#twin stick

RIVE Review

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by Omar ( @siegarettes )

  • RIVE
  • Developer- Two Tribes
  • Publisher- Two Tribes Publishing
  • PS4, PC, Xbox One, Wii U

RIVE is a bit of anachronism in 2016. Despite the current popularity and developments of the twin-stick shooter, RIVE feels like a game from the heyday of Xbox Live Arcade. Between the gruff, blue collar characterization of the protagonist, constant reference to retro arcade games, and fourth wall breaks, RIVE is particularly enamored with an idea of a retro throwback in a way that now feels like a throwback itself.

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Death Ray Manta is the star child of an arcade legacy fifty fathoms deep

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by Omar (@siegarettes)
Second opinion by Marie (@rlpte)

  • Death Ray Manta
  • by Bagful of Wrong (Rob Fearon)
  • PC (Steam)

Death Ray Manta (hereto referred to as DRM) is a game that undoubtedly owes its existence to at least a handful of 80’s arcade shooters. Its most obvious debts is to Eugene Darvis’ seminal twin stick shooter, Robotron 2084. Its in the designs on the enemies, the obstacles, and their unrelenting onslaught. Enemy placements are consistent from level to level, however, so forward progress becomes a game of slow familiarity and a push for space. It initially threw me off, but I began to appreciate it as I started to acclimatize to the environment it was throwing me into.

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