PowerUp Forever

Let's all be honest for a moment, they may call it arcade gaming but it's not exactly the same experience we all fell in love with those years ago when arcades were king. There was never a huge amount of arcades here in the British Isles compared to most countries but I still got to enjoy some great and classic games. So I've always been fond of the 'arcade' titled games hitting our current generation of consoles. Of course there as already been some classics from Geometry Wars to Uno but theres also been a fair share of crappy attempts to cash in on those looking for a injection of nostalgia but in High Definition. It's probably a little unfair to call them arcade games considering you play them in the comfort of your own bedroom and home. But most if not all Xbox LIVE and PSN arcade games were bred from the ashes of those classic games we played with friends and wasted so much money on back when we didn't need death bringing chainsaws on machine guns to keep us happy. I dream that maybe one day such titles as Geometry Wars 2 might be able to bring arcades back from the ashes, but I seriously doubt they will. But at least we still have great arcade games to look forward to and now we have Blitz Arcade's newest Multi-Directional Shooter 'PowerUp Forever' to enjoy.

For many gamers around the World, Arcades in themselves were representation of beauty, but did we all realise how beautiful those games were going to get back then. I don't think so, In an age when 2D was still showing it's best, we had no idea what the future would hold for us gamers eager to play the latest and greatest games. It's also pleasant to see so many modern arcade games sticking to a unique form of 2D graphics, or what's now known as 2.5D graphics. Which basically means a game set on a 2D platform but with 3D graphics, anyway that's what I think it means I may have described it a little incorrectly. But that's exactly what PowerUp Forever is. A 2.5D Multi-Directional Shooter featuring High Definition graphics for the modern day arcader. Theres been a good couple of multi-directional shooters hitting our consoles over the last few years, though none have been as good as the truly addictive Geometry Wars 2. But the simple amount of games following Geometry Wars lead shows that it's arcade gameplay that works and works well. PowerUp Forever is no different, but before we go into the actual gameplay let's talk a little about how the game looks and performs on screen. While playing yesterday I was thinking what game PowerUp Forever reminded me so much of, no not Geometry Wars but eventually I realised that it was infact Spore's 'Cell Stage' in which you play your creature in Cell Form. Let me explain, basically in Spore as you get bigger you start to bully (and when I mean bully I actually mean kill) the creatures that were only a short while ago bullying you. As you got larger you started to see other cells that were gigantic to you eariler on. That's exactly the same with PowerUp Forever, you start up small but as you 'power up' you start to easily kill those who were much bigger (and of course tougher) then you were earlier on.

 

The game is set up in stages, you are required to kill enough parasites in order to attract a stage or level boss in the form of a Guardian who willl build up rage and attack you. It is your job to kill the Guardian to obtain their specific ability or powerup which will either be an upgrade to an existing weapon or a brand new weapon all together. At the bottom of the screen you can see the rhythmatically sounding 'Guardian Rage Guage' in which gets filled when you attack and kill the parasites scattered throughout the stage. They are often found sucking up the energy of dead creatures to take back to a type of 'main base' so it's often a good idea to follow one of them and see where he heads off to and you'll probably find a good few more parasites to take down and anger the Guardian. It's a pattern the game follows for every stage and for some it will be repetitive, but the overall enjoyment found in finding out the next powerup is enough to keep you entertained. Not to mention how great the game looks. 

PowerUp Forever as an odd sense of artistic style. Think Sci-Fi and bacteria meets nature and it blends all in to create one stunning arcade game that runs perfectly. The game almost as a smokey effect to each stage that although not ground breaking, is oddly pleasant and fascinating to watch. It's odd to explain but the screenshot to the right shows the smoke effect in action. It gives the game a free and flowing look to it that many current arcades titles lack. Each stage of Powerup Forever is differently visualized and the style can change drastically from dark and dull to bright and colourful. It's a pleasure to see and it helps make PowerUp Forever one of the best looking arcade games currently avaliable on the current gen systems. This change is also present in the creatures floating around the stage, though often the changes aren't huge though they are noticeable and they do often match with the new look of the newer stage. 

