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Way back in the mists of time, there was a great little console called the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, or SNES for short. Of course, being a teenager at Uni, we named it the Sneeze and I spent all of my student loan in the Virgin Megastore buying games for it. A lot of my favourites seemed to come from Konami – Pop n’ Twinbee, Parodious, Contra III – all Konami.
Well, they are back now, publishing a game from a three man studio in Scotland called KeelWorks. That game? That would be CYGNI: All Guns Blazing; a shoot ‘em up. So, can KeelWorks and Konami come together and capture some of the magic from back in the day?
The first thing I have to focus on with CYGNI are the visuals, as they are absolutely gorgeous. There is a real sense of depth to the stages that we fly over, and this is reflected in the combat – more about that later on. Bosses and enemies rear up from the ground to face you in the sky, and it all looks great. There is a fantastic sensation of speed and danger, as this game definitely puts the “hell” in “bullet hell”. In fact, the sheer amount of enemies and bullets on the screen at once is breathtaking, and when you pipe in the music score, which is very good indeed, and the usual boombastic explosions and shooting noises, it really is a lot to take in. But in a good way! There is nothing to complain about with the visuals or sound of this game, and it will leave you reeling when you get to the later stages, believe me.
So, story then. Is there one, or is it the usual case of baddies plus bullets equals game? Well, no, as there has been an attempt made at telling a story, so here we go.
CYGNI is a planet, and the first people to visit it found the remains of an alien race. Or rather, the machines they left behind. And of course, humans being humans, they were soon stripping these machines in an attempt to understand how they work and then to make use of the bits they figured out. While this was happening, it appears that the machines that were being stripped were not as dead as was first thought, and when they awoke, they proceeded to destroy the majority of the humans on the planet. We are “one of the last pilots, on one of the last carriers” and so I guess it’s up to us to put these biomechanical bad guys back to sleep, isn’t it?
Having played a lot of vertically scrolling shooters in my time, it is rare for me to find something new in a shooter, but without too many spoilers, I found it here with CYGNI: All Guns Blazing. I will pause at this point and recommend that you play the tutorial, rather than diving straight in like I did, as the systems at play are pretty complex.
The first new bit that I enjoyed was the ability to shoot enemies on the ground – by pulling LT instead of RT, you can fire a laser at the ground based enemies that you can see scurrying about below you. And while you’re doing this, they are firing at you, so it’s totally fair! You can’t fire at the ground and at aerial targets at the same time, so choosing when to use which firing method becomes vital – otherwise you’ll be shot to pieces by the one you aren’t currently killing. Clear so far?
Another element of CYGNI that excels is the shield/firepower balancing act that you have to perform. As you kill waves of enemies, as per usual, there are items that you can collect. These things can be used to power up your shield, ensuring you are able to take more hits, or they can be used to power up your arsenal of weapons – but not both. Being able to take more hits is useless if the enemy is only tickled by your weapons, after all, and again the whole risk and reward mechanic here is very good indeed.
Each level is distinct, with different enemies and backdrops to take in. Further, the end of level bosses are nothing short of spectacular, arising from the earth in order to try and ruin your whole day.
Everything is awesome, except for one thing – CYGNI is flipping hard! Someone needs to take KeelWorks a dictionary and show them the meaning of “Easy”, as even on this level, the game isn’t. After around four levels, I had run out of talent, but luckily there is also a way to upgrade your ship using some of those items you collected in the levels – and this comes as a real relief.
All in all, CYGNI: All Guns Blazing is a cracking game, complete with outstanding graphics and a proper challenge. This is one of the best shoot ‘em ups you’ll have played in recent years.