#coxcon

Just Shapes & Beats

Developer: Berserk Studio Publisher: Berserk Studio Rrp: £15.49 (Steam) Released: 31st May 2018 Available on: Steam I had the opportunity to play this while attending this years Coxcon as a stall holder. You could hear the music from the other side of the hall. It was only a demo copy but I played that game every opportunity I got during the course of the weekend. I knew this was a game I had to own when I found that the music wasn't irritating even after a entire weekend of it. Just Shapes & Beats is a rhythmic bullet hell and a damned good one too. The rules of the game are simple yet very effective, avoid the pink. Of course the screen gets very full of pink quite quickly, thankfully you have a dash ability that makes you impervious for the time of the short dash.

You can take several hits before your avatar dies, in that event the level rewinds to the most recent check point (except in boss battles where it goes right to the start of the track). However you also only get three tries before the level ends entirely forcing you to start all over again. The soundtrack to this game is very good, boasting some quite well known names in the video game world; Big Giant Circles, Sabrepulse and Bossfight to name a few. In fact I was so impressed with the games music that I bought the game and its soundtrack as soon as I was home.

Riptale

Developer: Super God Publisher: Super God Rrp: £4.79 (Steam) £4.99 (Humblebundle) Released: 27th April 2017 Available on: Steam and Humblebundle Played Using: An Xbox 360 Control Pad I met one of the developers of Riptale while running my stall at Coxcon this year. My first thoughts were 'Oh, another 2D side-scroller with minimalist graphics. Cool.' But I was wrong, well maybe not about the minimalist graphic style, but this game is no mere 2D side-scroller... For starters its an actual honest to goodness roguelike something that has become quite uncommon of late, a fact I find strangely refreshing. In fact it was so refreshing that I actually used my phone to buy the game right after getting a hands on play of it. As I said in the beginning paragraph this game is a 2D side-scroller, with a minimalist graphical style. Its also a very challenging hack and slash style game.

When I say very challenging, I mean extremely so. It takes quite a bit of practice and patience to get to the first boss let alone defeat it. Notice I said patience, yes, while this is a game of fast reactions its also not one where you should just rush in. Its also a game that requires timing to do well in, you could button mash but it will likely just get you killed. The number of attacks you can perform is represented by three gems that are at the top of the screen. When you attack it uses up a gem which recharges after a short period of time. You can change the type of attack you perform by buying gems from the shops that occasionally appear and replacing an attack.

Most enemies in this game die within a single attack, making getting combo's very easy, it also helps that when you make a successful kill the game slows for a short period allowing you to target another enemy and chain your kills. These killed enemies will sometimes drop coins (which you spend in the shop) or health. Enemies aren't the only thing that drops coins and health though, destructible objects will also drop them on occasion, although sometimes there might be an enemy inside as well. One of the things that makes this game interesting is that your attacks aren't just for the combat. Nope, their also designed to allow your character to cross large distances and gaps, using them still depletes a gem but since they regenerate its generally not an issue.

The controls are very snappy, feeling very accurate and precise. If the game had had controls that had a delay on them or weren't as tight it would have made the game nigh on impossible. As it stands they're a joy to use and easy to understand. The levels are somewhat procedurally generated so no run is quite the same as the one before it. Why did I say somewhat? Well, because in some playthroughs I recognise the rooms and their general layout, I just didn't know where the enemies were, what loot there was, where the exit was or what the next room was. Perhaps it would be better to called that seeded procedural generation, the basic shape of the rooms remaining the same but the contents of the rooms and the order in which they appear in being different. Of course with procedural generation comes the classic pitfall, there's no guarantee of finding what you want on a run. I've had runs where I didn't see a shop until after the first boss.

Not every room is filled with enemies and loot, rooms that expand upon the lore, the aforementioned shops, challenge rooms and shrines. Shrines are an interesting feature and one I recommend more experienced players make use of. The shrines bestow benefits but at a price, like you can have double the number of attacks but your maximum health is halved. Challenge rooms unsurprisingly give you the chance to complete a task. Doing so unlocks a trinket which sadly has no effect of the game at all, its just a collectible. No game is perfect however and this game comes with its own set of flaws, for me there are three main bugbears that I have;

1. As great as it is to be able to kill multiple enemies in one quick run (and truly you do feel something of a badass afterward) I wish getting combos with your attacks had some mechanical effect.

2. The various collectibles and unlocks currently serve no purpose other than to be collected, which I think is a bit of a let down considering the lengths you have to go through to get some of them.

3. It's minor niggle but the developers have left the mouse cursor on screen. It's nothing much but it can be a distraction and its a relatively easy fix.

For the price I honestly can't think of a reason to not give it a try, its a lot of fun and there's something satisfying about clearing a room. I wish I could speak on the story but that’s near impossible to do as they stories segments are scattered and in many cases don't seem to fit at all. If this appeals to you perhaps try;