Tag: shooter

Review: Space Marshals 2 – If The Hat Fits, Wear It

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I’ve been sitting here for way too long trying to think of the perfect, hat-related subtitle for this review, because it’s the little details that are important. The bow around the gift, if you will. It’s a philosophy that studio Pixelbite seems to have taken with the development of Space Marshals 2, as it has a lot of those little details, the sorts of things that make a good game great.

Take hats for example. The hidden, collectible hats in Pixelbite’s shooter don’t add +1 attack, or +3 dexterity or anything of the sort, they’re purely cosmetic. But damn me if I didn’t have a small, quiet celebration every time I discovered a new one. And I bet you I smiled every single time.

Mission accomplished Pixelbite.

Hit page 2 to read on and find out what makes Space Marshals 2 a great fit for your Apple TV.

Early Impressions: Space Marshals 2 – Go Ahead, Make My Day

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With Space Marshals 2, Pixelbite has doubled its tally of twin-stick shooters available on Apple TV. The developer jumped on the new platform all the way back in late 2015, porting iOS shooter Xenowerk over to Apple’s digital-only console. The Space Marshals series then snuck onto the platform last week, making for a very welcome surprise going into the weekend.

Having jumped in and completed the first three missions of Pixelbite’s Sci-Fi Western, now seems like a good time to leave some very early impressions.

Be warned though, this story contains Space Pirates, and collectible hats.

Hit page 2 for more.

Review: Xenowerk – Did Someone Move the Furniture?

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With the release of Space Marshals 2 on Apple TV at the end of last week, now seems like a great  time to take a look back at developer Pixelbite’s other ATV shooter – Xenowerk.

As a gamer, after setting up my shiny new fourth generation Apple TV in late 2015, the first thing I did was to scour the ATV’s App Store for games to play. At the time pickings were slim on the brand new platform, and Xenowerk stood out as an easy choice.

Subdivision Infinity – Because Everyone Dreams of Endless Subdivision


Update: Subdivision Infinity is out now and you can read our full review here.

Original Story: Subdivision Infinity sounds more like maths homework than a 3D space shooter. Nonetheless, a 3D space shooter it is, and a very nice looking one at that. This is the third in a trio of games that I learned recently are headed to Apple TV.

The first – Morphite, which I wrote about here – is a game I’ve been following for a while, as it’s looking like a great way to kill some time on mobile. But when I discovered it’s on its way to ATV, my interest skyrocketed. It’s definitely looking like a fully-featured sci-fi adventure that deserves the big screen console treatment.

The second is Moon Raider, which I posted about on Sunday. I’m a sucker for a decent pixel art 2D action platformer, and what I’ve seen so far looks promising. Also, the studio behind Moon Raider – Retro Phones Games – is a team with a great track record in that genre.

And that brings us back to the third game in the trio – Subdivision Infinity.

From this demonstration in which Josh Presseisen showed upcoming games to toucharcade.com at GDC 2017, all the information I’ve gleaned is that Subdivision Infinity is more action and mission-based, as opposed to the more RPG-styled gameplay of Stellar Wanderer which released a couple of weeks ago.

As you can see from the footage below, the graphics look impressive enough, and it’ll be interesting to line up Apple TV’s main trio of 3D space shooters – Galaxy on Fire: Manticore Rising, Stellar Wanderer, and Subdivision Infinity – and see how their gameplay stacks up against one other.

Either way, the more the merrier, and as more information comes to hand, it’ll be posted right here

Review: Xenoraid – A Quadruple Vertical with a Twist

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It’s encouraging to see big-budget, cutting edge releases such as Horizon Zero Dawn trying to bleed every last drop of power from our latest console hardware. These sorts of triple A releases validate the spending of our hard-earned, and fulfil our hopes of seeing graphics and gameplay we’ve only ever fantasised about. It’s the ride we bought the ticket for.

It’s equally as encouraging however, to see desire – and sometimes even success – still finding room for the old genres many of us grew up with: new 2D fighters are still being released, pixel art platformers, top-down RPGs, side-scrolling shooters, and more. They refuse to fade away, and are being embraced by new gamers much the same as music lovers don’t all of a sudden stop listening to the standards just because they’re old.

One of the oldest gaming genres – the vertical shooter – has also made its way through the decades intact. While developer 10tons may not have reinvented the wheel with Xenoraid, the excellent new spin the studio has added, coupled with it’s tight gameplay execution, has resulted in a vertical shooter that is at once recognisable in its genre, and refreshing for its newness.

Hit page 2 for a closer look at why you should pony up and start shooting stuff.

New Release: Xenoraid Made it to Apple TV Today – Early Impressions

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Last month after reaching out to developer 10tons, I received word that its vertical shooter Xenoraid “should make it to Apple TV.” Well today it did.

Today has been a good news day for space shooters on Apple TV, with 3D space epic Stellar Wanderer being announced for release next week, and side-scrolling shooter Toon Shooters 2 getting a massive 2.0 update on March 2nd.

I’ve just spent a short half hour with Xenoraid and I can say at this early stage that things look very promising. It’s been available since November 2016 on PS4, and certainly carries that PlayStation Plus factor that I talked about last week, being a smaller indie title that brings some innovative gameplay twists to a well known genre.

Players are able to navigate everywhere across the entire screen, and swap out different ships with varying weapon configurations when needed, depending on damage taken or the types of enemies present. This looks like it will add a nice element of strategy and variety as difficulty increases in later levels, coupled with the fact that ships and weapons can be upgraded as well. Tapping your various ships in and out is a great new twist to a very old genre and spices things up nicely.

You can download Xenoraid for free which gives you a trial version with some missions and ships, with a small price to unlock the full game. And that’s exactly what I’m about to go and do so I can sink my teeth into it, and post a longer review in the not too distant future.

Enjoy!