Resogun is one of the coolest shooters I’ve ever played. It’s a visual marvel with addicting gameplay and backed up by some great music. Once I start playing I find it hard to stop. Around the time of launch Resogun was free for PlayStation Plus players and I never jumped on it. I was stupid. I finally got around to getting it and I’m glad I did.
Resogun is a voxel-based, side-scrolling, cylindrical shooter. You pilot a ship through five levels trying to save humans all while killing baddies and trying to dodge enemy fire. The gameplay is somewhat similar to the oldschool classic, Defender, with your main objective being to save the humans. Instead of flying back and forth saving humans, the humans in Resogun are trapped in chambers and must be rescued. How they got there, I have no idea. To free the humans you must kill the keepers causing a green beam to race towards the chamber and break it, freeing the human. You must then pick up the human and bring it to a safety point. Successfully saving a human will reward you with upgrades, bombs, shields, lives, and points. However, saving the humans is no easy task as they can die rather quickly. If you fail to kill the keepers in time the humans will die in the chambers, freed humans can be abducted by an enemy, and if you get killed while carrying a human, they die. Failing to rescue humans won’t result in game over but rescuing them does increase your points and the rewards are usually worth your while.
The main mode is arcade and it’s rather short. There’s only five levels to get through with a boss battle at the end of each. Each level ramps up the difficulty and towards the end I found myself trying to stay alive more than focusing on saving humans. After completing a level it remains unlocked and if you lose all your lives you can continue from any unlocked level. The gameplay balance feels great and hcontains somewhat of a risk versus reward system. Trying to stay alive may be easier but saving the humans rewards you with better weaponry and more points. Resogun starts you off with three ships to choose from each with their own strengths and weaknesses. A really nice feature is a ship editor allowing you to create your own ships and share with the world. There’s plenty of things to unlock like different humans, concepts, and challenges. Resogun comes complete with stat tracking, online multiplayer, and several modes of play, even more, among other things, if you get the DLC.
Resogun has several modes to keep you busy. Arcade, survival, weekly challenge, protector, demolition, commando, and tons of challenges. Arcade is the standard mode where you progress through each level. Survival has you try to save as many humans as you can with only one life. The weekly challenge is a mode with different variables each week. Protector is interesting as you must defend an area against enemies while rescuing humans. The humans you rescue become part of a city that grows with each human. However, sentient invaders can destroy your city’s population. Demolition is my least favorite and in this mode you’re only armed with a bomb and must destroy enemies by launching wrecking balls. Commando is by far the most different mode of all. You play as a human soldier with a humorous Schwarzenegger impression, running along the ground shooting upward, defending a base against meteors and enemies. You can also play through tons of challenges in which you must survive in different scenarios.
What makes Resogun so fun is it’s gameplay. It’s fun and frantic, it controls well, and it’s addictive. You fly with the left stick and shoot either left or right using the right stick. Whatever ship you choose starts off with basic lasers that can be upgraded by collecting weapon drops in the levels. You also have a bomb that obliterates all enemies, an overdrive which is a massive beam that must be charged and can destroy anything in it’s path, and a boost which gives you a boost of speed and during that time your ship is invincible. Enemies and enemy fire will fill the screen and not once did I see the frame rate drop. Killing enemies and saving humans always rewards you with points and there’s even a ranking system in place so the more you play the more you rank up. Although, I didn’t use the ship editor much it’s pretty cool to use and I downloaded some really great and creative designs by other players.
Resogun is a treat for the eyes. The screen will fill with explosions and destruction. Each explosion will cause voxels to fly everywhere. What’s really neat to see is when you blow up an enemy near a building, wall, or ground in the background, the explosion will destroy part of the environment and it looks really cool. If you manage to defeat the boss this will cause the entire level to blow up. You can even use the game’s cool photo mode to pause the gameplay at any time take amazing pictures and upload them to social media. The techno soundtrack has some great beats and really fits the theme of the game. Each level has a different background and theme but they’re not too diverse so after a while it feels as though all the levels kind of blend together.
Resogun is an incredible shooter and was a fantastic launch title on the PlayStation 4. It’s mesmerizing to look at and addicting to play. It plays like a classic shooter with a modern feel and contains enough depth to remain interesting. I wish it had a few more levels but with all modes and DLC, there’s plenty to keep players glued to the controller.