Everyday Shooter

Everyday Shooter is like a textbook example of how a strong style and theming can greatly elevate an otherwise simple game. The striking abstract visuals lend so much flair and identity to each level, on top of the incredibly memorable soundtrack. Having every song and sound consist of nothing but guitars had the potential to get annoying, but somehow each song manages to be distinct and catchy, with some being unlike anything I'd expect from this game genre. My personal favorite is "Cloud Level", which has a more somber tone and almost feels like a breather after the previous rockers.

That's not to undersell the gameplay itself; shooting is fun, weaving around bullets is challenging, landing a chain is incredibly satisfying, and the unique enemy formations and chain systems keep each level feeling fresh. There's only eight levels in total and each is a fixed length, so a full run will last about half an hour, but good luck getting to that point with how challenging these levels get.

I want to call this game truly great, but sadly it messes up in one of the most important ways: scoring points. Getting a bajillion point squares to appear because you landed a chain is fun by itself, but your tiny hitbox and the weak magnetism makes them not very fun to collect. You'll probably need them for extra lives if you want to see this game through to the end, but more importantly you have to collect way too many of them for the unlockables. The different game modes, some cool filters, more starting lives, and even the ability to play a level by itself all require points to unlock, and I've seen the prices go up to 8000 points (3000 in a full run is my current high score), so I can't imagine how many times you'd have to replay the same eight levels to unlock everything.

With the limited content and spotty point system, it's debatable whether this game is worth the $10 it seems to be permanently fixed at now, but I really do love Everyday Shooter. It's super replayable and has such a memorable style that I can hold it up as a real hidden gem.

masterpizza