Review scoopings 5/5 · Feb 22, 2022
Excellent Side-Scrolling Shoot Em Up--Classic, But Very Fun
Look: 8/10 Functional, nothing amazing. I barely could pay attention, was too focused on the gameplay ha. That being said, it was particularly functional (e.g., I knew what everything was, etc.) which is nice to see in 1981 ha.
Sound: 7/10 Edit: Oh! I almost forgot sound cuz I was so focused on the game. The sound effects were functional …
Look: 8/10 Functional, nothing amazing. I barely could pay attention, was too focused on the gameplay ha. That being said, it was particularly functional (e.g., I knew what everything was, etc.) which is nice to see in 1981 ha.
Sound: 7/10 Edit: Oh! I almost forgot sound cuz I was so focused on the game. The sound effects were functional and not particularly annoying, plus it was nice to have some actual "music." This could grow from future replays as the music becomes nostalgia heh.
Play: 8/10 At first, I deemed this game too hard for me to really engage with. The next day, I decided to give it another shot (which always says something about the game's feels/attachment). Now, mind you, I basically just spammed both shoot and bomb triggers and dodged as needed (my version of a pro tip for this game heh). And indeed, I got to the 3rd stage doing that ha. This game really did impress me, and I like how you see what stage you're on with an end goal. And I definitely see its influence on so many games I've played on this journey! Wow, and then I decided to give it one more shot with an actual gamepad (PS4 controller) hooked up, to have more of a joystick feel. Tho my fingers/wrist are mad at me right now (I still more or less relied on the spam technique), I made it to the Base! That's by far the furthest I've gotten in any of these early games besides the initial PLATO RPGs and text adventures! I could be wrong, but I don't think any of the action games so far pushed me to go near the end in them. I'm so glad I gave this another go tonight. The navigation part and trying to blow up the fuel tanks to get into some of the tunnels near the end are what did me in heh. Still proud of myself! I broke 16k score-wise, that's probly miserably low for the 5th stage/ending but after all I was just spamming and dodging ha, except maybe soooooome deliberate bomb drops and shoots :-p Especially when changing up priorities in new stages... and when my hand got tired lol. This rating may go up with future plays, but I still have general apprehension toward claiming to "love" the genre etc. We shall see...
Feel: 9/10 The fire balls definitely gave me Mario/Bowser vibes. Loved that. Plus, it was just genuinely fun. Which is really surprising cuz I'm not drinking tonight, have a headache from a frustrating day, and am hungry: I was just trying to get rid of some open tabs on my laptop, and this game's Grouvee page happened to be one of them ha. Glad I gave it another shot.
Attachment: 9/10 Already did replay multiple times, and tentatively adding it to the Favorite Favorites shelf. Not that I see myself returning to this genre regularly, but the fact I kept retrying it says something--and the fact I didn't quite fully finish it means I will have reason to return to it at some point. Yay.