The games User Interface is also clean and easy to use. It doesn't throw information at you with pop-up messages like some arcade shooters have of late. But it does give you the info that is important to the game, such as the weapon you are currently using, the energy left for that weapon, both your current score and high score, and then finally your health and the guardians rage amount. Speaking of the energy of weapons, all weapons except the standard plasma cannons require energy to use and of course that energy goes down with use. This is where the other creatures of the stage come into play, once killed or blown up it fills up your weapon energy bar a little bit more until your full of power ready to use your mix of weapons again. Of course the creatures and floating balls also carry points with them so if your looking to top that high score it's important to take as many down as possibe. As I said previously, the actual flow and process of each stage doesn't change so for many gamers the gameplay mechanics might be a little to repetitive for some. There is an enjoyment in finding out what powerup/upgrade are coming next for the gamer to enjoy using. Though saying that the games repetitiveness will destroy the overall experience for gamers looking for more variation in there gameplay,

POWER UP FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER AND THEN A LITTLE BIT MORE!

I have to admit that I can't be totally sure if the game is worthy of it's title, though I do suspect the game follows Geometry Wars in that it keeps the enemies flowing towards you until your eventually dead. But I honestly don't expect the game to keep providing you with new powerup or upgrades to existing weapons as that would simply be endless and to hard to program. So maybe the name is a little misleading, but I'll be honest and admit that I'm not the greatest arcade gamer out there and it can take me sometime to master all the little tricks these types of games have. I'm sure soon enough I will be able get to the so-called end and I'm quite interested to see how it works. But a gamer is only as good as his skill and I'm not the greatest out there so for now I'll have to stick with what I know. The powerups are unique though, even though many are just variations of what we have seen in past games there is a odd sort of joy in obtaining the newest one. Such as the laser for instance, it's a simple weapon but also one of the most visual. It actually reminded me a lot of weapons in Ikaruga in that once your laser as a target it fires off bullets of plasma which simply looks great. It's also a very usefull weapon against tougher guardians, but it's also a great representation of how visual the game can get. As I said, there are a good variation in weapons and the same can be said for upgrades, the upgreades are mostly as you'd expect. More damage and better speed but there also as enjoyable to obtain as the new weapons themselves. 

The game controls like most Multi-Directional shooters avaliable on our current generation of consoles. You control your crafts movement with the left analog stick and fire in all directions with the right analog stick. We have seen it before, but it's a control scheme that still works well and is reasonably easy to master. It's also not hard on fingers and thumbs like the control schemes of classic arcade games could be back in the day. This also means that playing can also be quite a pleasant experience, if your like me then you probably hook your Ipod up and listen to your favourite music while playing. This means that playing PowerUp Forever can actually be a very carming experience and it's actually something a lot of good arcades do nowadays. They can be thrilling but there also simply fun and this game is no different. Going back to the controls for a second, one complaint that I do have is with weapon selection. As you start getting multiple weapons you are required to select which one you want to use. So to do so you use the LB and RB buttons on the Xbox 360 controller. Now this does it's job fine but it can be a clumsey way when getting the right weapon especially considering you can only select one weapon at a time. This means that in the heat of battle you may find yourself searching for the right weapon (which is indicated by a symbol) and find yourself killed while you do so. This could have been better mapped out on the controller.

PowerUp Forever handles well though and is free and easy to use. The controls respond well and it's easy enough to dodge enemies heading your way. Some of my main issues with the game actually come down to sound, it's not the best sounding arcade game out there partly due to poor sound effect choices. I don't usually moan about such things and as I said previously I do often play with my own music hammering my ears. But theres some odd sounding noises in PowerUp Forever. For instance when you craft hits a hard object and takes damage you get this weird metal tapping noise that is simply unpleasant to hear. I guess that in itself is a good reason to stay away from the solid objects in the game if death wasn't enough. But it is a terrible sound effect that makes me gringe when I hear it. Some weapon effects sound nice while others sound dull and a little to repetitive. For instance your standard plasma weapon as a dull and almost weak sound to it. I want to hear big impact sounds as I fire off my weapons, not some quiet dull effect which makes my weapons sound and feel weak. Ok, maybe I'm being a little harsh on it there as the same critism could be placed on Geometry Wars, but it would be nice to hear some better sound effects from time to time in current arcade games.

The games soundtrack isn't exactly breathtaking either, sometimes it's almost inaudable. PowerUp Forever does feature some catchy tunes in certain stages but for the most part it's a pretty dull affair. Maybe I'm simply expecting to much from a game that only there to please my arcade nostagia needs. But to many current arcade games are trying to play both modern and classic, but also try and offer modern hip music and fail misserably. I would have loved to see some catchy tunes in the style of 8-bit with a moderrn touch or something similar. Geometry Wars 2 had a much improved tune that was a pleasure to play over and it would have been nice to see the same in PowerUp Forever. Though the more I think about it, the more I do wonder if I'm simply asking to much from my arcade games nowadays. I've just become so use to hearing classical soundtracks in modern videogames that I start to think that every game should have some monks singing some beautiful tune. It's because of this issue that I'll happily stick to using my Ipod Touch and listen to my favourite tracks. It's a common technique that I know a lot of arcade gamers use to.

