Godstrike review – Putting the ‘hell’ in bullet hell

Boss battles have lengthy been generally known as a tipping level the place recreation can genuinely flip-flop between being good or dangerous. A very good recreation will be elevated to the pantheon of instantaneous traditional if these key encounters are dealt with properly. Sadly, the alternative can also be true. However what about video games which are solely fabricated from boss skirmishes? The newly launched Godstrike addresses this query head on — in a means that solely a shoot ’em up actually can.

In Godstrike, you play the position of a mystical being named Talaal. She is tasked with getting rid of a handful of her household, who additionally simply so occur to be deities — and also you’re primarily alongside for the journey. What this finally boils all the way down to is a collection of a few of the hardest boss battles I’ve ever performed in a shmup. It was brutal, unforgiving, and downright nasty to grind by way of, all of the whereas preserving me always on my toes.

Sudden surprises

I’ll personally cop to this expertise being nothing like what I used to be anticipating. Getting into, I used to be searching for lengthy, sprawling, side-scrolling phases, chock filled with enemies to dispatch. As an alternative, Godstrike is singularly centered on boss battles. It’s primarily a boss rush, considerably within the vein as one thing like Furi. Although forgoing the normal shmup components is a bit atypical, when every boss has three to 4 evolutions per encounter, there may be nonetheless loads of motion to sink your enamel into.

What helps set Godstrike other than the competitors is its distinctive well being system. It hinges on the efficient use of time, versus the usual devoted well being bar. Initially, you’ve a bar that tops out at roughly 4 minutes and 40 seconds. Because of this when you managed to keep away from being struck by any enemy projectiles, you’d have simply shy of 5 minutes to dispatch the adversary. As soon as the time expires, you’re all the way down to the final hit. At that time, all it takes is a minor scratch to ship you flying into the afterlife.

As I discussed earlier, this timer additionally acts as a well being bar of kinds. Each time you are taking harm, 10 to fifteen seconds are ticked off of the timer. Contemplating that there isn’t a strategy to restore time throughout a skirmish, it turns into insanely vital to keep away from projectiles in any respect prices. And belief me after I say you’ll be doing a ton of bobbing and weaving. This recreation places the “hell” in “bullet hell.”

Earlier than every battle, there’s a chance to tweak your loadout to equip as much as 4 distinctive weapons. Each armament that’s outfitted decreases the period of time on the clock. Every of the assaults are mapped to the 2 bumper and set off buttons, respectively. It introduces a really attention-grabbing give and take, the place it’s vital to find out if the advantage of a selected weapon overcomes the hurdle of getting much less time to finish encounters. Moreover, there are additionally passive talents equivalent to harm depleting much less day off the clock, reflecting photographs at adversaries, or quicker motion. Thankfully, activating these passive talents don’t eat away on the clock in the identical method as weapons.

Let’s get able to rumble

Every match begins with the patented “Borderlands Boss Shot,” adopted by a regular boss battle. Regardless of all the things feeling quite “paint by the numbers” so far as shmup boss encounters go, there may be one factor that units Godstrike aside: It’s actually fucking exhausting. To place it into perspective, it took me over an hour and not less than a dozen makes an attempt simply to finish the goddamn tutorial. The freaking tutorial! I genuinely want that was a joke, nevertheless it’s the sincere fact.

These all-out assaults are genuinely tough to overcome. I’ll brazenly admit to not being the most effective at shmups on the entire, but these battles had been legitimately embarrassing me. The issue was, it by no means actually felt like I used to be being outsmarted by a boss as a lot because it was the enemy successful by way of sheer attrition. Every boss would simply wait out the clock earlier than swooping in for the kill.

One main beef that I had was with the core design of the sport. Gameplay revolves round the way in which weapons and perks unlock within the story mode. As an alternative of feeding this stuff when the participant was struggling, they had been as a substitute withheld and saved as rewards for clearing a stage. The issue was, when you didn’t really feel like the brand new objects had been useful, all of a sudden you would get caught in a shedding rut that feels inconceivable to beat.

A number of ranges of frustrations obtained compounded after shedding spherical after spherical. If I had simply given up then and there, I might’ve had a horrible notion of the sport. Nonetheless, all it takes is that one time the place the celebrities align and also you lastly defeat your adversary. And all was forgiven. It feels that good to win.

Bringing the ache

Whereas progressing by way of the usual narrative, the story is instructed by way of a collection of pre-match dialog dumps. When you’re searching for a gripping story with deep lore, it might be finest to look elsewhere. Positive, there’s a storyline of kinds, however with out the help of cutscenes to assist develop the plot, nearly all of the narrative falls a bit flat. However let’s simply be sincere right here, when you’re taking part in Godstrike for the exposition, you’re doing shmups improper.

Even if you’re good at shooters, I’ve the sneaking suspicion that Godstrike offers you suits. That mentioned, when you’re in a position to blow by way of the marketing campaign with out shedding any matches, the whole runtime would clock in at beneath an hour. Whereas this sounds extraordinarily temporary, let it’s identified that almost all gamers are seemingly going to take for much longer to conclude the storyline. Thankfully, that is additionally buffered by the problem and area modes. These are simply marketing campaign phases with the problem turned up, however there are as much as 10 extra weapons and passive talents at your disposal.

Regardless of the gameplay being insanely tough, there may be a lot to love about Godstrike. The gorgeous presentation, hectic motion, and total lack of regret might be one thing you’ll both love or hate. Because of this, it’s exhausting to fully advocate, except you’re a little bit of a masochist. If brutality is your bag, this would be the type of expertise you received’t wish to miss.