Nex Machina Review – Blowing up the Arcade

<p>Coin-operated arcade titles were all the rage back when the games that Housemarque are inspired by were ever-present&period; While their PS4 launch title <em>Resogun <&sol;em>took cues from the 1981 arcade classic <em>Defender<&sol;em>&comma; and <em>Super Stardust <&sol;em>was a smash hit with its updated take on <em>Robotron&colon; 2084<&sol;em>&comma; their newest game <em>Nex Machina <&sol;em>is one of their best yet&period; Which isn&&num;8217&semi;t saying much due to their overwhelming success with the previously mentioned titles&period; But with Eugene Jarvis on board &lpar;who worked on both <em>Defender <&sol;em>and <em>Robotron&colon; 2084<&sol;em>&rpar;&comma; the snake has eaten its own tail as <em>Nex Machina <&sol;em>takes its cues from <em>Smash TV <&sol;em>&lpar;another Jarvis joint&rpar; and works in familiar elements from <em>Resogun <&sol;em>to create an arcade experience more than worth having in 2017&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Any good arcade title is gameplay first and the story is secondary&comma; if present at all&comma; really&period; <em>Nex Machina <&sol;em>barely has any story&comma; to begin with barring its enemy designs and the game&&num;8217&semi;s mechanics using far more subtle forms of storytelling that this game has very little interest in explaining&period; This lack of attachment to your avatar is key to the game&&num;8217&semi;s design though as you maneuver through swarms of enemies in each area of a stage&comma; dodging bullets&comma; lasers&comma; and bodies until all threats have been neutralized and you can proceed to the next area&period; This is where the <em>Smash TV <&sol;em>formula comes into play&comma; with very little deviance except for the small <em>Resogun <&sol;em>touches like humans to save in each area&period; This includes secret humans&comma; as well as hidden areas&comma; beacons and other objectives to complete that are not detrimental to complete but do offer a better score in the end&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;127057" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-127057" style&equals;"width&colon; 1920px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-127057" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;06&sol;27122923&sol;nex&lowbar;machina&lowbar;screenshot&lowbar;1080p&lowbar;004&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;Nex Machina&comma; Housemarque&rpar;" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-127057" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Nex Machina&comma; Housemarque&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>If you don&&num;8217&semi;t like score attack games&comma; this is not for you&comma; but honestly&comma; neither are any of Housemarque&&num;8217&semi;s titles or most of Jarvis&&num;8217&semi;s works&period; The idea of these two coming together and creating an updated take on a classic title like <em>Smash TV <&sol;em>was titillating just in theory&comma; but seeing how it all works together is even more engrossing&period; Few do visual design better than Housemarque when it comes to arcade-like titles&comma; and <em>Nex Machina <&sol;em>is no exception&period; Enemies explode and the use of pink as a visual cue helps set apart enemy fire from enemy design&period; Unfortunately&comma; there are some cues like lasers that cannot be dodged through that feel like mutations on the pink lasers but lack enough distinction to recognize them immediately&period; These issues only really pop up in the later worlds&comma; which doesn&&num;8217&semi;t take long to get to depending on your skill level&comma; but it also doesn&&num;8217&semi;t appear too frequently when there&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The sound is also a pretty important part of <em>Nex Machina <&sol;em>as you will hear it a lot as you replay stages over and over in Arcade mode&comma; or decide to venture into Arena mode for a tougher challenge&period; It has a cyberpunk vibe to it which meshes well with the aesthetic&period; Everything feels like an updated take on the 80&&num;8217&semi;s versions of the future but with a cleaner sheen to it&period; While the visuals are different enough&comma; the game doesn&&num;8217&semi;t feel like its pushing the envelope in its environment design&comma; creating something that feels like it is getting increasingly more mechanical as the game progresses&period; I mean&comma; you do start off in a jungle and then see the world change as you move forward which is one of the more overt ways the game&&num;8217&semi;s environments tell a story&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;127058" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-127058" style&equals;"width&colon; 1920px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-127058" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;06&sol;27122933&sol;nex&lowbar;machina&lowbar;screenshot&lowbar;1080p&lowbar;006&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;Nex Machina&comma; Housemarque&rpar;" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-127058" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Nex Machina&comma; Housemarque&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>As is the case with Housemarque&&num;8217&semi;s previous efforts&comma; there are a handful of weapon upgrades to pick up and even weapons as well&period; Each time you start the game you have a dash attack that gives you invulnerability from enemy fire but also has a cooldown on it so you can&&num;8217&semi;t keep dashing around&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s an intelligent replacement to the Smartbomb which is in the game but serves a smaller role as one of the secondary weapons you can pick up along with a Laser&comma; Rocket Launcher&comma; and other offensive attacks&period; You&&num;8217&semi;ll need these more when it comes to the bosses of each world than the enemies that precede them&period; Firing off your basic attack will do damage and once you&&num;8217&semi;ve recognized attack patterns the bosses won&&num;8217&semi;t pose much of a threat&comma; but on harder difficulties&comma; you&&num;8217&semi;ll still want that extra help to finish enemies off faster&period; They have significantly less impact than they would in a game from Housemarque&comma; but I think that ties more into the way the game is structured with stages and not a persistent battle in one area for an entire world&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>With several worlds to explore and plenty of replay value purely due to the game&&num;8217&semi;s gameplay being so much fun&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;m hard pressed to find a reason why you wouldn&&num;8217&semi;t want to delve into the world of <em>Nex Machina<&sol;em>&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s made with love for fans of arcade games and bullet hell shooters&comma; though this leans less on the latter until its boss fights&period; I wish the boss fights had a little more variety to them&comma; but instead&comma; they add a lot more bullets for you to dodge than a strategy to implement&period; But that&&num;8217&semi;s one of a few faults in a game that will leave you hooked for hours&period; Housemarque delivers another pulse-pounding arcade shooter&comma; and it&&num;8217&semi;s hard not to smile the whole time you&&num;8217&semi;re playing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><strong>A Playstation 4 review copy of Nex Machina was provided by Housemarque for the purpose of this review&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;