Products You May Like
From Eastasiasoft, purveyors of little games with easy achievements, comes a game that is not only relatively lengthy, but actually makes you work for the achievements that are up for grabs! I know, shocking, right?
The game in question is Flightpath: Adventures in Venaris, billed as a story based shooter, which is in itself another departure for the genre. So, let’s blast off to a universe where bunnies can be heroes, mice can be gangsters, and we fly a heavily armoured spaceship into battle. Just a regular Friday night.
A shoot ‘em up with a storyline is a rare beast indeed, but here it does actually make a difference to the way Flightpath: Adventures in Venaris plays out. Basically, the Venaris of the title is a small planetary system which is run by a shadowy criminal organisation known only as the Syndicate. The Syndicate have been used to getting their own way, taking whatever they fancy. But now three heroes have decided to step up and take them on, head to head. In a nice touch, the different pilots all have slightly different storylines, seeing the same events from a different viewpoint, and this does help with longevity. All in all, having a story to follow in a SHMUP is a great idea, and I’d like to see more of this please.
Presentation of the game is also pretty good. The graphics aren’t massively taxing for a machine with the power of the Series X I played it on, but everything moves at a good pace and there is no sign of slowdown. Flightpath: Adventures in Venaris plays out as a vertically scrolling, top down shooter, and the ships of the enemies, and the NPCs we meet are all nicely designed. Everything is nice and shiny, and while the cutscenes are text only affairs, the standard of presentation throughout is nice and high. Sound is also a highlight, with multiple explosions and weapon effects to take in.
But the acid test of any shooter is the actual action in the levels, and here the game continues to shine. One of the main mechanics is the ability to collect currency as you go through the levels, dropped from destroyed enemies. This currency can then be spent on upgrades to your basic ship, turning it into a death dealing whirlwind in fairly short order. The system for upgrades has been very well thought out, and it all begins with the generator that you have on your ship. The generator powers all the offensive systems, and while you can add more weapons than the system can comfortably support, they do then have a nasty habit of going wrong just when you need them.
Speaking of weapons, not only are there multiple categories of weapons available, all taking differing amounts of power and costing many credits, there are also a variety of places to mount them. You can have weapons firing from the front, the sides, the rear and more, and while it may sound daft, having a weapon firing backwards is a great idea; the enemies can and will come at you from any direction. Putting in things like homing missiles helps with this, and whatever you choose, you will soon be blowing enemies into the middle of next week. There are also secondary weapons to choose and buy, acting like the classic smart bombs, destroying all the bullets on the screen in addition to damaging the foes around you.
It’s not all about the offence though, as defence also gets a look in. You can buy and equip new armour for the ship, and also shields that can stop bullets getting to you. If your shield is depleted, then the ship takes damage; if you avoid being hit for a while, the shield will recharge. You can also pick up items to heal the shield, so keep your eyes peeled as you go through the levels.
Every level does have a shop in it, run by a friendly mouse. Here you can swap the loadout and repair any damage to the ship, assuming you have the credits. Tailoring the loadout to the level is quite an absorbing way of passing the time.
Another nice touch with Flightpath: Adventures in Venaris is that when you are defeated and your ship is wrecked, the shop mouse will ask you to complete a mission in a loaner spaceship. Should you manage this, your main ship is returned to full health for free; however, should you fail that mission too, you have to pay to have the ship repaired. Seems fair enough, right? These side missions vary in their content, from merely collecting crates to trying to escort the mouse as he flies about – this is one of the harder ones, as he has a complete death wish and goes headlong into every bullet he can see.
It means that Flightpath: Adventures in Venaris is one of the better shoot ‘em ups available on Xbox. The strong narrative, the experimentation with loadouts, the all-out blasting action – they’ll all allow you to have a lot of fun.