6/10

If you want a platformer mixed with a twin-stick shooter, then you may want to give Featherpunk Prime a try. It has a silly premise but since there's a lack of any real story, that doesn't matter. What does matter is that the shooting feels rather satisfying, even if the default control scheme is weird -- not Star Fox Zero weird, but strange nevertheless. It doesn't add a lot to the genre, but you carry two guns and blast everything you can in order to get points to upgrade things like firepower, health, reload speed, etc.

When you first die, you realize that it has roguelike elements in the sense that once you're dead, you have to start over. Luckily, every 6 stages there is a checkpoint so you don't actually have to begin anew once you reach those points. Some people really dig roguelikes--I think they're overdone in the indie community and has lessened my enthusiasm for a few games--but it wouldn't work here.

The main reason for that is because despite the randomization of the levels, they're pretty much the same outside of palette/colour switching. You'll notice very quickly that while technically each attempt is fresh, they just reuse certain sections and put them in different spots. That's fine for a small team and is surely a decent way to get around certain roadblocks, but it also leads to a lot of repetitiveness as you explore similar areas.

The same can be said for the guns. If you're anything like me, you just find a combo that works and then use that, despite the game giving you a chance to switch out at the beginning of every stage. DPS doesn't appear to change a whole lot, so it came down to my own personal desires... and that took away some of the excitement in itself.

Then you reach the boss battles and those are actually pretty fun. Coming across as bullet sponges at first, they do get significantly more difficult and alter their attacks to keep you on your feet. I really have no issues whatsoever with how they function, and it's easily the highlight of the game.

So Featherpunk Prime isn't an outstanding game, and it does get tedious a little too quickly for my taste, but it's still a bit of fun if you're in the mood for a decent mixture of genres.