GEOMETRY WARS 2 VS POWERUP FOREVER..... LET WAR COMMENCE!

I have refered back to Geometry Wars 2 multiple times in this review, and for good reason with it being the best arcade game currently avaliable on any of the curent generation of  consoles. Almost every Xbox 360 owner as played Geometry Wars be it the original arcade version which hit when the console launched or the stunning sequel. So everyone is at least a little familar with how addictive the game could be. I spent many nights playing Geometry Wars 2 for a shocking amount of hours as it gameplay and modes suited the game perfectly, eagerly pushing me to play more. The newer game modes added in it's sequel were key to this and when we compare the longevity (a word I hate using) of both games you have to admit that Geometry Wars 2 still as a good lead over PowerUp Forever. That's not to say it doesn't have extra modes, you get the common arcade modes which is the actual heart of the game and (again borrowing from Geometry Wars 2) you can unlock extra modes once you meet a certain requirement. These extra modes include Guardian Rush, Survival, Defender and Overkill. From the ones I've been able to play at this point, I can confirm them to be pretty entertaining but they simply don't have that addictive feel to them that the other Geometry Wars 2 modes had and for that it's a little disappointing. 

It's when comparing these two arcade games that many of PowerUp Forever's downfalls appear. It's a simple game that clearly borrows a lot from other arcade titles, but it's also limiting itself in key areas, it's as if the developers knew that this game wouldn't be able to compete as theres so much more that could have been done with some of the game modes. The lack of variation from stage to stage will also be a big issue for some gamers, it would have been nice for other alternative methods of attracting guardians into battle aswell. This would have helped the game feel less repetitive to those looking for depth and variation in their arcade games. But, I shall admit that the uniqueness of the stage settings and artistic style, not to mention how much fun the weapons and abilities can be. Make that repetition less of an issue for me as a gamer. But there will be those looking for a more deeper experience. Which is the better looking game is debatable, some will prefer the simplistic stylings of Geometry Wars 2 while some will fall in love with PowerUp Forever's unique artistic style and direction. I'm personally stuck in between, though I loved the simple yet beautiful graphical design of Geometry Wars 2 I also believe PowerUp Forever to be the best looking arcade game to date. It's definately the best looking multi-directional shooter avaliable in the genre. This is also helped by the fact that it plays aswell as any of it's competitors.

Maybe it's wrong for me to compare the two games, when looking at PowerUp Forever you can see a well built example of a arcade shooter at it's best. But it's also blindingly clear that it's in the shadow of Geometry Wars 2. It's a stunning looking arcade title that will be a pleasure to view by any arcade gamer out there. But more could have been done with what's done so well here in the first place, the stages are brilliant and visually different on screen but the gameplay doesn't change at all. It would have been great to see the gamer required to adjust his skill and ability to each different stage. It would have also been great to see maybe more lessons learnt from the original Geaometry Wars and it's sequel. Infact I do have to wonder if this is indeed just the entry for the series. Theres enough great things on offer here to make me wonder if we will see a sequel worthy to challenge Geometry Wars 2. Maybe it's a series just finding it's feet in the arcade world of console gaming and developers Blitz Arcade have created a fine first entry. But more lessons must be learnt before PowerUp Forever gets the full praise it already shows it potentially deserves. It won't be to everyones tastes, but it's at least worth a trial look if not a full purchase for 800 Microsoft Points. I'm not totally sure how much the game is going for on PSN but it'll be around the same price as the Xbox LIVE Version no doubt. If you had any interest or love for Geometry Wars, then I highly recommend you check this arcade title out now. Despite it's downfalls and issues, it's still one of the best arcade games to hit consoles this year.

PROS!

- Stunning Visuals in HD.
- Simple yet addictive gameplay mechanics.
- Weapons offer a good amount of variation. 
- Great variation between the different stages. 
- Full High Score Leaderboards online.

CONS!

- Stage gameplay may be repetitive for some. 
- A lack of depth in some of the extra modes.
- Controls can occasionally be clumsey in the heat of battle.
- A lack of gameplay variation between stages.