfigure controls and the default is not standard. Broken English in the intros. Moving around feels janky. Hit detection is all over the place. Those darn ninjas always hit me even though I hit first. I'm thinking they're not staggered and unable to attack you when hit as in every other beat 'em up. My workaround was to jump around like a crazy tick and attack once they had done their attack. Upgrade system is very lame and underwhelming. Doesn't seem to really make you stronger either. You cannot even properly quit the game as there is no option to do so in the menu. I had to do alt-F4. Buggy as hell too. Reached the end of level 3 with the guy. The order of the levels is different whether you pick the man or woman as your character. Do not get this even at 90% off.

One of the worst shoot 'em ups out there in terms of features and value. No story at all. No difficulty levels. No options besides reassigning buttons. No way to put this in full screen unless you double-click the window (not mentioned in game or on store page). Only one type of attack with no upgrades, although the other girls you unlock after beating them have a different one. Only one model of enemy, besides the girl bosses, in different colors and sizes. Always the same background with colored pixels moving. No continue after losing all lives. But the levels are so short, the game would be over in less than 12 minutes if there was. That is, if the bullet hell patterns didn't start becoming ridiculous around level 3. To be fair, the game controls well and the chiptune music is okay. Avoid this even if the very positive user rating might fool you into thinking this was worth it.