by Amr (@siegarettes)

• Fast Striker 
  
• Developer- NGDEV
  
• Publisher- Eastasiasoft
  
• PS4, PS Vita
  

Originally designed for the Dreamcast and Neo Geo MVS, Fast Striker is a straightforward, almost routine example of a shoot-em-up. At the same time, it displays all the competences of the genre, providing examples of what makes the genre feel good. It works with its limitations to provide good visual feedback and varied styles.

Fast Striker uses pre-rendered CG sprites, similar to Capcom’s Mars Matrix. It gives the game the sense of volume, while keep the advantage of the clear delineation between layers that 2D games can provide.

There are six stages, and each of the three main difficulties provides a different style of play. Novice provides an in for learning bullet patterns and is overall less hectic, arming you with a basic shot and spread variant, with a simplified scoring system. Original replaces the spread shot with high damage missiles that require you to slow down to utilize, as well as more intense formations. Maniac goes full bullet hell, with complex bullet patterns, and the familiar play between a wide spread of bullets and concentrated, high damage laser.

Regardless of the style you play, you’ll have access to a backwards firing weapon.  This allows Fast Striker to use more of the screen. Most vertical scrolling shooters end up playing out in the bottom third of the screen thanks to the way enemy formations operate and the focus on forward weapons. Backwards weapons might not be as powerful in Fast Striker, but they offer a viable way to take out smaller enemies. So you can take out part of a wave with a forward attack, then move forward to anticipate the next wave, while cleaning up any stragglers from the last one. It adds a new wrinkle to a familiar rhythm.

The enemy waves and stage designs themselves are solid. There’s very little in terms of physical obstacles, and their impact is minimized by the removal of the usual collision penalty of instant death. Instead you’ll have to deal with obstacles like timed lasers, forcing you to weave in between beams and bullets at the same time.

To prevent getting tagged by enemies and hazards, you can use an expendable shield, giving you a short frame of invulnerability from bullets and the ability to charge into enemies to cause damage. This is the weakest of Fast Striker’s tools, not lasting long or providing much opportunity for destruction. It essentially serves as a less dramatic form of the traditional screen clearing bomb. All shield stocks are also depleted if you’re hit, preventing death but causing you to lose out on several uses. This at least provides an interesting twist, forcing you to use shields proactively or risk wasting them.

None of these details are out of the ordinary in terms of genre makeup, but together they form a solid game that understands the core appeal of shooters. Explosions and sound effects are satisfying, the art is appealing and clear in communicating danger, and there are just enough twists on the familiar to keep it from feeling totally routine. The scoring system gives incentives to learn the patterns and stage layouts, and the three difficulty modes alter the style so you interact with the same space in different ways. 

It’s simple, well made shooter that’s easy to pick up and run through. A fresh example of what makes an old genre work.